THE brilliant and immensely fulfilling innings of Alan Howell, who was clerk and head of paid services at Craven District Council, and an eminent community figure, has finally ended at the age of 88.

A native of the pit village of Cudworth, near Barnsley, Alan attended the local primary and junior schools before passing for Barnsley Grammar School where the well-known television presenter, Michael Parkinson also attended. Alan was deemed bright and subsequently selected for an express course, passing all his School Certificate exams a year underage.

Despite that glowing statistic though, Alan was completely unsure regarding his long-term employment career, and his first full-time working role was as bicycle delivery boy for the local Co-op. Then later working for the National Coal Board at Grimethorpe Colliery before joining the Army at 18 to fulfil his National Service.

Forever a keen sportsman in various codes, Alan achieved a special career notch during his National Service days by figuring for the regimental representative team at football.

Still unsure of his long-term employment following Army demobilisation, Alan joined the immigration scheme and headed off to New Zealand where he trained in Post Office engineering technology. He returned to the UK for a time, returning 'Down Under' for a second spell, this time with his wife of an eventual nearly 63 years of happy marriage, Jean, herself also from that close-knit Cudworth, Barnsley locality.

Following his second spell in New Zealand during which occasion he coincidentally would meet up with an eventual work colleague at Craven District Council, Gordon Webster, while both unbeknown to each other, were attending the same test cricket match, Alan finally returned to England’s green and pleasant lands for good.

Wider in knowledge, he then took a job in local government with the clerk of the council at Wath on Dearne in 1962, before moving to other similar roles at Ormskirk, then Dronfield. All happy times, but none were more so than when he finally arrived in Craven, and by this time with sons David and Brian, and daughter Kathryn, also on board. His arrival in Craven in 1974 being when he achieved the position as deputy clerk. This role subsequently seeing him succeed to the top job, when the original incumbent, Joe Harrison eventually retired.

Alan’s next 48 years of his stay on this planet then, were all spent in Skipton, up Regent Road, and from “day one” with hardly the mildest thought of moving elsewhere. So much did the town and the surrounding Dales have to offer.

He did indeed love his walking, and whether it be work, swimming, or shopping across the other side of town, then walking would be his familiar mode of transport.

Without ever throwing himself into the limelight, Alan was forever a man who could be relied on to help out with any charity or community chores, including with Skipton Charities Gala and the Skipton Shortbank Olympics, which themselves yielded many thousands of pounds for Candlelighters.

Alan also became a devout member of St Andrew’s Church, and prior to declining health overtaking him, he played his part in helping to promote the food bank there.

A fine chorister, long before he arrived in Skipton, one of Alan’s prime social passions, once arrived in Craven, would see him singing with the district’s choirs, including with the Grassington Singers, the Skipton Choral Society and, most notably with the Steeton Male Voice Choir. Indeed, with the latter organisation, there would be a particularly memorable occasion to behold when the choir almost brought the house down in rapturous appreciation after they had provided the pre-match entertainment at a packed stadium, prior to the England-Australia Rugby League Tri-Nations final in 2011 at Elland Road.

Meanwhile, before, and since, away from all the glitz and glamour, Alan eternally cared for the less fortunate in society and he was a frequent visitor to help the needs of the housebound elderly and infirm.

Alan was a good man, who did good for many people!