Allen Clayton - a tribute

Halley Bay Surveyor 1969-70 (BC 1970)

by Mike (Muff) Warden, Halley Bay 1970/71 - 21 Jan 2025

Alan Clayton. Funny, he was always Alan to us. For me, he was the right man to be the BL* for 1970. Alan was quiet and thoughtful, not a gung-ho, I’m in charge sort of person, rather he led from the rear. There were ample overconfident, forceful characters on base wanting to push the boundaries. Instead of challenging the young bloods, Alan listened but never pushed his opinions. Very frustrating at times, but he was right.

Luckily, we were an amazing team, and in time common sense and common purpose always prevailed. Because of that we could, and sometimes did, move mountains. For every task and for every objective, there were always subsidiary hoped for objectives if time or weather permitted. And nine times out of ten every one of these extras got done too. Job done plus, plus.

Alan was a died in the wool land surveyor. That’s what he had signed up for. In his first year on base, he spent a lot of the time in the field with dog teams, and he was on the second ever expedition to the Shackleton Mountains. I never understood why he didn’t go there again in his second year. I’m sure there was plenty of survey work still to do in the Shacks, and there was plenty of capacity for a surveyor as well as the two geologists. Poor Allan, he must have been very disappointed but if he was, characteristically he never let on.

Instead, Alan took up the thankless tasks of the BL doing all the tedious stuff like responding to requests from London Office. A job he did well and quietly. Every year an Alan is needed.

Thank you, Alan. You gave me the freedom to go off and do the exciting things with little or no restraint. Weren’t those the days.

Muff

It wasn’t easy at times for Allen. He was 10 years older than us young bloods. So much more mature. But he was brilliant and so calm. A perfectionist at his job. A good man. I have to say all the lads on base during that era were bloody good at their respective jobs and all would step in to do anything, however unpleasant the task when needed. There weren’t any shirkers. We were such a happy bunch and we were very productive too. We built, repaired, and modified our base and our equipment. Very economical. But the science always came first. Memories we will take to our graves. Weren’t we the lucky ones.
Muff