ALAN SHEPARD
By Alan (L) Jones
17th August 1945 - 6th September 2012
Member 1968-70
Graduate Members Representative 1968-69
Ordinary Committee Member 1970.
Former KMC Members, Alan Shepard, died suddenly on 6th September 2012. All his friends thought that he was in his peak of fitness as he trained regularly on the moors above his home in Mossley and had been regularly participating in World Loppet Races (cross country ski races of marathon or more length run, in the same spirit as the London Marathon) and British roller ski races. He will be sadly missed not only by his wife, Enid, and daughter, Ruth, but by the whole British cross country skiing community and particularly the Manchester Cross Country Ski Club, of which he was an active member in many roles, but never as a committee man.
Nevertheless, by hard work and evening study, he became a professionally qualified electrical engineer and had a very successful career with NORWEB (and its successors after privatisation). As a youth, he managed to get out into the Peak District where he developed a love of the outdoors. He joined the KMC in about 1968 and his enthusiasm and warm personality made him an obvious choice as Graduate Members Representative. I got to know him best when, with Alan Barber, we explored the Munros of Knoydart when we were privileged to borrow the three-man tent previously used by Bob Jones, Brian Ripley and Dave Sumerfield on the first serious, but not quite successful, attempt to climb all the Munros as a single expedition. I had joined in this venture at only two days’ notice with no idea what I was in for; I had never heard of Knoydart at that time and had little experience of Scottish mountains.
Whilst he was a competent climber, like me, he was more of a walker. However, on a walk over the ridge above Wastwater we spied a crag on a little hill named Latterbarrow that we did not know about and which we were unable to find any reference to in the climbing books. We set out to explore this crag over many weekends and found that there were some easy lines which we were capable of doing. Later John Castick joined us to put up some harder routes. We subsequently wrote all this up in a little guide book which we circulated with the KMC Newsletter. This gave rise to some dispute as there were claims that the Barrow Mountaineering Club had explored it earlier but dismissed it as of no interest. However, even Wainright had failed to note it as providing one of the finest views in the Lake District. Unfortunately it is in a private woodland (replanted since our explorations) and the current owners have since kept climbers strictly out.
Alan was a particular lover of the Lake District and strongly opposed the decision of the Committee not to take up the chance to purchase the KMC’s rented hut in Irish Row, Coniston Copper Mines, but instead to look for a property in North Wales. Sadly, this decision resulted in his resignation, not just from the Committee, but from the Club. Several of us tried to persuade him to re-join at a later date, but he stubbornly refused. He was a man of firm principles and was unhappy about the way the decision was reached as well as the decision itself. I did not even manage to persuade him to come and look at the splendid hut we now have. Nevertheless, he did retain an interest in the Club in his own way and respected my continued membership. He not only helped me to prepare for the Fell Race, when I won the Sheilagh Manning Trophy, but also helped me in setting a course when I later organised the event, producing the maps which, by then, it was possible for the cognoscenti to download and edit by computer.
I continued to walk, climb and ski with Alan in the mountains of Scotland, the Lake District, the Alps and the Pyrenees until my knees restricted me to short local walks. I last saw him on the Dee Cycle Track where he was trying to restore my confidence on roller ski when I was on the verge of giving up the sport. I cannot give up now. I would like to have recounted many happy occasions in the mountains with him, but space will not allow. I never ceased to admire his determination, the breadth of his knowledge and, above all his thoughtfulness and generosity. These showed on numerous occasions when we were out together. It was clearly a great loss to the KMC when he decided to leave the Club.
The KMC was represented at Alan’s funeral by John and Virginia Castick, Jim Gregson, Peter Walker and myself. Our deepest sympathy goes out to Enid and Ruth.
