Charles Alexander Obituary, Death – Alex Cowan, Vice President of the Society, Honorary Archivist, and the last surviving member of the original group of three local historians who founded the Society in 2000, passed away recently. The Society is heartbroken to report his passing. On Thursday, the 30th of March 2023, he passed away quietly at home with his beloved wife Pat by his side.
Alex will be remembered by a great number of local organizations, but our homage is to his commitment to the documenting of the history of Runcorn, the place that he called home. Alex, along with Bill Leathwood and Bert Starkey, were the three stalwarts of Runcorn history who created the Society in the year 2000. Their mission was to record and archive the diverse and rich past of Runcorn before it was lost to the mists of time. Alex was one of the founding members of the Society.
Alex served as the Society’s first Archivist for a total of 22 years, during which time he amassed and organized a vast number of disparate historical tidbits in order to create the massive archive that the Society maintains today. Alex spent his own time, which many people were unaware of, compiling a second personal archive that included study articles, newspaper cuttings, and details of individual Runcorn events, buildings, and companies. This intriguing archive, which has not yet been viewed by anyone, was generously given to the Society by him.
Alex also had a number of goals that he wanted to accomplish, one of which was to broaden the scope of the Society’s activity promotion and advancement. He served as our first representative in the Cheshire Local History Association, after which he was elected to a position on their committee and eventually took over as Chairman of the organization. We are carrying on with the expansion of his idea by putting on exhibit each year at the Cheshire Local History Day our table dedicated to the history of Runcorn. Alex was there as our representative from the very beginning of the Halton Heritage Partnership, and ten years later, we now have a fast-growing working connection with its partners, contributing to a large number of cooperative projects and making some really good friends along the way. Alex was there when the Halton Heritage Partnership was first created.