FORMER TOWN COUNCILLOR PASSES AWAY
The life of Councillor, Bob Evans, former Leader of Alton Town
Council, was celebrated at Alton Assembly Rooms on Wednesday, 18th
May.
Bob, always known to his family, as Robert, was born in 1952 in New
Malden, Surrey. He was educated at Tiffin Boys Grammar School in
Kingston-on-Thames and later at Wallingford Grammar School.
As editor of the Wallingford Grammar School magazine Bob was invited to tea by one of the
town’s most distinguished residents, Mrs Mallowan, better known as the crime writer, Agatha
Christie. Over tea she gave him a rare interview for the school magazine.
Bob read law at Kings College London where he was deputy president of the union and in
that capacity he was presented to HM The Queen. Bob was called to the Bar at the Middle
Temple. He moved to Alton with his parents when he got his first job as a Justices’ Clerk at
Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court.
Bob continued to live in Alton after he went to work in London at Camberwell Green, Tower
Bridge and Woolwich. The commute was a bit of a trial but there was less risk of meeting
the defendant in the Co-op, and in any case, Bob loved Alton.
Bob was still in contact with colleagues he had with colleagues he had worked with in
London. They remembered him as a very good lawyer and someone who was always ready
to help other clerks.
Bob was elected to Alton Town Council as one of the representatives of Alton Amery Ward
after he had taken voluntary redundancy from the Magistrates’ Court Service in 1998.
After that he helped local people with cases at employment tribunals, county courts and small
claims courts. His sister, Barbara Burfoot, said that she had lost count of the people who had
said to her, since Bob’s death; “Bob was a good friend to me when I really needed one”.
Bob was a regular at the Eight Bells in Alton for many years. It was because of his
connection with the Eight Bells that Bob became one of the founders of Alton’s Annual
Victorian or Olde Fashioned Cricket Tournament.
Bob had played cricket for Bentley Cricket Club (he said he wasn’t good enough to play for
Alton) and was a member of Surrey Country Cricket with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the
laws of cricket and cricket lore.
Graham Lowe recalled the early days of the tournament when it had been a match between
the Eight Bells and the French Horn based on a 19th century newspaper report of such a
match which Rod Ryan, then landlord of the French Horn had found while he was renovating
the pub’s chimney.
“The precise date (the tournament started) is uncertain but it is to be believed to be around
1982 or 1983. However, Bob was involved from the start. The purpose of the event was
merely to have a fun Sunday afternoon and perhaps make a little money for a local charity
which (at the time) was Bushy Leaze. Back then if we made £250 from the sale of very
limited raffle tickets and the collection through the town, we were lucky!”
“Bob’s input to the rules of the games was invaluable. As stated earlier the event was to be
fun and therefore we needed rules that reflected this and not too seriously biased to the proper
cricket rules. Under Bob’s guidance I think we achieved that!”
“Today with more teams and more sponsors plus involvement with the nominated charity,
which now changes every year, we are raising in excess of £5,000.”
“The prizes of the draw have now improved, with the first prize being 500 guineas (£525).
For the last few years the first prize has been donated from an anonymous donor - I am happy
to say that I can now reveal the identity - it was Bob.”
Luath Grant Ferguson, speaking for the Amery Hill Residents Association, paid tribute to
Bob’s work as a town councillor. “Either as plain Bob, or Councillor Bob Evans, we have
lost someone who was committed to making a contribution to the life and well-being of the
community in which he lived. Only last October, although unwell, he attended the
Association’s Annual Neighbourhood Meeting. He brought us up to date on a range of local
issues, answered questions and gave advice. What he failed to tell us, as we have since
learned from his sister, Barbara, was that earlier that day he had heard just how serous his
illness was. Bob could have sent an apology but he didn’t.”
“The Association wishes to register its deep appreciation of Bob’s support over many years,
his approachability, his warmth of heart, his dry wit (there was none drier) and of his courage
at the close of his life.”
Luath went on to say that on a personal note he wanted to express his appreciation of Bob’s
community spirit over twenty years ago when the annual Victorian Cricket match was
expanded into a knockout tournament to raise funds for Bushy Leaze of which he was then
Headmaster. “Bob was one of those who threw their weight behind the idea. He gave his full
support not only behind the scenes but behind the stumps.”
However, he felt that he had to take issue with Bob’s umpiring style. “What must any
batsman have made of an umpire wigged and gowned gazing at him as if a defendant in the
dock about to go down? And that index finger of his could indicate ‘Out’ so fast that it was
even known to do so before the ball had left the bowler’s hand. If a batsman was deemed by
Bob to have scored enough runs up went that finger! Some of the reasons given were not
from the book of rules, but usually sent the batsman or woman packing with a good laugh.
Not that Bob so much as smiled. His expression of deadly seriousness was all part of the
joke.
“Bob loved those matches. His contribution to the laughter and enjoyment of Alton’s
midsummer festival of old-fashioned cricket helped to raise funds for vulnerable members of
the community. He was himself, a fixture, which should be reason enough for Bob to be
allowed his own place in the history of cricket and of Alton.”
(Word courtesy of the Alton Herald)