Alan Cocksedge obituary

My friend and mentor Alan Cocksedge, who has died aged 77, was a journalist who could have held his own on any national newspaper. But he never had ambitions in that direction, and instead he spent almost four decades working as the local chief reporter on the East Anglian Daily Times during a golden era for regional newspapers.

He made his choice not just because he loved that type of journalism but because he wanted to leave space for his family and his love of playing sport – things that might have had to take a back seat if he had gone to Fleet Street.

Alan was born in the Suffolk village of Cockfield to a couple who shared the same surname, although they were not related – Sid, a soldier in the Suffolk regiment, and Olive. His parents divorced and he spent his early years with his mother and grandparents.

At Sudbury secondary modern school Alan gained a certificate in shorthand and typing, which opened up the door to his first job, at 16, as a reporter on the Suffolk Free Press. At 24 the East Anglian Daily Times hired him as chief reporter for the Sudbury district. He never moved on, being satisfied with the sheer pleasure of his work, the people he encountered, and his scoops – which were often at the expense of Babergh district council, but one of which revealed that John Lennon and Yoko Ono had been taking part in a film shoot that involved a hot air balloon ride over Lavenham.

Unlike the many trainee journalists Alan nurtured over the years (including myself), he did not come with a fancy degree – just sharp intelligence, inquisitiveness, integrity, wit and a deep well of local knowledge and contacts. He ran such an efficient operation at the Sudbury office that the bosses in Ipswich largely left him to it.

He retired from the East Anglian Daily Times in 2002 after 36 years in post, and for a few years afterwards worked as a part-time gardener. But he never lost interest in his local community, and was a leading figure on various sports committees and social clubs, while also serving as a school governor.

He founded a Sunday football league in Sudbury, was a member of the nearby Newton Green golf club, and for nearly 50 years played for Sudbury cricket club, about which he wrote Tales from the Dew Drop Inn (2012), its definitive history.

He is survived by his wife, Carolyn (nee Scott), whom he married in 1967, two daughters, Tania and Amanda, and two grandsons.