Alan was born in Jarrow on 29 March 1956. A Jarra lad. He lived in Jarrow most of his life moving to Boldon in 1998 with his wife Julie. Alan has 3 children, Neil, Kate and Faye and 3 Grand-children Owen, Grace and Harry, he adored them all. Alan married Julie on 21st September 1996 and for most of their married life Alan worked away from home, sometimes for months at a time in Germany, USA, Dubai and in the latter years he worked in Scotland. Over the years the family enjoyed many holidays in Turkey, Florida, Malta and of course Lanzarote where Alan loved to go with various members of his family - Alan and Julie along with family and friends made many visits to the island until his health gradually deteriorated and he was diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease in September 2012. As a result of this, Alan lost the use of his hands and fingers, and developed difficulties swallowing. Although he suffered from weakness in his legs Alan would not give up and he fought his illness every step of the way. Alan had a passion for 3 things:- His family, Ice Cream and Newcastle United FC. Sadly after 13 months of fighting, the illness became too much for Alan his respiratory muscles became affected and sadly he passed away at home surrounded by his loving family at 8.50am on Sunday 13th October 2013. It was truly humbling to see how incredibly brave he was in dealing with his illness, and how he bore his pain and suffering with such enormous dignity. Throughout his illness Alan retained his sense of humour and was as always the joker in the pack! We miss him so much, he is loved and will always be remembered by all his friends and family.