My brother, Alan Powers, who has died aged 81, was a Methodist minister who worked around England and in parts of the US. He was a socialist radical thinker and, although also recognising his duty to his congregations, in the 198os in Dover he walked and picketed with striking miners.
Born and brought up on a council estate in Acocks Green in Birmingham, Alan was the sixth of 10 children of Frank, a bricklayer, and Beatrice (nee Edgington). He attended Severne Road nursery, infant and junior schools and Pitmaston boys’ school before gaining a place at Bordesley Green technical school in the city in 1954.
