Alan Shepherd Obituary
Posted on Jul 11, 2024Alan Shepherd 23/1/1936 to 10/4/2024
On 10th of April 2024, after an illness dating back to November 2023, we sadly lost Alan Shepherd (Dad, Grandad and father-in-law). A bitter blow to all the family and many still working at J.A. Harrison.
A frequent visitor to the factory he officially opened in November 2017, he was always welcomed by those who knew him. He was a people person and always had time for everyone, nothing was ever too much trouble. The “Family Company” thrived on this type of relationship.
Alan joined the company in 1958 following his National Service. He started on the shop floor producing gaskets before moving to an office and sales role. Alan always loved telling people how his sales career was conducted initially by bus and on foot, to reach many of our customers at the time.
The company was classed as a mill furnisher, servicing the vast array of textile mills that populated Manchester and surrounding areas. This included gaskets, packings, hoses and belting. As the textile industry declined, the paper industry grew.
In 1979 Alan was joined by his son Martin who took over the mantle in production and in 1982 Keith followed, taking on more of a sales and accounts role.
The company steadily grew under Alan’s leadership and a management buyout in 1984 saw the company move forward again. In 1988 the company hit the magical 1 million turnover, and this was soon followed by more growth, with the company now edging ever closer to the magical 10 million turnover.
Daughter Elaine then arrived in the fold, taking care of accounting and HR. Always done under the watchful eye of Alan, but with enough slack to allow the family and company to develop and change with the times.
Alan retired in 2010, even then, he couldn’t stay away from work as he continued to look after the salaries of an ever-increasing staff, finally hanging up his boots in 2014.
He enjoyed a full retirement and loved walking and reading. He loved his sport immensely and if it wasn’t football on the TV, it was cricket, golf, tennis or some other form of sport.
Married for 66 years to Marjorie, he always said that mum was the backbone of the company and mum even worked at J.A. Harrison on the purchase ledger for several years, before retiring herself.
In 2021 Alan oversaw the sale of 80% of the company to Amcomri Limited, a company specialising in acquisitions within the engineering field, whose goal is to acquire a selection of companies to cover all aspects of engineering.
On the day of the funeral, the cortege passed by the factory and all staff not attending the funeral itself lined up on the main road outside the factory to pay their last respects, a terribly moving moment and a wonderful goodbye to “Mr Harrison’, “Mr Gasket” and Dad.
Under the careful guidance of new owners Amcomri, the legacy will live on. Alan will be sadly missed, but never forgotten.
By Keith Shepherd
