Rtn. Alan Ribchester MBE PHF

Rtn. Alan Ribchester – ‘My Current Job’ or ‘Tales of a Bean Counter’

Alan gave us a long and very interesting summary of his various, you could say chequered career witth lots of anecdotes:

His first job whilst at the Johnston School was delivering bread on an old style ‘Hovis’ bike-  even then his entrepreneurial spirit shone through as he charged young lads sweets to have a ride in the big basket on the front !

After a brief dalliance with Electrical Engineering Alan decided that accounting was his chosen path and all went well as he carried out audits at places like British Steel, which was fine until his car caught fire at one visit.

By the age of 21 he had qualified but his entrepreneurial spirit continued to bloom aas he and a friend began a lucrative trade in Mini Coopers, driving them down to Italy then Athens where they sold them to American GIs.

As finance director at Pretty Polly he was wont to say he was “in ladies’ tights” for a time.

1975 saw Alan set up his own practice with 3 staff and a part-time typist. And things have progressed considerably since that time.

Alan regaled us with a number of stories and anecdotes from his exciting life and proved beyond any doubt that accountancy is a lot more interesting, and sometimes more dangerous that many might imagine – maybe the Monty Python sketch was right when Lion Taming was suggested as a suitable alternative career for accountant Michael Palin !