A tribute to Alan Griffin the founder of the Leamington History Group

Alan grew up in Southam, one of three sons of a baker who lived at Southam Windmill.

He passed the 11+ and attended Leamington College until the age of 16, when like most of his contemporaries at that time, having completed ‘O’ levels, he left to start work.

He was apprenticed to an engineer in Leamington, but before long was moonlighting at weekends as a sports journalist and photographer, riding pillion on a friend’s motorbike from match to match to catch the latest scores before phoning them in for publication in the local version of

‘The Pink’.

Photography was always his passion, but he also dedicated 28 years of his life to the fire service, publishing numerous articles and a book, Fetch the Engines, – a history of the Southam Fire Brigades.

In ‘retirement’, Alan held numerous short-term contract posts, – as an archives assistant at the Warwickshire County Record Office, as a court usher, and security at Warwick Castle.

He was a volunteer at St Mary’s Church in Warwick, and for many years caught a Saturday morning train to London, to spend the day as a volunteer guide at St Paul’s Cathedral.

For a time, he was verger at All Saints in Leamington, which led to his rescuing pictures and other ephemera, writing leaflets for visitors and unearthing the stories of some of the inhabitants of the churchyard and the crypt, – no longer accessible to the public, as a result of very many years’ damp, and the extensive damage from floodwater in 1998.

From 2001-2016 Alan was also Mace Bearer to Leamington Town Council, which prompted him to research the mayoral regalia and other items of interest associated with the building.

If that were not enough, he was also passionately involved in local history, at Walton, at Southam and Leamington.

He helped found the Southam Local History Society and the Leamington History Group, contributing talks, slide shows and numerous publications.

I can safely say that the Leamington History Group would not have come into being without Alan’s commitment to saving, archiving and sharing all that had been discovered as part of the History at Bath Place Project.

A particular topic which held deep resonance for Alan was the daring exploits of SAS-trained Czech soldiers who were billeted locally from 1940-1942 and who parachuted into history to assassinate one of the most powerful men in the Third Reich, Reynard Heydrich.

Alan tracked down and interviewed a number of the Czech Brigade who had settled in UK, using their testimonies and photographs to produce a book which is now out of print, but still very much sought-after.

He was honoured by both the Czech and Slovak Governments for his tribute and, until ill-health prevented him, attended every annual commemoration ceremony at the Memorial Fountain in Jephson Gardens.

The Memorial stands as a tribute to the parachutists, and now also to Alan, who with his customary energy and attention to detail, set up a Friends Association to help fund its restoration.

In all, Alan published 12 books and 55 online articles as a historian.