By his cousin Cynthia Osborne (nee Roebuck):
"To turn to Uncle Alfred -When I was a child I do remember his ability to tell wonderful stories to children. For a time when they moved to Coventry they lived in Clarenden St.. a house with a cellar, and I remember him getting a group of us down there and telling us that there was a secret passage from there to Warwick Castle. He had us all feeling for knobs on the walls to find the secret opening. Perhaps it's not much, but it does give you an idea how good with children he obviously was. It remains a vivid memory to this day. However, from Dad I was told that he was a very stubborn child when he was growing up at home, and as Aunty Grace was in charge there before Granddad Roebuck remarried, I believe he led her a right old dance. It could have been the loss of his mother. People didn't think in those days that children needed to mourn. I understand that he used to play a lot of tricks on various members of the family. I wish he had lived longer. His death from tuberculosis when Bernard was only about 18 months old must have been a sad blow for Aunty Margaret."
By his sister Cynthia Clare (nee Roebuck), as told to Janette, her daughter:
"The whole family insisted on good manners at the dinner table, and Alf had a most arresting stare. He used to look at me [Cynthia] and say 'Don't mapse" [meaning eat with your mouth open], so I was in awe of him when I was a little girl".