POOL PEOPLE – ALLEN WILSON

AllenWilsonWith thanks to, Ross Alcock – General Secretary of The Institute of Swimming Pool Engineers, we pay tribute to an irreplaceable industry personality, following the loss of Allen Wilson, FISPE

Allen Wilson had an inimitable style of delivery with his presentations and it was true to say nobody fell asleep whilst Allen was talking. His style was both authoritative and informative and often extremely amusing and there was often much laughter when Allen was talking. It was no wonder he was also a popular after dinner speaker.
Allen was a huge character, in all senses of the word, with a great knowledge, a keenness to provide help and advice and unswerving support for the Institute. His contribution to the ISPE cannot be underestimated and will never be forgotten.
Allen joined the ISPE in September 2000 and his enormous experience on the commercial side of the trade made him an ideal candidate to give various seminar presentations at ISPE Seminars thereafter, and there were not many ISPE seminars after 2000 that did not feature Allen or have an input from Allen as part of the open discussions.
Allen was also a regular at the annual SPATEX exhibitions and gave numerous presentations as part of the ISPE workshop programmes each year, as well as helping out on the Institute stand.

DRIVING FORCE
Allen was a driving force behind the ISPE-Endorsed training programme aimed at those in commercial pools and spas. Allen developed his own ISPE-Endorsed Pool Plant Operator course and this became a staple tool of the many different types of training that Allen was able to provide.
The constant supply of training, technical articles and his support for the Institute earned Allen an ISPE Fellowship in March 2006, at the time, one of only 17 out of a membership of over 850. Fellowships are in the gift of the Institute Council and are awarded for outstanding service to the Industry but to the Institute in particular.
Also that year, Allen was elected to the Institute Council of Management and went on to serve a two year term of office as Institute President between October 2013 and October 2015. Around this time, Allen developed his own electronic news/magazine and always devoted a few pages to the recruitment of new ISPE members. In doing this, Allen recruited more new Institute members and students than any other individual member, a quite incredible fact.
Allen, through his company, Studies in Work, continued to deliver ISPE Endorsed PPO training at a great rate and in many countries of the world including India, the Far East, all parts of Europe and even the Falkland Islands.
Allen also picked up a number of ISPE awards along the way, including the ā€˜Peter Horne Memorial Cupā€™ in 2008, for his contribution to training in the field of water chemistry and he was also presented with the ā€˜Peter Littlehales Cupā€™, twice, in 2010 for his seminar paper entitled ā€˜Misconception on Disinfectionā€™ and in 2016, in acknowledgement of all the presentations he had given over the last few years speaking at virtually every ISPE seminar, where he kept many an audience entertained and informed.