A GRANDFATHER who worked for his father at one of Dunmow s most recognisable companies has died at the age of 73. Alan Nicholls, son of Henry and Marjorie Nicholls who owned half of Haslers Grain and Seed Mill, passed away peacefully on November 18. He wa

A GRANDFATHER who worked for his father at one of Dunmow's most recognisable companies has died at the age of 73.

Alan Nicholls, son of Henry and Marjorie Nicholls who owned half of Haslers Grain and Seed Mill, passed away peacefully on November 18.

He was born in 1935 and during the war years lived at Maldon, where his father was in charge of the Maldon section of Dunmow Company Hasler & Co Ltd who were Corn and Seed Merchants.

On leaving Felsted School in 1953 Alan, like most other able bodied men at the time, was required to complete two years' National Service, after which he moved to his grandfather's home at Dunmow Park in 1955.

In 1958 he joined the seed and grain business of Haslers at Dunmow under his father, where his grandfather had been a founding partner with William Hasler when the mill had first been built. Since then the Dunmow business became synonymous with the town's name, before the mill was closed many years ago. All that remains now is the NHS Trust offices in its place.

In a statement his family said: "Alan enjoyed travelling in the UK and Europe, negotiating sales of cargoes of feeding wheat, barley and beans as well as malting barley, out of Colchester, Maldon and Creeksea.

"His daughter Sarah, his son Peter, and his wife Harriet all live in Hertfordshire, but the family had always remained close. Alan and Jennifer's three grandchildren had always been a source of great joy to them."

Alan and Jennifer married in 1962, first living at Stebbing and Dunmow, before moving to Jennifer's family home at Broom Lodge where they lived for 18 years.

After many years in the farming and harvesting trades, including a stint as the UK representative on the European Seed Trade's Organisation in Brussels, he retired in 1996.

His family said: "During his retirement Alan's interests in Felsted had involved many things including following cricket with Essex, and at Felsted School studying industrial history, in particular railways and attending WEA and NADFAS lectures in the village.

"He enjoyed lots of holidays and the occasional game of bridge, and he will be sorely missed but remembered for enjoying the company of his many loyal and long term friends.