In Memoriam: Alan Bond
[Alan’s Funeral and Reception Details (click)] In Memoriam: It is with great sadness that I write to let you all know that Alan Bond passed away during the night of Friday 26th July. I know that many of you have known Alan for far longer than the few short years in which he and I became good friends and indeed business colleagues. All of you, I am sure, will have been touched by his encyclopaedic knowledge of anything to do with electronics at some time or other during your many boat builds when you had a problem which needed solving or needed some advice on how to proceed. I started talking to Alan a few years ago about wishing to learn more about electronics and he readily agreed to teach me the black arts of Picaxe, Arduino and PCB design. He was a marvellous teacher and I will always be grateful for his patience when my miserable efforts only managed to get the “must do better” email! He could also be a stern taskmaster when he wished and did not suffer fools gladly. Although he occasionally came to the pond with his fishing boat (equipped with a rather large speaker for demonstrating his model boat sound effects), he was also a passionate enthusiast of model aeroplanes and motorbikes. He was particularly interested in competition timers for national, and indeed international, aero-modelling disciplines and it was this success that led to him asking me to take over the manufacturing side of his Forge Electronics. I was very happy to do so and this gave him more time to develop new projects both for the boats and aeroplanes. He was also able to attend more of his motor bike racing events. Some of you will know of his background as a scrutineer of the very highest standard of motorbike racing, namely the world championships. Alan was very generous with his time and knowledge and we will all miss him at the pond and our thoughts are with his family and friends at this sad time. John Wills |
Very sad news indeed. Alan and I had both spent our (long distant) student days at Imperial College, London. Although we had not known each other then, this common background, and the careers which ensued, led to many interesting pond side discussions. In the early days of a club web site Alan was an important contributor of “Hints and Tips” articles as well as photos and movies. More recently, Alan had become more involved with model aircraft and I with Coastwatch, so our paths crossed less often. Nevertheless I, and I’m sure many others, will sorely miss his presence in the Club.
Very sad news indeed and Alan will be missed by all of us . He was always willing to help sort out our electrical problems and was a very supportive club member . On a personal note he has helped me many times and was happy to design and build several bespoke systems for my models.
On behalf of myself ,the committee and members we send our deepest sympathy to his family on their sudden loss .
Very sad news, Alan was always very helpful , willing and only to please to share his knowledge and help others. He will be missed.
We send our deepest sympathy to Alan’s family. Mondays will never be the same. We have talked over many topics and memories over coffee and biscuits,
Our thoughts are for Alan’s family from
Ken and Phyll Dyer.