Alan Stone (26 Mar 1942 - 17 Jul 2026)

In loving memory of Alan Victor Stone who sadly passed away on 17th July 2026.

Alan was born on the 26th March 1942 in St Mary’s maternity hospital, Croydon to Alfred and Hetty Stone. Dad along with his younger brother Michael ‘Mick’ Stone, attended Overbury Junior School and moved on to Fairchild’s secondary school, both of these schools were in New Addington. Upon leaving school, he was an apprentice at a small printing firm called Stark Neill and Sons who were based in South Norward. Whilst working as an apprentice, dad began courting with mum, Valerie Ball and they married a few years later at the ages of 21 and 20. Their first home being staying with Mr and Mrs Rooke who treated them as if they were their own. After 7 years as an apprentice hand compositor it as obvious that printing had changed so dad looked elsewhere for work. He moved to the post office, working in their overseas telegraph department before changing to have a short spell as a green grocer. After 5 years at Mr and Mrs Rooke’s, mum and dad had saved enough to put a deposit on a maisonette in Farnborough where they welcomed their son Ian. Alan continued to change jobs, becoming a milkman before working in the distribution centre for new National newspaper, Today. He then owned a sofa bed shop and on occasion I helped to deliver sofa beds, as far a field as Dawlish in Devon and even a trip to Belgium! 1 day was particularly challenging, we turned up with a large sofa to be delivered to an oast house in rural Kent, tiny doors and curved walls defeated us and we delivered the sofa to the front garden! Dad arranged for the manufacturer to visit where they chopped the sofa in half and reassembled it in the front room much to the customers delight! Selling sofas was more challenging than Dad thought so soon after he sold up and became a traffic warden at the Metropolitan police. He never really enjoyed this role and was always on the lookout for something else. Finally, a few years before retirement he landed a job as a security officer at the Palace of Westminster. He loved this job and described this as pinnacle of his working life. He soon became an expert on all things related to this magnificent building from Big Ben to the Commons and Lords chambers. During his time here he met many of the countries MPs and developed very polarised opinions on most of them regardless of his or their political stance.

Dad loved to drive and has had more cars than anyone I know. Dad's first car was an Austin Cambridge. My first memory was a red Vauxhall viva, in fact at one point we ran a fleet of vivias, one red and one blue! After this he had every brand, make and colour possible with 1 exception, dad would never drive a Ford. Nowhere was off limits to drive to, with family living in Somerset I remember many battles with the Kingston 1 way system where we somehow always managed to take the wrong turning leaving to a heated discussion in the front seats! Fast forward a few years and the birth of his 2 granddaughters meant a move from Croydon firstly to Melksham and later to Calne to be closer to us. With this came the invention of Grandads taxi, firstly a gold Peugeot followed by a blue Peugeot, followed by the affectionately know cappuccino car – a fiat 500, and most recently a blue fiat 600. Only his 2nd automatic car, his first being a red mazda 626 which was an impulse buy after an early trip to America and an automatic hire car back in the 1980s.

Holidays were never far from dad's mind, even today his email inbox is full of Warners, Britsh Airways, Royal Caribbean and P&O cruise line emails. Dad was an early adopter of foreign travel with stories of me getting my head stuck between railings in Benidorm being an often repeated story. We spent many a happy summers in a villa owned by Sheila and Michael in Menorca. Trips to Yugoslavia, France, Tunisia followed but not before more road trips. This time with a caravan in tow behind an Austin princess to a resort near Barcelona. The breakdown whilst in the Pyrenees on a Spanish motorway is still a vivid memory! As I say he just loved to drive! With my career choice travel further afield became an option with my concessionary travel. Trips to the USA became frequent along with trips to South Africa, Canada and Australia became common place. Mum was fortunate to secure a part share in a villa in Kissimmee, Florida and Dad loved these trips. One of these trips became a life long memory when mum surprised him with a trip on Concorde to New York. I can proudly say my dad went super sonic, a truly dying breed of air passengers. Since retirement cruising became a mainstay of their holiday routine, culminating in a short weekend break on Britannia as a family at Easter in 2023 , our last family trip together.

When people think about my Dad, 1 word often springs to mind…food! Dad’s life revolved around the next meal or even the meal after that, may be that’s why he loved cruising so much knowing there was always a 'free buffet, that you've already paid for' on offer! Whether it be breakfast, dinner, lunch, supper or chocolates before bed dad loved his food. His love of America was driven by his love of food, the Americans do it bigger and better than anyone else… well sometimes. These trips to America often involved us travelling as a family and many a happy hour was spent in central Florida’s theme parks, Dad was never a rollercoaster man but was always happy to look after the belongings whilst everyone else got their adrenaline rush as long as he was left with a burger or 2 or the promise of a trip to his favourite, the Cheesecake factory!

Sport was a huge part of his life. In his youth he played football and cricket for the school and his local clubs, and obtained half colours in both for school. He was keen to encourage me to play although my skills never emulated him. Dad was never without a sky sports subscription and would watch anything with a ball as long as it wasn’t snooker which in his own words was just boring. Dad was an avid Chelsea supporter as his dad and brother also were. If never quite rubbed off on me and somehow I ended up supporting Wycombe instead, something that he tolerated, embraced but never really understood why! When his granddaughter Victoria expressed an interest and desire to play cricket he was nothing but encouraging, championing her rise to county level in her mid teens. He was exceptionally proud. Victoria’s participation encouraged him to watch more of the emerging women’s sports and in recent years he was more passionate than anyone about female participation in previously male dominated sports.

Dad retired in the later half of 2006 shortly after Victoria had been unwell. He devoted his retirement years to ensuring we lived our life to the full, always helping where he could. Grandad’s taxi was always fully booked, trips to stagecoach in Swindon, birthday parties and the daily school collection run were all part of his weekly routine. Dad’s health deteriorated in recent years, highlighted by a heart attack in 2012 and more recently a battle with lymphoma in 2024 for which he was in remission. Dad’s baseline health never really recovered and this began to limit his ability to live as he previously had. He lost his love of driving and in recent times would only drive short distances to familiar places. His blue badge was a prized possession. When Katherine decided upon a career as a Paramedic he could not conceal his pride, telling everyone he met including doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals when she accompanied him to his many and frequent appointments.

Dads caring and selfless nature will be sorely missed by us all. His alternative football commentary and coaching tips from the sofa will be strangely missing in the future. From a difficult post war upbringing dad achieved great things. He was always quick with a cheeky response and a roll of the eyes. Katherine was always ‘yes boss’, Victoria was always ‘trouble’ but it was always delivered with love and affection from the heart.

Today we say our final goodbye and I can only sign off as he would have done, cheers mate, all the best.