George Alexander (1954-2023)

The following eulogy was read at George's funeral in April.

Memories of George

George was born in November 1954 in West Runton Norfolk, we think because his father, who was in the army, was stationed there at the time.

His early years were quite itinerant as dictated by his father’s postings, including some time spent in Hong Kong.

The family returned to the UK when he was about eight, settling in his parents’ native northeast. Sadly, his father died while George was still at primary school.

George was successful in obtaining a local authority scholarship to the prestigious Dame Allan’s Boys’ School in Newcastle, then a direct grant grammar school, where he did well academically and flourished at various sports. Friendships were formed here that lasted his lifetime, and it is good to see that several have been able to join us today.

In his early school years George was quite a small lad, but as he grew his sporting talents were revealed. He was a lightning-fast winger on the rugby team, playing two seasons in the 1st XV – although he paid the price of being marooned in this often freezing-cold position and at some time broke most of his fingers catching balls on cold winters’ mornings. He was also a 1st XI cricketer and a very good runner, representing both the school and county at Athletics. A love of Newcastle United also developed at this time and there were regular trips to stand in the Leazes End on a Saturday afternoon - 3/6 for U 16s. That was if he was not playing rugby for Gosforth Colts. (Newcastle Falcons as they now are).

George passed the requisite two A levels and went on to do Business Studies at the then Sheffield Polytechnic. A number of old school friends also studied in Sheffield at the same time and in his third and final years three of us shared a house with two others, conveniently located opposite the Rising Sun pub on Fulwood Road. Darts was a regular activity in the Rising Sun, but George’s love of squash also developed while he was in Sheffield and, as we know, was something that endured for the rest of his life.

After Sheffield he went to Birmingham University for a year to do a postgraduate course in Operational Research. The bright lights of London then beckoned, and he settled initially in the Ealing area of west London, later buying a flat in Hammersmith. He worked in accountancy and finance for several companies, including the Crown Cork Company, Dowty Engineering and latterly for Bechtel, a large US engineering contractor with its UK headquarters in Hammersmith.

Whilst in London George pursued his interests in going to music gigs, playing squash and football and partaking in annual skiing holidays. George was a very sociable guy and his diverse interests and activities meant that he had different social groups, many of which are represented here today, but some of us will be meeting for the first time.

After around 15 years in London, Bechtel offered the opportunity for George to be seconded to a long-term contract of theirs with Northwest Water based in Warrington, but he kept his flat in London and continued to be a regular visitor.

One day in the late summer of 2001 I had a call from George asking if I could hire a van to move his stuff from Warrington to a house he had just bought in Sheffield. His mother had sadly died a couple of years before and he had decided to take a redundancy package from Bechtel to take up semi-retirement in Sheffield, he like so many others - including several here today - having fallen under the spell of the city during his student days. His specification for the size of the van proved conservative incidentally, and we ended up having to make two return trips over the Pennines in the space of a Saturday afternoon. I remember he bought me a curry for my efforts.

His criterion when house hunting in Sheffield was that he should be within a half mile radius of the Squash Club, near Hunter’s Bar, and as we know this remained a focus of his life until the very end.

Although an accountant by profession George’s interests were deep and wide ranging. The move to Sheffield gave him the opportunity to return to his alma mater, now Sheffield Hallam University to enrol on a part-time degree course in History, from where he emerged with a first-class degree a few years later.

He was also passionately interested in music with diverse and eclectic tastes, from folk to jazz with, in recent years a lot of Americana en route. He had a collection of more than 2000 CDs, all carefully recorded on spreadsheets and catalogued alphabetically, and some 600 vinyl albums (but nothing to play them on!) He was always open to new music. Many years ago he introduced me to the likes of Soft Machine and Steely Dan, and even during our last conversation said he said he had a CD he wanted to give me.

Sadly, I can’t remember who it was. He was never one to wallow in the past musically however, particularly if it came to 70s progressive rock! (despite a youthful passion for Jethro Tull). One of the last messages I received from him was a dismissive rection to a photo I’d sent of a King Crimson box set I‘d just spotted in a shop window in Broomhill.

George led a very active and sociable life going to many overseas music festivals, on England cricket tours and regular weekend ‘cultural’ trips to European football venues. He became a season ticket holder at Sheffield United and continued to make regular trips to St James Park in Newcastle. It looks like both teams will make his final season a memorable one. Even after he’d received his diagnosis, he was determined to live life to the full and not compromise on his regular activities.

George could also be enigmatic and a bit stubborn. He could see no point in driving or having a car, but that suited his lifestyle. He was certainly no home-maker. But he was a good and lasting friend and I’m sure we shall all miss him terribly.

Steve Woodcock, April 2023.