211075 Downing Record 07 - Downing College - University of ...

ObituariesStephen Allcock (1952)Stephen Allcock died very suddenly on 6 February 2006 at the age of 72, leavinghis wife Barbara, daughters Susan and Katharine, and elder brother Raymond. Afterattending Kirkham Grammar School in Lancashire and doing National Service inthe RAF at Biickeburg in Germany he read Natural Sciences. He also sang in thechapel choir, carrying on the family tradition of church music, and played thetrumpet in a skiffle group. Stephen initially worked for Marconi at Chelmsford asa graduate apprentice, but then moved back to Lancashire and joined theElectronics Department of the then English Electric Company (Aircraft Division) atWarton. Here he stayed, throughout the various guises of the company whichbecame today’s BAE Systems, until he took early retirement in 1988 at the age of55. The highlight of his career was probably the time he spent as one of the firstengineers to work on an early digital computer, the DEUCE. This enabled him tohelp out at other companies in the pioneering days of computing, including theinstallation of BP’s first computer in the City of London and also work at Shortsand Harland in Belfast. Subsequently he progressed to the design and managementof the ground station for flight test data recording for five military aircraftprogrammes, the Canberra, Lightning, TSR-2, Jaguar and Tornado. Outside workStephen was very interested in local history and was actively involved in themanagement of the Lytham St Annes Civic Society. He also serviced Talking Bookmachines for the RNIB and had a lifelong love of travel. In 2001 Stephen andBarbara moved to Headcorn in Kent to be near their grandchildren Liam and Daisy.Stephen found plenty of interest in the local history society, the wartime airfieldsand the building of the Channel Tunnel rail link – and was also able to attend acouple of reunion events at Downing. He was devoted to his family, friends andthe public good, and is fondly remembered and sadly missed by all who knew him.Martin John Kjolsen Blomley (1977)Mrs Barbara AllcockDavid Blomley (1949) wrote to tell us of the death of his son Martin who died ofmalignant melanoma at the age of 46 in April 2006, at the height of his career. FromTheale Green School he followed his father to Downing at the age of 17 on an OpenExhibition in Economics. When he saw the first year work he realised he’d done mostof it at school anyway so he switched to maths and got a first in his Finals. Aftertravelling in the USA and working in San Francisco he decided to leave computingand study medicine at the London Hospital. His career led him to radiology and here46