Alan Milton was widely known for his kindness, his steady hold on a principled life and his unwavering sense of service.
Alan Milton was the driving force behind the Cambridge Autumn Festival.
He is also someone who will leave an indelible mark on this community.
His was the nugget of an idea that grew into Cambridge’s Autumn Festival, Alana MacKay said in a joint message penned by festival trustees after Alan’s farewell at St Andrew’s Church last week.
He died on December 3, aged 88 and left the community with a rich legacy.
“Alan took great joy in making Cambridge a better place,” the trustees wrote. “He thought that an annual autumn festival in town would be a great fit and spent two years in partnership with David McCathie [Alana MacKay’s dad] setting up the first Cambridge Autumn Festival in 2009.”
Alan and David recruited Jocelyn Cooney as a third founding trustee, and together they crafted the much-loved festival that continues to fill Cambridge with music and song at each summer’s end.
The trustees said Alan and his team devoted hundreds, if not thousands, of voluntary hours to organising the event, and even after stepping down from his official role, he remained a strong advocate for the festival.
Cambridge Autumn Festival trustee Alan Milton cuts the cake on the festival’s opening night, with fellow trustee David McCathie. Photo – Michael Jeans.
Outside that event, Alan was a ‘dedicated parishioner and worker for St Andrew’s Anglican Church’ over the 23 years he lived here. He was also past president and committee member of the Gaslight Theatre, and a committee member of the Scottish Country Dancing Society.
Alan, born in London in 1936, moved with his family to the countryside when the bombs of World War 11 began falling. He won a scholarship to Brentwood School, a prestigious public school in Sussex, and later did his national service with the Royal Highlanders regiment (Black Watch), deploying to the then British Guiana (now Guyana) on the northern coast of South America.
Serving with the Black Watch gave him a lifelong love of all things Scottish and opened his eyes to a wider world.
Alan met Gill Hopwood at a ‘Hi-de-Hi’ holiday camp and after marrying in 1960, the pair moved around England for a while before casting an eye on a life abroad. They arrived in New Zealand in 1974, settling in Auckland’s North Shore from where Alan continued to build a career in the financial industry. The family moved to Cambridge in 1998.
Those at his farewell heard that Alan had been a humble yet painfully shy young man who found a new confidence through Toastmasters. He became a liturgist and reader at St Andrew’s Church services, was a supporter of the restoration of the church organ, and organised the popular St Andrew’s concert series.
Those closest to him knew Alan as a calm, honest man, one who loved travel, wine, music and gardening. He was well read, kind and patient, a devoted family man who was generous with his time.
Many of those attributes he shared with the wider community. For most of us, Alan Milton was quite simply a remarkably nice man.
Alan and Gill Milton at their 1960 wedding in England.
