‘All of St George’s will miss Alabama’

Blue & blue: Album Nõel ‘Alabama’ Anderson was a big St George’s fan and a familiar face at Cup Match. *Photos by Scott Stallard/montage by Gary Foster Skelton

Album Noel ‘Alabama’ Anderson was well known throughout the Olde Towne for his eccentric antics.

A proud St Georgian, ‘Bama’ was a familiar face at Cup Match where he would always sport the east enders’  ‘blue and blue’ colours.

Yesterday, family, friends and public figures in St George’s fondly remembered one of the east end’s most colourful and mischievous personalities.

Mr Anderson’s sister, Francine Trott told the Bermuda Sun that her brother was no stranger to the law and was even in Casemates when Buck Burrows and Larry Tacklyn were hanged. She said: “Alabama was often the last person asleep in town and the first person up in the morning, doing his daily walk along the docks, checking sail boats and helping them with whatever he could — at a cost, of course.

Happy

“This is how he would always be so happy, long before most people even got to work.

“He would stand in the middle of the street, directing traffic with his famous whistle, daring you to knock him down.”

Mr Anderson attended East End Primary and St George’s Secondary School as a child, and spent much of his childhood around the docks.

He started working on boats at the age of 14 and travelled throughout the Caribbean and even New York on the Ocean
Monarch.

Former St George’s town manager, Lance Furbert added: “I had known Bama most of my life; we grew up together. As a young man he was an incredibly good runner. He had boundless energy and would often take part in marathons.

“He was also a very accomplished sailor and when boats would come into St George’s from the West Indies he would often crew for them.”

Mr Furbert added: “He was incredibly helpful to me during my time as town manager.

“If something had happened in the town, he was always able to tell me what had gone on.

“A lot of people will remember him walking through the streets of St George’s whistling to himself.”

Former MP Kim Swan described Mr Anderson as one of “Bermuda’s unique characters’.

He added: “Alabama became a good luck charm for me and my daughter after he joined us fishing one day and helped us catch fish.

“I remember him running around the pitch at Cup Match. My heart goes out to his family. He will be greatly missed in St George’s.”

Mr Anderson spent his last days at the Silvia Richardson Home before he passed away. 

MP and former Mayor Kenneth Bascome added: “I never called him Alabama, he was always Albin to me.

“We took part in a number of marathons together in our younger years and he would also help out while I was in charge of
Tobacco Bay.

“I believe he will be missed by the whole community of St George’s.”