Alan Southward R.I.P.

I was shocked to learn today that Alan Southward, head of electoral registration at Copeland Borough Council, died very suddenly this week.

Alan had to deal with some difficult situations when running elections in Copeland. Particularly when acting as returning officer for one or two the recent by-elections such as those in Harbour ward in 2007 and Kells & Sandwith in December 2008.

A very honest man, he could be relied on to say exactly what he thought but had a remarkable knack for saying things very bluntly and openly without causing offence: he used to joke that he treated politicians of all parties with equal contempt. In terms of how he spoke to us this was true, but he also did his best to be equally helpful to everyone.

What I will particularly miss about him is that he was one of the last of those who always did his best to interpret rules and regulations in terms of what the spirit of the rules meant, guided by genuine common sense, rather than sticking rigidly to the letter of the rules no matter how stupid that is. This was a refreshing change to the "tick in the box" mentality which is far too prevalent these days.

Rest in peace.


Postscript. Shortly after I made this post, the OSC Management Committee of Copeland Council began this afternoon's meeting by standing for a minute in silence to mark Alan's memory.

Post-Postcript

Alan's funeral, which I was unfortunately not able to attend as it clashed with an important visit to Sellafield, took place today (24th February). I gather that it was a moving and very well-attended funeral.

Also today the full council stood in silence for a minute in Alan's memory

Comments

Anonymous said…
Chris, Nice touch. I used to work for copeland for many years (now living in australia) and i was shocked to hear that Alan "Ike" had died. He will be a great miss, funny guy who liked a laugh but also spoke his mind.

RIP Alan.

Dale
Chris Whiteside said…
Dale,

Thanks for that. You're absolutely right about Alan.
Anonymous said…
Chris

I couldn't agree more with your comments about Alan. He was just a genuine fella whom I'm sure we are all gonna miss so much at Copeland Borough Council.

A colleague of Alan's.
Chris Whiteside said…
Thanks. Concur absolutely
Alan and Mave said…
So sad to hear about Ike (have cried myself to sleep at night)he was a great friend of mine since we used to frequent the folk clubs together since I was eighteen years old. I am devastated.
Mave

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