Military campaigner

ALAN Wilkinson, a former director of part of the engineering giant GEC, who was also a dedicated member of the Territorial Army and worker for military charities, has died aged 79.

Following National Service in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) where he was commissioned, he served in the Territorial Army with 150 (Yorkshire) Transport Regiment in Leeds and Hull, attaining the rank of colonel.

The son of a wool sorter, he was born in London but moved to Thackley, Bradford, early in his childhood where he attended Belle Vue Boys’ School before beginning an apprenticeship at the English Electric Company’s Phoenix Works, Thornbury.

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He attended evening and day release classes at Bradford Technical College eventually gaining membership of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers of which he later became a Fellow.

He worked at several English Electric and GEC sites, becoming responsible in the 1970s and 1980s for plants at both Thorne, near Doncaster, and Newcastle-under-Lyme, and it was then that he and his wife, Vega, who died last year, moved from their home in Rawdon, Leeds, to live in Staffordshire.

He was eventually appointed a director of GEC Machines, before becoming a consulting engineer with offices in Staffordshire, Kent and Co. Kildare.

His move from Yorkshire did not stop his work with the TA, returning every weekend to take part in its activities, eventually being awarded the Territorial Decoration.

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He was also honorary assistant county secretary for the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) Forces Help in Staffordshire, and vice-chairman of the Staffordshire War Memorial United Services’ Aid Fund for 14 years until his death.

SSAFA county secretary, the Rev John Davis, said: “Colonel Wilkinson gave hours of voluntary work to supporting SSAFA Forces Help for the benefit of serving and ex-service men and women and their dependants

“He made a significant contribution to our work in Staffordshire and he will be sadly missed.”

He is survived by a son and a daughter.

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