Alan Perren

Alan was born on the 28^th October 1958 in Southampton.  He has an older sister, Gillian and a younger brother, Simon.

Alan demonstrated an early talent for music and played euphonium in both his middle school and the Southampton Youth Orchestras.

He was quite an intelligent student, passing his 11-plus to go to King Edward's Grammar School and then on to Bath University to study Economics and Politics. From there, Alan secured a job at IBM as a Systems Engineer. He took a keen interest in a wide number of subjects, and he could often recite bizarre facts and figures. 

One of Alan's greatest passions was sport. From a very early age he played football and carried this through school, university and into his early 40s, often playing for various IBM teams.  Alan followed his beloved 'Saints' football team from afar. In fact, the very last thing he watched on TV was highlights of Southampton beating Blackburn 4-0.

He took up cricket when he joined IBM, winning tournament trophies for his spin bowling.

Despite his age, Alan enjoyed listening to Radio One. It was on all the time, except at the weekends, when it was sport, of course. And whenever he had a bath, you could hear loud dance music permeating round the house.

Elizabeth met Alan at IBM in 1984, and four years later they were married. Their birthdays were close together – just 2 days apart – and so they tended to have a joint celebration. In the early years of their relationship, they felt that they were missing out, so Alan introduced the ½ yearly birthday on April 27^th. And he was daft enough to actually buy gifts!

They were privileged to have had many wonderful holidays together. From discovering that fly-drives could get them around the US on a budget, to being adventurous in Borneo and Australia, and visiting friends in Singapore and Thailand. But it's when they discovered Nice in the South of France, much closer to home, that they truly felt they'd found their 'Happy Place.'

Sadly, Alan's health started to deteriorate in early 2000. He'd been asthmatic all his life and was in and out of hospital as a child, but now back problems blighted him and he had to give up work.

The last four years had been very difficult for him, with one ailment after another. His mobility had become very restricted and a recent elbow infection had resulted in several operations and twice weekly hospital visits. But things seemed to be turning a corner, and they both had great expectations for 2024. However, God had other plans.