News Archive entries for October 2019
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| Alan Gosling | |
| 05/10/2019 | |
| Obituary of Alan Gosling, by James Baldwin, Chairman of FNRM, South of England Group It is with deep sadness that I inform you of the passing of Alan Gosling, a lifelong, standing member of the Friends of the National Railway Museum. Alan had been unwell for some time and had been making regular visits to hospital recently, sometimes being kept in for a night or two. Alan came from a family who owned a shoe manufacturing business in Northampton. He worked for the Inland Revenue as an Inspector of Taxes in Uxbridge and he took early retirement quite a long time ago, allowing him to spend more time on his passion of railways. Alan attended the South of England Group’s inaugural meeting at the Science Museum in January 1992 and became a member of the caretaker committee formed shortly afterwards, continuing then as an elected committee member. He rarely missed one of our meetings and, of course, he served as Vice-Chairman for many years. Alan was instrumental in getting the Group a presence and a sales stand at the Woking Centenary celebration in 1995, one of our early big sales hits which set the standard for future events. He frequently helped out on the Group stand at other events and with his wife, Mehala, an ex-headmistress and former Mayor of Woking in 2002, regularly joined ouroutings, but she always said that she enjoyed it!! Alan was incredibly knowledgeable about all forms of railways and had a particular interest in the Midland & South West Junction line - Cheltenham Spa to Andover, and on to Southampton, crossing the Berks & Hants at Grafton Junction - his house indeed being called Grafton House! He had a very large photo and film collection, some of which has been published, and he certainly had many photos and records of the steam workings out of Guildford shed. Alan was a very nice bloke to talk to and I enjoyed chatting with him about his own experiences in the world of railways. I very much remember chatting to him about the time he went to New Cross Gate shed in 1951 to view the stored members of Bulleid’s revolutionary Leader Class. most interesting and fascinating! For my own part, my personal thoughts of Alan are of seeing him at his beloved Woking Station one Winter’s afternoon, with the biggest grin on his face as Gresley’s masterpiece No 9 passed through on an excursion - with his chums of the Woking railway contingent keeping him company. Alan was a passionate railway enthusiast extraordinaire and a jolly nice bloke to boot. Alan’s funeral will be held at St Mary’s Church, 124 Church Road, Byfleet, Surrey, KT14 7NF on Tuesday 5th November at 1pm, followed by burial in the cemetery and a reception in the church hall. |
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