Local Face: Alan Newton

Most people know “Alan” from Wendover Station. He trained with Chiltern Rail and has been here inWendover for over 15 years now.

Alan Newton was born in Lambeth, London. The family left in 1964 because Alan’s parents who were working for Negretti & Zambra relocated to Aylesbury. Alan and his sister, Alison, who lives in Wendover and teaches special needs in Aylesbury, and his mother and father all moved to Aylesbury where the children attended Queens Park Infant School. Alan went on to the Grange School while his sister attended Sir Henry Floyd School.

Alan has always been interested in sport and joined any team/sport that he could. His father introduced him to Judo, which he loved and excelled at, progressing to international status and represented Great Britain in Belgium in the late 1970’s. One of his teachers, Mr Dennis who trained at RAF Halton in the Finlay Gym was an ex Welsh Judo International. Alan will be eternally grateful to him and the RAF for the encouragement and time spent on him.

Alan met his wife, Anita, in 1981. Her family was attached to RAF Halton before moving to Aylesbury. It was Anita who got Alan back into sport. He loved the relaxation of running the longer distances ie. half marathons and marathons(and says his knees now suffer as a direct result!)

After a few years he got a guaranteed entry into the London Marathon which requires a sub 2 hour 40 minute time recorded. He progressed by joining Aylesbury Vale Athletics Club and represented Buckinghamshire in a 20 mile road race up in Banbury. In total, Alan ran 37 marathons during his running career.

He also ran and completed 7 London Marathons with his best time in 1988 of 2hours 31 minutes 41 seconds (beating all the Japanese runners contesting places for the Olympics. By then he had two children and needed to concentrate on family life. Alan and Anita have two beautiful daughters: Samantha who works at the Wendover Rooms Nursery, and Serena who works for Thomas Cook in Aylesbury. Even though he is a family man, Alan still keeps very active and over the years he has done the London to Brighton Bike Ride and with the generosity of the customers/passengers at Wendover, he has managed to raise thousands of pounds for the British Heart Foundation. As a hobby he has also been an active juggler at Queens Park Arts Centre (his old school premises). Alan has been involved in Irish Hurling in London, and last year was part of the team that won the Collins Cup which is the Hurling equivalent to the FA cup in football! As his sporting career tails off Alan has finally achieved what he has been after for years and has acquired a Vespa Scooter which is now eating up miles going to rallies; some may say he is reliving his youth.

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