Memorial Tribute

Tom, Alan's friend writes …

Alan started his journey to the very pinnacle pool administration with Hertfordshire Pool Association, which was initiated by his role as Secretary of his local Hemel Hempstead local pool league, a tie that went unbroken to his passing, no matter what position he gained within the EPA or latterly in the WEPF (World Eightball Pool Federation) he steadfastly continued to be Hertfordshire's Secretary.

Through his role as Hertfordshire Secretary, he became known to the officers who were running Region 4 and quickly moved to secure his services as their Secretary.

From there he became someone the National Committee thought should become part of their team running and administering the national side of the game.

That in turn led Alan to become one of the EPA's national team managers, where as always, his work rate and abilities were spotted by the WEPF and European pool administration teams who asked him to become their Secretary, a pair of posts he readily accepted.

Alan was someone who really did dedicate his personal time to our sport. It's also fair to say that Alan, more than most, has played a massive part in shaping what we now accept as the standards by which we operate under as an association.

It's difficult to pin down the part of our operations that Alan would have cited as the thing he enjoyed doing most, however, to most of the nation's tournament entering pool players he is most associated with our national finals.

Alan was a one-man work horse, who would be ready to start our events at 8am (sharp) and still be there, if required, burning the midnight oil making sure our events ran to time.

There's no point denying that Alan had, shall we call them some feisty jousts with players and pool administrators who thought they knew better than he did. Alan was more than prepared to argue his case until he won out. That said, his focus was always making sure the event he was running at the time was not delayed or derailed because of something he saw as a block to the smooth running of the event.

With Alan's passing pool has lost an irreplaceable team member who really lived for pool.

Whilst we have lost Alan as a member of the pool admin team, it pales into insignificance when compared to the loss his Family have suffered.

Whilst writing this as a memory for Alan, we also have to note that none of Alan's pool achievements would have been possible without the unstinting support of his wife Beryl, daughters Lisa, Clare and Emma initially followed by the husbands/partners and grandchildren as they entered Alan's life.