Alan was born in St. Neots, but he was very proud of his East end roots. He grew up in Hoxton, Walthamstow, and Leytonstone with his parents Fred and Violet, and his sister Mavis. He attended several schools in his young life and completed his schooling at Norlington Road Secondary school.

Alan excelled at all sports, but his great love was athletics. He sprinted for his school all over Essex, and joined Victoria Park Harriers Club as a teenager where he won many medals and shields for the club. Alan left school at 15 and went to Poplar technical college, alongside doing an apprenticeship in engineering;  at that time his goal in life was to be a welder.

Alan met Pauline at the Leyton Youth Club - he said he noticed her and was attracted to her because she couldn’t catch a ball! They started dating when Pauline was 14 and Alan 17. He completed his apprenticeship and, at the age of 21, joined a petrochemical company as a draughtsman. He soon progressed to manage projects where his career in the industry took him all over the world, travelling to Canada, Nigeria, Qatar, Italy and three years spent in Norway. He spent time on oil rigs during his working life, and when asked what he actually did, his reply was “I weigh them”.

Alan and Pauline married in 1963 and went on to have their three beautiful daughters Sarah, Victoria and Katie. Their first grandson, Matthew, was born in 1998 followed by Felicity their first granddaughter in 1999, then a second grandson Daniel was born in 2000 followed by a second granddaughter Amelia in 2004, followed by their third grandson Oliver born in 2005. Their sixth grandchild Annabelle was born in 2007. Alan adored his children and grandchildren, he loved being with them, and was so proud of all their achievements.

Alan came to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ at the age of 47. He had an Emmaus experience and went from not believing in God one minute, to talking to Him the next. His greatest joy in life was praying for people and telling them about Jesus. If faced with a difficult situation, especially with someone in authority, he would brush away any fears saying “I talk to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords every day, what is there to be worried about?”

Alan served as a chaplain at the Paralympic Games in Athens, and at the age of 65 whilst on a retreat, Alan was called by God to be a priest in the Church of England. He did face some opposition but said “despite what anyone says, God has called me and I will be ordained, it will happen” And happen it did when our bishop at the time, David Hawkins, supported Alan wholeheartedly.

Alan has been supported and encouraged throughout his ministry by three different vicars in this church; Rodney Matthews and his wife Rosemary, John Springbett, and Ola Franklin, and his colleague Ian Monks. The congregation in this church loved Alan, and it would be difficult to name all those who supported him; the list is too long.

Alan’s love for God led him to be Chaplain at Woodford Green athletics Club, and chaplain of West Ham United football Club for 15 years. Alan never tired of doing God’s work and the thought of retirement never entered his head. Alan’s role in the church covered many tasks, from unblocking toilets to celebrating communion -  he was happy to serve God in any way he could.

For relaxation Alan liked nothing better than being with his family. He loved family holidays in Southwold and the fact that all the grandchildren still wanted to spend their holiday with him. He became famous for his bacon and sausage rolls served from the beach hut several times a week. Family quizzes in the evenings always had Alan groaning, but once started, his competitive spirit came out; if he could win one of the stupendous prizes of a chocolate bar, it made his week.

Pauline says of her life with Alan, “every day was a joy, he wasn’t just a glass half full, he was a glass overflowing. From the day we first met until his recent death, he never took off his rose-coloured glasses. “Worry” was not a word in his vocabulary, but prayer very much was. The tiniest problem to the biggest was always prayed about. His children and grandchildren were prayed for every day, along with many other friends and situations. Everything Alan did was talked through first with his Heavenly Father.

And finally Alan would want me to say, he was far from perfect, but a work in progress. Alan made me laugh every day with his sense of fun, and his love of life will carry me through the times ahead without him.

I thank God for 61 years spent with my darling husband.

And some words from Alan’s daughters, Sarah, Victoria and Katie.

Our dad was simply the best father we could have wished for. He was extremely supportive in good times and bad, doing his best to always make things better for us; generous with his time and resources.

We all have too many happy childhood memories to mention from family holidays to the South of France in the caravan, school holidays in Norway as young teens, the many birthdays and Christmases, and ordinary days we’ve all shared.

His sense of direction wasn’t great, and never really improved; we all knew as children that we’d be in for a very long ride when we heard him say that he knew a short cut.

He tried to make athletes out of us, unfortunately without success, but was always interested in whatever we were doing, and our various interests over the years. He was our greatest cheerleader, often telling us “you’re a winner”!

When each of our children came along, he was very hands on, enjoying every stage from tiny babies to the young adults they are today.

He was never shy of telling us all he loved us when we met up, and sometimes more than once. To say we will miss our Dad is an understatement, he leaves a huge hole in our family, but we are all so proud and privileged to have been able to call Reverend Alan Bolding; Dad.

And the grandchildren would like to add;

Papa has been a great inspiration to us all and a perfect role model. He always had a smile on his face, and made us all laugh so often.
We have so many happy memories of all the things we have shared.