Alan Dakeyne Obituary

Alan Dakeyne, born 25 February 1932 in Manchester, sadly passed away peacefully on Wednesday 5^th July in Leeds at the age of 91. Alan was a remarkable man who, after attending teacher training college in Loughborough (subject metalwork), began his career as a teacher in York but soon moved to Leeds to take over his parents’ theatrical costume supply business. He ran this company for most of his working life, supplying costumes to local theatres and TV productions, until his son Jonathan, took over in 1997. Alan’s great passion in life was for MGs and the MG Car Club, starting with a TB but then purchasing his beloved MG VA as a ‘£200 shed’ in 1966 and spending evenings and weekends in order to restore it to its former glory. The VA saloon affectionately became known to the family as Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang! In addition to the VA, Alan also had an MG ZB Magnette and an MGB GT V8; MG’s that dominated his life through to the end.

Alan was very well known not only in the UK Centres but overseas too where he enjoyed many international MG tours including the USA, South Africa and Europe. He also spent summers touring the USA in his Winnebago motor home visiting every state including Alaska. Before the age of electronic timing in motor sport, when stopwatches were the rule, Alan became an RAC registered timekeeper and officiated at many events including our North West Centre. Even while holidaying in the USA, Alan was approached to act as timekeeper for MG events.

Alan married Audrey Smith in Loughborough in 1956 and they had sons Christopher and Jonathan before sadly losing Audrey to cancer in 1988. His boyish enthusiasm for all things MG endeared him to everyone and his wisdom earned him the respect of fellow members; when Alan spoke, everyone listened. It would be impossible to list all of Alan’s achievements and involvement in the Car Club. There will be a huge number of people recounting personal memories of Alan. He was one of the MG Car Clubs ‘50+ year members’ and became the first president of the MGCC Yorkshire Centre eleven years ago, proudly representing the centre at various events and presenting trophies at the Yorkshire Centre Awards Lunches.

Alan’s enthusiasm, knowledge and humour will be missed by many worldwide but especially here in the MGCC Yorkshire Centre. We give our sincere condolences to Alan’s family: son Christopher and his wife Fiona, son Jonathan and his wife Diane plus his grandchildren, Alex and Jacob.

MGCC Yorkshire Centre – Geoff Norcliffe & David Copeman

Alan Dakeyne    Noel Linford Tyne-Tees

 I received a call late last week to be told that Alan Dakeyne, President of MGCC Yorkshire Centre, had just passed away after a short illness, at the age of 91.

Many of you who have been around the Club for a long time will know of Alan, and the attachment written by Tony Wood says it all.  I am waiting on details of the funeral arrangements and will pass on as and when.  A lovely man, we had become firm friends in recent years. One of life’s gentlemen, an honour to have known him and navigate for him in his MGB GTV8 in Ireland in 2016!

Alan Dakeyne  Tony Wood Tyne Tees

 One of the oldest and most admired stalwarts of the MG world left us recently, Alan Dakeyne, Honorary President of Yorkshire Centre. My first recollections of Alan date back to 1970 when as the Tyne Tees sub-Centre we would copromote events with our parent North-East Centre, principally five sprints at the then RAF Topcliffe near Thirsk. Alan, then NE Centre Secretary was always heavily involved with the organisation but was always willing and able to find time to help the less experienced among us grapple with the intricacies of event management. He was, along with the late Dr Jack Armstrong, NE Centre Chairman instrumental in establishing Tyne Tees as a Centre, something they also achieved when Lincolnshire Centre was established in later years,

 This was typical of Alan, a man whose affability and general good humour endeared him to all who met him over his many years in the MGCC. His wonderful cream and black VA was an ever present for as long as I knew him, supplemented over the years by a Z Magnette and in later years a BV8.  Alan was known across the MG world and those who saw and heard him at our Jubilee dinner last year will doubtless remember his special MG jacket covered with a multitude of badges from all over the world testifying to his enthusiasm. We will all miss his infectious sense of fun, knowledge and kindness.

MG badges from around the World