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Alfred James Alan Woodhurst was born on June 30th 1931 to parents Alfred Ernest Woodhurst and his wife Emily Florence (nee) Candler. The GRO reference is [Birth Index: W. Ham 4a 86, 1931 (Sept)].
He lived in Essex during the pre-war years, chiefly in West Ham, Leyton, Southend and Raleigh. Upon the outbreak of WW2 his father enlisted in the Army and served for a while in Norfolk and then in Blackpool. Alfred and his mother also moved to both those places to be near him, but relocated to Bispham - about four miles north of Blackpool - after he was posted overseas in 1942. Alfred was just 12 years old when the news came that his father had been killed in Indonesia.
After the War, and with his schooling completed, Alfred worked briefly for the Post Office and in engineering before undertaking his National Service, after which he trained as a coach-body builder.
He married Sylvia Chadwick on July 18th 1953. The GRO reference is [Marriage Index: Blackpool 10b 888, 1953 (Sept)]. Sylvia was born at Heckmondwyke, Yorkshire on September 10th 1931.
He then took up work as a fitter with Hawker Aircraft, and during this period produced three children, the second of whom died in infancy. After the closure of Hawker Aircraft in 1956 he worked in various occupations before emigrating in 1966 with his family to Australia, where he pursued a long career in the aircraft construction industry until his retirement.
A fuller account of his life is given in his autobiography, written in October 2000.