My good friend Alan Rea, who has died aged 76 of most cancers, was an educationist in north-east Scotland whose work on grownup training with the Staff’ Academic Affiliation led to the creation of various worthwhile community-based initiatives aimed toward serving to deprived individuals.
His most notable contributions to the WEA started in 1990, when he turned tutor-organiser of its north Scotland district, stretching from Inverness to Dundee. Over the following years his concepts and initiatives added vastly to the organisation’s growth in Scotland.
Amongst his most excellent initiatives was the lottery-funded Salt of the Earth Challenge, which he conceived as a recent model of the Nineteen Thirties Mass Commentary programme – capturing, by way of interviews, staff’ experiences of dwelling by way of the big adjustments of the twentieth century. The venture’s archive is now held by the Nationwide Library of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Alan was born in Ruislip, Middlesex (now within the London borough of Hillingdon), to John, an engineer at Lucas Industries, and Anne (nee Carroll), a nurse who had emigrated to Britain from Eire. He was educated at St Benedict’s college in Ealing, west London, and later studied botany at Aberdeen College.
He gained his diploma and remained within the metropolis, however after abandoning a PhD did trainer coaching at Northern School of Schooling in Aberdeen. He then taught biology at Ellon Academy in Aberdeenshire, adopted by a interval working in faculties in Greece. Extremely regarded by his pupils, he employed a discursive and inquiry-based strategy – one thing he determined can be notably helpful for grownup college students.
On his return to Aberdeen from Greece in 1981, Alan joined the WEA as a tutor specialising in commerce union programs, additionally changing into an efficient store steward for WEA Scotland employees.
In 1984 he got here up with a plan that led to the institution of a brand new regional WEA within the Highlands and later, when he had turn out to be tutor-organiser, he gained a £350,000 lottery grant for the Attain Out Challenge in Aberdeen, which labored to assist with the tutorial wants of susceptible individuals, together with ex-offenders, substance misusers and people with psychological well being points.
In 2002 Alan retired from the WEA. His massive backyard at Craigievar within the Vale of Alford, cultivated over 30 years, was a supply of nice pleasure and a welcoming haven for buddies and neighbours. The conviviality in that setting was often sustained by smoked salmon and cured produce from his personal smokehouse.
He’s survived by his brothers, Paul and Francis.
