Meet the man behind nation's top ski stars

The professional Shropshire skiing coach was a former pupil of the Tipton school back in the 1970s, when it was one of the region's most under-achieving institutions. "It wasn't the best," he laughs. "But I did alright."

Alan was destined to see out his days in the Black Country, maybe finding work in a local factory as a carpenter, until fate intervened.

He visited north Wales to enjoy an outdoor pursuits adventure in North Wales and his life was forever changed.

"I discovered the great outdoors," he says. "I went to an outdoor pursuits centre in Wolverhampton and got a job running their facilities. That gave me the opportunity to climb and do things like that. Back in the day, we'd ski on local snow: we didn't fly off to Switzerland, France or Austria. There weren't cheap airlines then.

"We'd walk up the mountains in Wales and ski back down. My first trip abroad was when I was 21 and I went to Norway. From then on, I was hooked. It developed from that."

In a coaching career spanning four decades, he has nurtured some of the greatest ski stars the nation has produced, and was rewarded at the latest Energize sports awards with theWilliam Penny Brookes trophy for his outstanding contribution to the Shropshire sporting scene.

Alan first moved to Telford in the early 1970s. The Telford Development Corporation (TDC) was looking to put skiing on the map and needed somebody to drive their programme forward.

Alan says: "The TDC gave me a free hand to work with young people and develop the future of skiing. They gave me a free hand to get things running in the way that I thought would work. I was keen to work with young people."

Alan worked at Telford Ski Centre, providing tuition for youngsters who otherwise would have had no opportunity to enjoy the winter sport.

"The programme worked like a treat," he said. "We went to youth clubs and schools and got them all involved. Our usage figures were really good at the ski centre. When we first started we had to bring in ski instructors from Birmingham and elsewhere because there weren't any from Telford or the Black Country.

"We wanted to help people. We wanted to get youngsters in from scratch and give them a start. It's not just about getting people to be good at sport. It's also about developing self-confidence and bringing people out of themselves."

Alan developed a programme to fly people out to slopes around the world, so that under-privileged people from Telford and the Black Country could see life from a different angle. It wasn't all plain-sailing.

"I think one of my first trips was with a group of lads from Tipton and Wednesbury. We got out there in the hills and the deep snow.

"I thought, 'Great, we'll give them something they've never seen before'." Within 10 minutes of arriving, the lads in question had ditched their ski equipment, found a local bar and set up a darts school. Old habits die hard.

"But we preserved and they gradually came out of themselves," he said.

Alan became a mainstay in Telford, using the town's dry slope to get youngsters to a high standard. He said: "What we tried to do over the years is develop people. We've got youngsters who have moved onto work in Australia and lead good lives because skiing gave them confidence. If they hadn't taken part, they might never have gone forward in their lives.

"I think I fell into it because I realised it was something that I could do and I had a natural empathy for it. The youngsters were very keen to develop. We had a great deal of enthusiasm and we had people who would give us a few hundred quid to put in the kitty. During my time, Telford became a hub for skiing. Youngsters from all over England would come to Telford to ski. They were rubbing shoulders with good sportsmen and women and they were enthusiastic to improve."

Alan has enjoyed a number of successes. His visitor figures went through the roof and one of his protégés, Dennis Edwards, went on to become the England team ski coach. "It wasn't heard of for youngsters from dry ski slopes to get to that high standard before we started," said Alan.

Another protégé, Nick Fellows, went on to join the British team and become a TV presenter.

Alan added: "With people like that, we gave them the opportunity to ski and made things available for them – then they put the hard work in.

"I now work with the Madeley Academy and all of the children there go to the ski slope: every child has a ski lesson, that's part of what we do. My philosophy is to use sport to give them the confidence to lead productive lives."

Under Alan's guidance, Telford's ski slope continues to provide opportunities for a new generation of youngsters.