Alan Salkeld Beaty

He didn’t have a string of letters after his name, yet Alan Salkeld Beaty was an exceptionally talented man. So talented that during his 41 years with Carlisle meat products company Cavaghan & Gray, he rose from being an apprentice electrician to become chief engineer.
As such he made sure that the wheels of manufacture kept turning and he oversaw some major investment developments as the company expanded.
After he died, aged 74, the tributes poured in, from former board members and senior management. People remembered the key role he had played in developing and expanding the company to help create one of the area’s biggest and most successful businesses.
He introduced new and advanced production and service equipment, overcoming many difficulties and problems during times when the workforce numbered 2,000.
The first big project where he was in charge was the then new office block on London Road and other big developments followed. They included the re-building of the slaughterhouse, not once but on three occasions.
Carlisle born and bred and educated at the Brook Street and Creighton Schools, he joined the Third Carlisle St John’s Corps of the Boys’ Brigade, where he was a drummer in the band and where he became an officer.
A natural athlete and gymnast, he was a member of the corps team that presented displays and demonstrations locally.
Then he began his apprenticeship at Cavray – as the company was widely known – but national service in the RAF intervened. In uniform, he worked as an electrician but much of his time seems to have been spent on the sports field, playing football and cricket and in the gymnasium.
Returning to Carlisle after his two years in uniform, he resumed his apprenticeship and also studied on several nights each week at the city’s technical college. From then on, promotion was continuous.
He was making his considerable mark in the company’s business activities and was making his presence felt on he cricket field, with the Cavray team. He usually batted way down the order and, on one occasion after other players scored very few runs indeed he was outspokenly critical of their efforts. And so he was put into bat as an opener, as a challenge to show how it should be done. He was expected to fail but he didn’t and to everyone’s astonishment – including his own – he scored a lot of runs.
After retiring from Cavray he gardened and he and his wife were members of the Hilltop leisure centre. They also played short mat indoor bowls at Upperby.
A man with a lifelong love of music, particularly when it came to traditional jazz and big bands, he would always try to go to Ronnie Scott’s Club when he made trips to London.
He continued to be keenly interested in sport but his earlier days as a gymnast might well have resulted in the severe joint pains from which he suffered later in life. However, this problem was solved and he was given a new lease of life when both his knees were replaced and he became what he called ‘a bionic man’ in 2005.
Then, 12 months ago, he suffered a stroke but with typical determination was recovering well, regaining his speech and mobility to the extent where he was able to drive once again and all was set fair until he died suddenly, from a heart condition. Just before he died he was delighted to hear that Carlisle United had managed to avoid relegation from League One.
Mr Beaty leaves his wife, two daughters and a brother.