Until his retirement Alan headed a chartered accountancy practice now based on Belmont Business Park and employing four partners, one of them son Robert, along with a staff of 20. He also played a key role in the development of Ribchester, Smith and Law, an accountancy firm based in Newcastle’s Stowell Street, serving the area’s Oriental community and staffed entirely by Chinese-speaking financial advisers.
After leaving the Durham Johnston Grammar School in 1963 with three A-levels he was articled to a large firm of chartered accountants on Tyneside until he qualified four years later. In the early 1970s he took charge of his own company in Durham, operating for many years from offices in Saddler Street.
For 30 years Alan was District Treasurer of the Durham Scouts, Durham Citizens Advice Bureau and director of the Durham Indoor Market where he was once company secretary.
For more than two decades he was treasurer of the Shakespeare Temperance Trust in North Road and trustee and honorary treasurer of Durham Rotary Club. He was also a long-standing trustee of Durham Union Society and a member of the finance committee of the Governors of Northumbria University.
In 2009 he was awarded an MBE for his charitable and community work within the city.
In addition to being a member of the Mayor’s Bodyguard he accepted an invitation to become a member of the freemen’s trustees more than fifteen years ago and he steered them through new legal regulations, qualifying the organization for charitable status. The move significantly increased the freemen’s ability to offer financial support to a wide range of organizations across the city.
Alan was sworn in as a Gentleman Freeman in February 2019, joining the Cordwainer’s Company and was subsequently followed by son Robert into the same company.
A service of remembrance was held in Elvet Methodist Church on February 18, following a private cremation.
