Alan Archer 1964-2012

I'll try not to get all maudlin, and just put some stuff that sums Al up.
The three words I would use to sum up Al are happy grumpy sod! I think this sums Al up totally. If he was your friend you could forgive him his downfalls. We always got on great, we knew each other from the age of about 12 until his untimely passing far to early, so if we cant say how it is now we never can. I hasten to add that there's nothing here that I havent said to him in the past.
I don't remember us ever having any major failing's out over so many years, you said the wrong thing and it was sorted the same day. His mates new just how to take him, with a pinch of embarrassment usually, due to something he said, just that little bit to loud.
I'll upload a couple of photos here as a little tribute, to a little fella with a big heart.

Getting shirty with dinner

The only bloke I know who can fall out of a tent

Fence!, Al's handling of the English language was really coming along.

The top two pictures are when me and Al went to Bradfield near Maningtree, must have been about 1980ish. We stayed in a campsite in the grounds of a Pub, The Strangers Inn. Al with pub right next door, this was only ever going to be a good trip. I'm not sure why we got those potatoes out as I'm sure we ate in the pub every night. As you can tell, all three photos show Al in his skinhead phase. He went through almost every musical genre over time, but always seemed to go back to his first love, a little bit of rock.

He was an avid collector of Subbuteo. He loved nothing better than  painting his own kits, and modifying teams he had , but, in all honesty, and I told him on many occasions, he was crap at it, like he cared, and like most things, if you enjoyed doing it where is the harm.
We used to go and watch Colchester United most home games between 1980 and 83, and I remember with much laughter me and him taking in a U's home game against Charlton. Just before the game kicked off it turned out that a few Charlton fans had got in the U's end. We both noticed this and I quickly made a run for it down to the cafe under the stand. I turned around to make sure Al was ok only to find he had not followed me. I crept back up the concrete steps and found Al getting to his feet, roughly where we had been standing. Turns out he had copped and unfortunate one just as we was about to run away. He was alright though, we laughed about it, which, upon reflection seems a little mean, as I'm laughing about a mate getting a slap, but no harm was done, and it got a load of mentions over the years.

What can I say about his good and bad points.
Well the good points would definitely be headed by his generosity, if he could help he would. He was normally up for a laugh., and if there was a beer or six involved even better. He had a huge character in a small body, and if you found it offencive well, you just stayed away. As a mate you accepted it as Alan, its the way he was. His language was usually fruity, and he would always say things just as he found them. He had opinions on nearly everything. I may be making him out to sound like a right horrible sod, but no, this was him, this was how he was and its for these reasons that we loved him. 
Bad points, honestly, as a friend, I cant think of any. I took him as he was, he said it like it was, but I can see with his opinions that some people would find it hard to get on with him. He was known to say the odd controversial thing just a little loud, but he normally got away with it.
For the past couple of years he has been unable to get out quite as much as he would have liked but this didn't stop him getting on with life, he faced all the crap the world could, and did, throw at him, he moaned about it, but he got on with it, which is something to be proud of. Having said that, with all the crap he had to deal with over the years he was more than entitled to have a moan.
He loved his family with a passion, and I don't ever remember hearing him say a bad word against them, and he wouldn't hear a bad word said about them either.
One word to finish off.
LOYAL!