Allan passed away on 5th November 2025.

Allan was an early volunteer for Rye Meadows and was for a long time Treasurer of the Friends of Ashtead Rye Meadows Wetlands. In 2016 when the commemoration of the WW1 Centenary Field with Fields in Trust was being planned, it was Allan who painstakingly researched everyone from Ashtead who fell in World War 1. He then arranged for these biographies to be read by schoolchildren from Ashtead as though they were being spoken by a family member of the deceased. The recording was then edited by Pete Williams who added stock footage of WW1 archive and this is available to view and listen to on You Tube.

Allan retired from volunteering some three years ago but never lost sight of his links with Rye Meadows. Allan will be greatly missed by all his friends and colleagues in Rye Meadows and our sincere condolences go out to Adrienne, Emma and Hannah. A lovely, quiet man, full of good humour. A real gentle man.

His fellow volunteers wished to erect a memorial to Allan and with the agreement of Adrienne we all contributed to buy a rustic bench and have a plaque put on it in his memory. The plaque has a quotation from one of Allan's favourite books, Winnie the Pooh. It says "In that enchanted place a little boy and his Bear will always be playing."

Daphne Burnett very kindly added a large sum to enable us to buy a substantial bench. In July 2026, the bench arrived from the Lower Mole Countryside Group and it was installed by volunteers. We have invited Adrienne, Emma and Hannah to come and see the finished article.