Alan Tilbury dies

Published: Sunday, 29 August 2021

EVERYONE who has ever perused narrowboatworld must be aware of the name Alan Tilbury.

It is with deep sorrow that I have to report the death of Alan, a dear friend to both Jan and myself over the years, who passed away last week after a short illness.

AlanJanAlan has been our senior reporter, providing endless news articles since the very early days, and though not a boat owner himself, he had a great love of the waterways and I was told his last wish was to have his ashes scattered in a canal.

This love of the waterways was shown to us with our first meeting when he joined us on our boat on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal in 2006, driving all the way from his home in Margate and back to be with us for just a day.

Since then he has joined us many times on our cruises, distance being no object and spending time with us at home. The picture shows Alan with Jan at a lock on the Chesterfield Canal.

As narrowboatworld is a non-profit concern, like our other contributors, he provided material simply to help provide information for its readers, right to his very end just days before his death, that was so appreciated, and he will be a great loss indeed to the site.

It is indeed with deep sorrow that I had to announce his death.  He will be sadly missed.

Tom Crossley