John Edward Allen

John Edward Allen (1937 − 2024) was born in Brighton, the son of single mum Ida, a lace mender who had travelled there from her home town of Long Eaton in Derbyshire to be with her sister Gladys. They soon returned to the family home.

John did well at Derby Road junior school followed by Long Eaton Grammar school. He then signed up with the RAF, training at Compton Bassett in Wiltshire before being posted to Malaysia in 1956, then Jalan Gambang. He left the RAF after two years and returned home to work at Ericsson’s and study to be a chartered engineer.

When the factory closed in 1964 he moved around the country for work, first to Orpington in Kent, with the TMC (Telephone Manufacturing Company), then the Marconi Company in Basildon, and finally the Ministry of Defence in Bromley and London.

During this time he had a very happy family life. He had met Betty when he was 17, and they married in 1955. They went on to have three children, Carol, Martin and Richard, followed by six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

They gathered many good friends as they moved from Long Eaton to Kent to Rayleigh in Essex, and back to Kent. From there John could commute to London, and he continued doing that after they moved back to Essex. They were living in Shoeburyness when he retired in 1997.