A FLAG was flown at half mast and a minute’s silence observed at Aylesbury Rugby Club for Allan Claude Wallace in recognition of his association with the club which lasted more than half a century.
Mr Wallace passed away from natural causes in April and tributes were paid to him during the club’s match with Tadley.
Paying tribute the current chairman of Aylesbury Rugby Club, Dean Gray, said: “He was one of the longest serving first team captains for six or seven years in the 50s. He was a life member of the club and remained involved with the club for more than 40 years.
“He was a club stalwart, one of the club legends. He was a really nice person and his name carries on. Since I arrived, his name was often mentioned as a great supporter of the club.”
Mr Wallace’s family moved to Aylesbury from London during the Second World War. They were attracted to Aylesbury because it was a small market town where ‘everybody knew one another’. Mr Wallace was grammar school educated and later studied at Wycombe Tech’.
As a keen sportsman and a staunch army cadet, he developed confidence and leadership skills, which stood him in good stead when he joined the Army – moving to bases around the UK and Europe.
Once demobbed, Mr Wallace studied at the London College of Printing before joining his family print business, Frederick Samuels – based in Silver Street and then later Gatehouse Way.
Big changes within the industry meant the company closed in the late 70s and he became MD of Chandler’s Printers in Bexhill in East Sussex.
Over the next 12 years he enjoyed Sussex during the working week, but hurried back to Aylesbury at weekends.
He remained a constant member of the Workers’ Education Association classes to further his love of literature and philosophy – while supporting his ‘constants’ of rugby and squash.
Mr Wallace remains the most captained of players in Aylesbury rugby history – he started playing in the 50s in Baggotts Field. Later the club moved to its current location in Weston Turville where success continued and sons followed fathers on the field and bonds were struck for life. These bonds led to the formation of the NEWTS (New Era Weston Turville Sportsmen) and the society flourished with Mr Wallace as chairman.
Warm and outgoing, when the Florence Nightingale Hospice was being planned and built he helped raise money by attending and chairing meetings and thanking supporters.
Mr Wallace has a daughter and two grandchildren.
