December 2012 ...... Bill Chamberlain writes:
I (23507250) first met Alan (23507112) in February 1958 when we were 16 year old recruits arriving at Blackdown, he was 7 days younger than I and we were a couple of the older recruits being 16 years and 7 mths old. We remained friends throughout our time as Junior Leaders and I visited his home in Fulham on a few occasions and he & I would also visit my relatives in Brighton both places visited on the rare weekends we were able to get off. We passed out together, travelled on the Nevasa to Hong Kong in 1959 and were close friends throughout our 3 years in HK. I was present when he acquired most of his tattoos, pulled him into a taxis and back to camp (in 1959/61 we had a 12 & then 1am curfew) on many occasions. We got into some near misses with the MPs as Alan liked his beer & spirits in particular whilst I seemed to stay one step from oblivion - good balance. We escaped over a few roof tops on quite a few occasions (those who knew HK at that time will have an idea how easy it was) dodging the squatters and washing. How we ever stayed within the curfew in the early days beggars belief although I know Alan was AWOL a few times when he was out on his own. I was posted to Donnington and Alan to Bicester and we lost touch. I met him again in 1964 when I played for the Corps at Bicester (in goal) and he came and stood behind the goal and we had a brief chat. However after the match we never got together and I always regretted a missed opportunity. Many of the ex Boys will recall Alan and I tried to locate him over the years, especially made a concerted effort when we were arranging the early reunions - until finally I came across the details of his passing in 2005. I will continue to try and locate his family as I know he married in Fulham in 1979, so it appears he stayed local to his birthplace. Bill Chamberlain PS I finally cracked the long lost search for his family and have made contact with his daughter Susan. Alan had 2 sons and a daughter. Sad that I was unable to locate Alan early enough so that he could meet some of his old friends at our reunions.
Any details, memories or photographs that you may have would be most welcome.