Allan Russell Page 4/8/1917 – 25/2/2010 When Allan Page converted a grocery store on the corner of Milton and Grove Streets into a garage in 1954, he didn’t realise that more than half a century later his would be the second-oldest business in The Wood. He decided at an early age not to continue in his family’s cabinet-making business but to become a motor mechanic. He served his apprenticeship with Vining and Scott Ltd and met his future wife, Freda, there. Part of the deal when a customer bought a new car was free driving lessons. One customer could already drive so young Allan was assigned to teach the lady’s daughter and he fell in love. During World War 2 Allan worked as an aircraft engineer with De Havilland in Wellington. Later, back in Nelson, his garage expanded and adapted to meet the changing needs of the community. His grandson Ken says, “Allan was of the old school, a craftsman. He lived and worked in an era when things were not bought, but made; everything was engineered.” Allan always had an apprentice. “He thought that was very important,” says Ken’s father Chris Page. The Wood was always a significant part of Allan’s life and he spent the last years of his life there until his death last month
