After 40 years living and working in Brockham, Alan and Caroline Eyles are moving away to Dorset. Alan has first worked in, and then run, the Brockham pharmacy for all those years and is now retiring.

To say that the village has benefited greatly from his presence would be an understatement. Among the many ways he has helped people were his visits to the sick and elderly when delivering medicines, usually stopping for a joke and a chat with them.

Alan has been particularly helpful to anyone about to have an ileostomy, and as a member of the Ileostomy Society has given talks to fellow members from time to time. He has also given talks locally on homeopathy, a subject he has supported and promoted enormously in his pharmacy.

In the shop he has always had time to give advice - or redirect someone to seek further help – and to many people he is known as ‘Dr Eyles’. To all of us he is known for his humorous stories!

It seems nothing was too much trouble, and he has even been known to open up the shop on a Sunday for a distraught mother who had left behind her young son’s essential medicine when they came to Brockham for a family lunch.

During all these years Alan has been lovingly supported by his wife Caroline, who had to put up with hours of extra paperwork often done over the weekend, sometimes at the shop, especially when a new computer had to be installed!

Alan enjoys singing, has an excellent bass voice and has sung in Ashtead Choral Society and Ashtead Singers for many years. Both he and Caroline are keen gardeners and are looking forward to working in their new garden in the West Country.

We are all very fond of him and are grateful for all he has done for young and old, and we will miss them both.