Alan Edward Slingsby (24 Jul 1946 - 28 Jan 2015)

Donating in memory of a lovely uncle who will be greatly missed. Will raise a glass to you later Alan. Rip xx

Our sincerest condolences to Irene and all Alan's family on the loss of a lovely man. he was thought very highly by us all at JPB.

I first encountered Alan’s sense of humour and cheeky smile when he interviewed me in 2004 for my position at JPB – he needed to diffuse the situation arising from some inappropriate questions by a fellow interviewer… So from day one I had a great deal of respect for someone who I learnt was kind, compassionate and professional. After some years he became my direct manager and we worked more closely together, with him guiding and mentoring me, helping to build the confidence to advance my career, and spending his valuable time reviewing and commenting upon my reports for becoming chartered. In difficult times he was always on hand to offer support and a great calmness. I will always remember how in a tense sitaution where I had become very upset he first tried to be nice, but saw that only made matters worse so he pulled his ‘scarey face’ and ‘grrrr’d’ at me which resulted in us both in fits of giggles, and resolved the problem!

Over the years we became closer and spent more time talking of our shared interests outside of work – holidays, wine o’clock, gardening and our love of birds. Boasting about my visiting goldfinches he was sad to admit he had none, so I bought him a cheap minature feeder to attempt to lure them. Of course it worked – who wouldn't want to spend time in the beautiful garden he’d made – although I was quite envious of the numbers he reported spotting. This soon became our morning exchange of who had the best and most birds. Alan won hands down!

Our friendship continued after his retirement with email exchanges and and the odd visit to the office. I will really miss hearing from him and swapping tales of our respective latest adventures, although I am truly grateful that I had the privelege and pleasure to work alongside and become friends with such a lovely person. Sleep tight ‘Uncle Alan’.

I joined JPB as young engineer and quickly benefitted hugely from Alan’s mentorship and support, learning how to properly make tea in a teapot (even though I didn’t drink it!) and how to manage contractors, draft contracts, undertake professional reporting, knock heads together when necessary, and everything else!

As well as my ‘boss’, I had the privilege of considering Alan my friend. He was hugely supportive, had an open door and a friendly listening ear, and was just ‘my kind of person’. He even tolerated my bad language, although I am sure he mightily disapproved!

I will always remember him very fondly, I have him to thank for giving me confidence in my career choices and in my own abilities, and I am sure I am not alone in owing him a debt of gratitude for his support and kindness. He will be sadly missed, RIP Alan.

For the second time in my 47 years on this planet, I have to say goodbye and grieve for my Dad. This time is particularly difficult with the added grief of losing my Mother in such tragic circumstances. In the 11 years that I have known you Dad, I think I have, with my heart and soul, loved you as much as any daughter who had spent a life time with their father. Even during some difficult times. We were so much a like you and I. My life will never be the same without you, so farewell, sleep tight and love you with all my might.

For the second time in my 47 years on this planet, I have to say goodbye and grieve for my Dad. This time is particularly difficult with the added grief of losing my Mother in such tragic circumstances. In the 11 years that I have known you Dad, I think I have, with my heart and soul, loved you as much as any daughter who had spent a life time with their father. Even during some difficult times. We were so much a like you and I. My life will never be the same without you, so farewell, sleep tight and love you with all my might - Lyn.

Rest in peace Alan

What a wonderful obituary for Alan. A fitting tribute to a great guy.
It was my pleasure and privilege to have known Alan as a colleague and good friend from the time he joined JPB in 1984. After a couple of years he was tempted away to a rival consultancy but we were delighted when he re-joined us just two years later, and here he stayed until retiring in 2011. Even then he called in from time to time so we kept in touch.
Alan didn’t have lots of fancy paper qualifications, but what he had was huge practical experience, lots of common sense and organisation, and of course a quiet, warm and persuasive personality. He never seemed to get angry or flustered, was an excellent ambassador for the firm, and a fine role model and mentor to younger members of staff.
He started out as designer, quantity surveyor and resident engineer for numerous of our derelict land reclamation and ground stabilisation projects and rose to be Associate from 2003, Partner from 2005 and a Director from 2006. For much of this time he was responsible for health and safety throughout the firm.
He excelled as a project manager, and played a major part in the successful completion of land reclamation jobs worth in total many tens of millions of pounds. To name just a few: the reclamation of British Leyland site at Longbridge, limestone mine infilling in Walsall and Dudley, gasworks sites from Wolverhampton to Coventry to Manchester, the Bowmans Harbour site at Willenhall where we moved and safely buried 3 million cubic metres of refuse. Perhaps the most exciting of all was a huge site known as Uphall Road, Ilford, Essex. This had Roman remains; radioactive soil from making luminous paint; tens of thousands of tonnes of stinking, decomposing crushed cinchona bark, a by-product of making quinine; hundreds of metres of unstable river retaining wall; and the need for a world record sewer tunnel drive using a remote controlled Japanese tunnelling machine. There was so much contaminated material on site that we built a branch line from the nearby railway. A train left twice a week to take the waste to Bedfordshire. I am reminded by Gordon of the famous occasion when Alan, as the site engineer, gave the driver of the train the right of way because in the absence of a guard (a new system) the driver refused to move without someone telling him to despite the signal having been on green for ages.
Well done Alan! You are sorely missed.

Where does a Little Brother start, when talking about his Big Brother, because that is what he always was to me. I thought would just share something quick. I don't have many memories of him when I was young because he was 10 years older than me. I do remember him banning me from his bedroom and his huge collection of Airfix model planes. All of them so carefully constructed and painted. All I wanted to do was play with them. How unreasonable was that!!

Alan left home and went off to College and then to work away before I was 8 so it was nearly 10 years before I started to get to know him. Then suddenly he was there. We had holidays together and I spent long weekends at his flat in Erdington and he would come down to Bristol where I had my flat. On one of his early visits to me he came to stay because Mum and Dad were coming to meet us both and see my flat, which they had never seen. I thought I was really prepared for the parental visit until Alan moved my furniture releasing clouds of dust and balls of fluff the size of tumble weed. I remember the look of disapproval on his face to this day. I think he spent the rest of the day spring cleaning for me. Well I was young and still coming to terms with the fact that toilet rolls did not magically appear when the last one was finished.

Every year we went to the Bristol Wine Festival where there was much laughter, falling over and sore heads. Alan taught me to brew beer in my kitchen. That was a mistake! My kitchen was soon taken over by fermentation bins, kegs and books about brewing beers like those you drink in pubs. I suddenly had loads of friends though and two eviction notices for blocking the drains with used yeast.

We were with Alan when he died and he was peaceful and pain free. Now those of us who loved Alan have got to come to terms with his loss. especially Irene who was the love of his life. He will live on in our thoughts and hearts and we will think of him often when in Poros and at Folly View and whenever we share memories. With love June and Pete

R.I.P Alan our lovely brother in law taken from his wife and family much too soon always in out thoughts xx

Alans' death came as a great shock, I with my sisters Irene and June had spent a wonderful weekend with Alan at Butlins enjoying a 60s weekend and he had enjoyed the weekend tremendously. To lose him just two days later was so painful to cope with, never again would I be able to give him one of my fabled "Wendy Hugs" that were mainly kept for Alan as we fitted together perfectly. I miss you Alan, R.I.P. xxx