Life story
Alan was born in Spilsby and raised in Alford with his Mum and Dad and a few years later, his 
younger sister, Sandra. He attended Alford primary and Alford secondary Modern as it was known 
then as well as having to attend Sunday school every week. 
They had a wonderful childhood, which was full of freedom and outdoor playing. 
Notably, the many family days out which would include their parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and 
Nan. They’d spend many full days at the beach with a picnic. Usually this would be whilst Alans dad 
“Bill” worked at Ingoldmells. Alan later joined his Dad at work when he was about 13, in Ingoldmells 
and got himself a job as a barrow-boy. He was very well known around the caravan sites for his hard 
work ethic and visitors enjoyed his assistance with their cases! As he got a little bit older, he used to 
marshall at Cadwell Park with his cousin, Brian. 
After finishing school, Alan stayed in Alford for a while. He started a job at Forbes Menswear in 
Louth. There were many jokes about him having to measure the inside leg of gentlemen that came 
for a suit fitting! Alan was a part of the darts team and became secretary to the darts league. He 
enjoyed his time in Alford. He could recall one Christmas lunch that he was refused dinner by his 
mum for having too many drinks the night before with the Darts team! He told this story whilst 
laughing hysterically! 
Alan soon left Forbes to start his career as an Auctioneer and Estate Agent. He joined Balderstons in 
Spilsby where he formed a fantastic relationship with Brun Balderston, the two famously got on well. 
Eventually Alan bought his first house in Spilsby, which was down West End. His mum and Aunty 
Madge, would visit regularly to keep on top of his cleaning!! Talk about a home from home!
Obviously, this came complete with a cat – his favourite companion and he always had one! Smokey 
would sit on his knee as he drove back to Alford to see his parents – he followed him everywhere!
As his position at Balderstons continued, Alan ran many of the Auctions which included the Monday 
market in Spilsby, Friday cattle market in Louth and regular furniture and brick-a-brack auctions. The 
Monday market drew a huge crowd each week, and his mum and Aunty would often have the day 
out to watch him as he performed the auction with tons of his natural jovial banter. 
Alans love of music has been apparent forever. In his youthful days, he attended many concerts and 
music festivals. One of which with his sister and very close friends where they took a mini bus from 
Spilsby and went to watch Bruce Springsteens “Born in the USA” concert at the old Wembley 
Stadium. Alan continued to attend pop concerts throughout his entire life, the most recent being 
“Rock in Rio” in Portugal. He came back with a new found love for The Killers, Katy Perry and Bastille 
– unlikely contenders to his music collections, but it was ever growing! He was looking forward to 
attending again next year. 
Alan bought his second property, which was down Halton Road. This semi-detached house came 
with the most amazing neighbours who became a huge part of Alans and his pending families life. In 
1990 he met Sandra through an organised blind date. There were 12 of them at the Chinese 
restaurant in the Spilsby Marketplace, which was unsuccessful on the evening, but Alan persisted 
and offered a lunch date the follow day and their relationship grew from there. They were engaged 
shortly after which made the front of the local newspaper – Alan was rather romantic for the occasion and even the newspaper felt it worthy of cover! They married in 1992 at Withcall Church 
near Louth. 
Sandra fell pregnant with Katie in 1994 and she was born in the December. Alans close friend, Glen, 
was passing Boston on his way to the QE 2 where he was due to be away for the next 6 months. So 
Alan managed to persuade the midwifes to let Glen on to the ward so that he could meet Katie 
before his trip. Alan has always managed to sweet talk his way in to or out of anything! 
Balderstons later merged with Willsons and Alan stayed there until 1995 when an opportunity arose 
for him to become self-employed and he built his own estate agency which was known as “ACE” –
Alan Cussons Estates. He took the Spilsby Monday market with him and took on the weekly market 
at Louth too. He occasionally lead Alford market for a friend and continued with regular auctions. 
Although his Monday market was the most famous, it was the Louth Market that gave him a glimpse 
of fame when chef Rick Stein approached him to be filmed for one of his episodes at the time. It was 
a “Game Pie” special and the tv episode captured Rick purchasing on of the birds from Alan on the 
Louth Market. This was a great hit for the town and the local news loved it! As well as it being aired 
on National TV!
His first official office was in the Franklin Centre in Spilsby and he later moved to a larger office space 
on the terrace where he stayed until he decided to take early retirement. He continued to do 
occasional auctions, including the Christmas Turkey auctions and plant auctions which were held at 
The George and the Town Hall.
In 2007 Alan, Sandra and Katie made the move to Hagworthingham. Shortly after Sandra and Alan 
separated and Alan made a short-term move to Portugal, where he and Katie kept in touch through 
letters – all of which have been since been found. Alans love of Portugal stayed forever, he couldn’t 
stay away! 
He settled back down in Spilsby at the George Hotel and then on to the High Street, before he 
moved in to 3A Queen Street, where he has been for the last 10 years.
Katie often used to stay at Alans as it was convenient for school – or so she told her mum. Actually, 
she was hosting parties for her friends whilst Alan slept in the other room! Katies friends used Alans 
as a hub for a short time, and you could always find them there! Alan loved it and was always ready 
to welcome them back the next time! 
When Katie left school and turned 17, Alan took on the role of driving instructor. A few near misses 
and one particular lamp-post, he decided to book some official lessons with his old friend for her. 
Although the two of them had so much fun learning down the “back roads”. The hill-start lesson, 
wasn’t great as Alan took Katie to the steepest hill in Old Bollingbroke, waited until she’d reached 
half way, pulled the handbrake and said “Go on then” whilst laughing hysterically. The two laughed 
about that moment for years.
He reminisced often about his past, with Katie. Mainly about the adventures with friends. He used to 
joke about the golf days he was invited to, purely for the comical value. Especially when his friends 
jokingly suggested he was going to hit a woman on the prom (to the left and the hole was to the 
right) and he did hit the poor woman! Alan has always had a strong love for sports – Nottingham 
Forest and horse racing mainly. He shared many trips to Cheltenham, Ascot and Newmarket (toname a few) and loved the whole experience. The same with football games. He followed 
Nottingham Forest to Wembley when they won the cup final (Picture on the front of Order of 
Service!) and attended many matches at home and away. He was so sociable and was always on 
trips with friends, whether travelling Europe for sports matches or motor racing, sightseeing 
America, sunning in Spain or weekending in Bruges. He was always somewhere. This sense of 
adventure followed him throughout his entire life. As a family they holidayed at least once a year to 
hot country. Alans favourite place was Florida, America where he visited numerous times, both as a 
young single man, a newly wedded husband and as father and even God Father! He had dreamt of 
taking his grandsons in the future so that they can experience the magic. Portugal was always a firm 
favourite and a yearly staple in Alans calendar. So, it seems only right that he is being sent off today 
with his passport, 2 boarding passes (one for Portugal and one for Florida), a holiday outfit and his 
trunks! I should also let you know that he is fully suited and booted for Ascot, complete with a top 
hat, and his lucky racing tie (Plus a bookie slip!). 
Overall, Alan has lived an incredibly full life. He hasn’t missed any opportunities and has so many 
stories. He had an incredible relationship with his daughter Katie, which has only ever grown 
stronger. He had two wonderful grandsons, which he adored spending time with, and he was in the 
centre of town, always, surrounded by some fantastic people. He was so very popular and his 
memory will continue to be just that.