Alan Woodcock JP BEM

Alan, who has passed away at the age of 96, and his wife Maureen moved to Tollerton with their growing family in 1955. Alan lived for nearly 70 years in North End Cottages in the ‘old village’. Although it was the same house, over the years it had changes of address from just North End Cottages to Main Street, and then finally Tollerton Lane. Over time, Alan saw the village change from having at least eight farms to just two, and of course an increasing number of houses, many of which are now conversions of the smaller properties to which his children delivered newspapers in the 1960s.  

Within the village Alan will be remembered for his work for many years on the Parish Council; he also kept the graveyard and Church grounds in good order in the 1970s, and was a willing supporter of the Guides and Scouts. As he had a large family of seven children, Alan drove a minibus and often provided transport for the Guides and Scouts for swimming, camps and events.  

Alan’s key passion was photography and he and Maureen were keen members of Tollerton Camera Club. He has left a very large number of photographs and slides which provide a fascinating history of his family, Tollerton village, and the many places of interest he and Maureen visited.

Maureen and Alan took over an allotment opposite their house and planned it carefully with a focus on growing fruit, planting apple, pear and plum trees, blackcurrants, raspberries and gooseberries, together with some vegetables. Their children, who are nearly all pensioners now, caught the gardening bug and the allotment remains in the family to the present day. 

Alan’s role in the Parish Council led to him becoming a JP in 1978 and he kept this up until his retirement. Throughout his career he worked in electronics, becoming a quality control engineer, and he was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1991 for his services to the community and the electronics industry.

Maureen and Alan were caravaners and explored much of England and Wales, usually to visit historic castles, churches and cathedrals. This led to an active retirement, and he lectured on Church History and Architecture with the WEA and to many other community groups, with fully illustrated talks that were always well received. 

Tollerton airfield was always visible from the house; when the north-south runway was in use a close inspection of the aircraft’s undercarriage was always possible as the flight path passes directly over the cottages, with aircraft often flying in quite low. Alan’s logic was that the airfield was there first so he saw no cause for complaint; on one occasion he and Maureen enjoyed a free flight over Tollerton from the airfield.  Alan was always popular with family and friends at any time there was an airshow for the views from the house of the Red Arrows, the Battle of Britain flight or the King’s Cup air race. 

Alan devoted his life to caring for Maureen for quite a few years until she passed away in 2018 at the age of 89. He enjoyed his latter years spending time with his family, visiting places of interest and relaxing in his home.  He passed away very peacefully on 19 October 2024, with his family around him.

Michael Woodcock

On behalf of the Woodcock family

The history group would also like to add their thanks to Alan for his unfailing support and help he gave us. He lent us reports he had written, photos and even gave us a slide show. He was a man with so many memories of the village as well as being the unofficial photographer for village events for several years and a lot of his photos made the way into our book: Tollerton: A Village History.