It is with the deepest regret that we must announce the death today, (17th May), of Eric Alley, OBE, a President Emeritus of the institute.
Our thoughts are with his family and friends.
Eric had a long and distinguished involvement with civil protection but also served on the Arctic convoys during tha last war. Originally from Preston in Lancashire, he was on the first Arctic convoy, code-named Operation Dervish, which left Hvalfiourdur in Iceland on 21 August, 1941. By then, Norway and the Baltic states had been overrun by Germany, and the only way that supplies could reach Russia was through the ports of Murmansk and Archangel, which are both inside the Arctic Circle.
He had twice tried to join the navy since war broke out but it wasn’t until his 18th birthday that he could be accepted. He volunteered for the first active role that came along, which was for a radar operator, and after three weeks’ training he joined the destroyer HMS Inglefield. Between August 1941 and March 1943, he would make 15 convoy journeys to Russia in his ship from its base in Iceland.
He was due to receive his Arctic Convoy Medal next week.
Eric had been professionally engaged in Civil Protection, Emergency Planning and Disaster Management since 1949, serving five local authorities in England, and then as a Home Office, Civil Defence Adviser. He was also Honorary Vice-President of the Civil Defence Association.
He was Honorary General Secretary to the Association of Civil Defence and Emergency Planning Officers from 1966-1974 and Honorary Chairman from 1980-1983. He was also Honorary President of the Institute of Civil Defence and Disaster Studies from 1986-1996, and Honorary President Emeritus until its merger with the Institute of Emergency Management, in 2009
Internationally he had been consultant to the United Nations, Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, a Member of the College of Advisors of the International Civil Defence Organisation, with full-time attachment as Special Adviser to the Secretary General from 1974-1976. In 1990, as part-time Consultant to the European Commission, Environment, Security, Nuclear and Civil Protection, he was involved in the preparation and production of Multilingual Lexicon of Terminology of Civil Protection.
He directed a number of international Staff and Instructor courses in Geneva for the I.C.D.O. from 1969, and was Associate Director to the 1st Civil Defence Staff Course, Simon Bolivar University, Caracas, Venezuela, in 1975. He has taught and lectured on Civil Defence and Emergency Planning topics in Europe, United States, South Africa, and Australia, and was a member of the U.N./I.C.D.O. Civil Protection advisory missions to Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Nigeria, Armenia, Russian Republic, Moldova, Iran, Cyprus, and China.
He was awarded the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.), in 1987, and appointed a Freeman of the City of London in 1976. He was made a Serving Brother of the Order of St. John (S.B.St.J.), in 1965; awarded the Gold Medal of the Institute of Civil Defence and Disaster Studies in 1972; the Honorary Civil Defence Medal of the former Soviet Union 1991, and awarded the International Civil Defence Medal of the International Civil Defence Organisation in 1999.
Rather poignantly, Eric and all that he was and stood for was toasted at the ICPEM conference dinner on Wednesday evening.
Funeral arrangements
WEDNESDAY, 29th MAY 2013, 1430
Bournemouth Crematorium (larger hall), Strouden Avenue, Bournemouth, BH8 9HX
Please click here for details of the location