Alfred was born in Bedford in the second year of World War I.
He was converted in his teens and for a while worked in London where his gifts and potential were recognised by the pastor of the Baptist church in Clerkenwell, who encouraged him to begin preaching and to lead in a variety of other ministries.
Preaching ministry
In 1940 he married Ivy from Warboys and they set up home in Highbury, a traumatic time for Londoners, with German bombs never far away from their doors. Following the sudden death of his father he returned to Bedford to manage the family business, where they became members at Providence Chapel and he pursued a course of theological study with the Strict Baptist Institute. Soon his Sundays were taken up with a growing itinerant ministry, until he was called to concentrate his efforts as pastor of churches in Clifton and Potton for periods of seven years respectively.
