Member Profile - Alan Fitch

Our members are the people who keep us going, volunteering their time with us and supporting us financially. In this Member Profile we will hear about Alan Fitch who has been volunteering with us for the last year, helping out with analysis of our finances.

Alan says ‘I was born in Essex and brought up in North-East London. After school I studied Electronic Engineering at Southampton University. My first job after University was at  Philips in South London. After a few years, my job relocated to the now-departed Philips Millbrook site, so I returned to Southampton.

I then worked as a trainer (still in the field of electronics), which involved travel all over the world. Nowadays I work for a start-up company at Chilworth Science Park..

I’ve been active in Southampton Hospital Radio for many years and have at times been Treasurer and Secretary – though now I take a more back-seat role.

I bought a Community Share to support October Books as I want to support my local bookshop. I’ve volunteered to help with preparing notes for the accounts for the October Books committee and am still learning how to do that. Luckily “I love spreadsheets”!

I learnt the violin at school but stopped playing after leaving university. 25 years later I picked it up again and joined the Northwood String Orchestra (which Rita Leighton, another October Books supporter, used to conduct – it’s a small world…). I’m currently Chair of the orchestra.

 I also play violin and hammer dulcimer in Southampton Folk Orchestra.

I am a member of a book club, and each month I first try Bitterne Library – if that fails, I buy the book at October Books of course!’

Alan’s favourite book is science fiction master Brian W Aldiss' short story collection Last Orders which he read when he was about 16, it "blew his mind" in the sense of I didn't know you could write stories like that. Alan is currently reading a shop bestseller in Bob Mortimer's "The Satsuma Complex" as part of his book club