Tributes were today paid to a great-grandfather who was so devoted to his job at JCB that he left instructions with his family that his funeral should only take place outside of normal working hours - so production lines could keep on rolling. Father-of-two Alan Withers, 66, died of a heart attack at home on Saturday, December 6th just hours after clocking off from the job he loved at JCB’s Cecilly Mills factory in Cheadle, Staffordshire.
Now the popular shopfloor worker’s daughters Tracy and Clare have revealed their father left express instructions that his funeral had to happen outside of production hours.
Tracy Mills said: “Dad loved his job at JCB. He retired a year ago but when the opportunity came up to return in April this year he jumped at the chance. Working at JCB was his life and he had many, many friends there. He was adamant that manufacturing should not be interrupted because of his funeral and told us that it had to take place on a Friday afternoon or Saturday when there is no production. As it happens, because of the Christmas holiday period, the funeral will take place outside of working hours anyway which is in line with his wishes. ”
Colleagues saddened by Alan’s sudden death have now begun leaving floral tributes at the gates of the factory where he worked in Oakamoor Road. His funeral will take place at 12.30pm on Monday, December 29th at St Werburgh’s Church, Kingsley.
JCB Operations Manager Dave Harper said today: “Alan was one in a million and a very, very popular chap and he was loved by everyone here. JCB was his life and it was no surprise that having left, he asked to come back when the opportunity arose. We are all going to miss him. He was a hard working conscientious guy and it’s typical of his loyalty and devotion to his job and the company that he had left express instructions that when the time came, his funeral took place outside of production hours because there will be many, many people wanting to pay their last respects to him.”
Grandfather-of-three Alan, who lived in Cheadle, used to live in Ipstones and Kingsley. He first joined JCB in 2004, working at the Compact Products factory in Leek Road, Cheadle. He later transferred to JCB’s Cecilly Mills factory where he worked on the production line assembling the JCB Teletruk forklift.