Harry Alan Browne - 29th March 1912 to 26th October 2004
One of the Founder Members of the Old Harveian's, Harry Alan Browne, died recently on the 26th October 2004. He was better known as 'Alan', to most of his friends.
Alan was born on the 29th March 1912 at 14 Radnor Park Crescent, Folkestone, Kent. Elder son of Harry Hayden Browne and Ellen Gertrude
Browne (nee Saffrey).
He attended St. Mary's primary school in Dover Road and then the HarveyGrammar School in Grace Hill. Whilst at school he played the drums in the school band with Ronnie Aldrich, who later went on to form the famous "Squadronairs" during the war. Alan kept in touch with Ronnie
and his wife Mary until Ronnie's death in 1993.
On leaving school Alan helped to form the Old Harveians, an association for the old boys of the school, and attended meetings and annual dinners right up to the mid nineties.
War Service
During the war years, Alan served in the RNVR as a Lieutenant Commander working on the Radar Scanners in Scapa Flow in Scotland, Dakar in West Africa, Holyhead and Milford Haven in Wales.
Television Pioneer
Alan was one of the pioneers of television reception and was the first in this area to receive television pictures. This was in the days when an aerial was not as we know it now, but a tall 100 foot wooden mast, with a large metal structure on top, and attached to the side of his house in Surrenden Road. He worked closely with the BBC, before the war, and when the programmes resumed in the late 1940's he toured the BBC regions lecturing on how he had assisted in the early days of television reception. Alan was also the first in Folkestone to own a colour television and crowds surrounded the windows of the shop to watch the first coloured pictures ever to be received in Folkestone.
Life in Folkestone
After the war he returned to run the family business, with his father and younger brother, which by now was selling records, record players, radios, fridges, washing machines and other electrical equipment, later televisions, tape & video recorders.
One of Alan's passions, in his younger days, was motorcycle grass track racing. He was a keen member of a local club and was regularly seen acting as a marshal with 3 reluctant daughters watching from a safe distance. He was also a member of a miniature rifle club and a keen fisherman.
In 1973 he retired and sold the shop premises. During his retirement he enjoyed travelling the country first with his caravan and then later with a motor home. He also drove the minibus for the Salvation Army luncheon club and transported both patients and families to the Pilgrim's Hospice in Canterbury. He was a keen Free Mason and attended many lodges in the Folkestone area. He also took an active part in the Rotarians, when he was in business, and later the Past Rotarians during his retirement, travelling to many of their conferences throughout the United Kingdom to represent the Folkestone and Hythe branch.
In 1993 he suffered a severe stroke, which left him semi-paralysed down his right side and with short-term memory loss. He celebrated his 90th birthday in 2002 with a large family gathering, including his most recent great-grandson, just 6 weeks of age. On the evening of Tuesday 26th October 2004, peacefully, he slipped through 'heaven's gates', to
be reunited with his beloved Kathleen.
