I’ve been keeping something to myself – or at least something out of any of the public forums where I’ve talked about Zip – for a while now. In January 2023 I got a phone call from my dad: he’d been diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer.

By the time I found out, I’d already began work promoting the prelaunch of Zip’s Kickstarter campaign. I mentioned to my dad that I might have to postpone the launch based on the news, but he urged me to continue. My dad was very proud of the success I’d had so far, and wanted to see the campaign do well. We had planned for my dad to help on my Kickstarter video in fact, considering he was an experienced sound engineer, but couldn’t schedule it in time.

Pancreatic cancer is a particularly aggressive form of the disease, especially considering that cancer isn’t exactly a walk in the park to begin with. Just five weeks after diagnosis, my dad was dead.

Still, I continued on with the campaign as planned, despite the original launch date being delayed, because I knew my dad wouldn’t want me to stop. In fact, the campaign went live just one week after his funeral. The reason I haven’t spoken about it until now is that I decided there was no way I could be vocal about all this without garnering some sympathy pledges, whether that was my intent or not.

So although my friends and remaining family have known for a while, I’ve only now decided to write this memorial now that the campaign has been successful, and there’s no chance of the news swaying anyone’s decision on whether or not to pledge.

Alan ‘Scratch’ Scrase

Alan ‘Scratch’ Scrase was born on the 27^th of February 1954 and died on the 13^th of February 2023 in Southmead Hospital. He lived in Bristol for the majority of his life, but also in the Netherlands and spoke Dutch as a second language.

He was a blues and rock guitarist with several bands over the years, including Ragged Union and Below the Salt, having briefly worked as a sound engineer for Mud.

He worked in film and television for over fifteen years, at CMBT animation, and Aardman features, as well as other small Bristolian studios.

His contribution as a model rig technician made numerous blockbuster films and popular television programmes possible. These productions included ”Chicken Run”, “Wallace and Gromit: Curse of The Wererabbit”, “Pirates an Adventure with Scientists”, “Shaun the Sheep”, and “Creature Comforts”. He is also featured in the end credits of all of these titles.

It was my dad’s work in film that taught me that you could be creative for a living, and without him Zip wouldn’t exist.

Beloved father, brother, and friend. Filmmaker. Musician. Rocky the Rooster’s stunt double.