Paul arrived on 7th June 1954. I remember hearing his first cries and then my grandmother calling over the banisters, ‘It’s a dear little boy!’.
His school career wasn’t particularly distinguished, but he soon developed an encyclopaedic knowledge of the world of football, in particular the progress, or otherwise, of West Ham United. With my father, and sometimes with our brother Adrian, he regularly attended matches at the old Boleyn ground, and supporting West Ham became a lifelong passion. We can’t remember Paul without thinking of the Hammers.
He left school at 17 and started work in the Civil Service at St Catherine’s House in Kingsway, where, because he was always very sociable and likeable, he made many lifelong friends. He took a redundancy payment in 1995 and decided to travel round the world. He sent regular reports of his exploits in various locations, which we all looked forward to, because the letters were very amusing and usually accompanied by hilarious photographs, with appropriate captions, describing some kind of wildlife, which should have been in the photo, but had flown or run off before he took it. Or of West Ham fans he had met in unlikely places.
He came home in 1996, and after a slightly unsettled period, not surprising, after the excitement of the last year, he took a post at Transport for London, where he stayed for the rest of his working career.
He had a rich social life outside work, which, as well as following various sports, including rugby and cricket, involved performing many and varied parts in local drama groups. He was with The Redbridge Players for many years, where he played among other parts, Frederick Treves in the Elephant Man, performed the Alan Bennett monologue , A Chip in the Sugar, and the main character in Whose Life is it Anyway? – a tour de force, where he excelled and gave Tom Conti a run for his money.

He was also in several productions and pantomimes with St Cedd’s Players.
As well as his many friends, his family was very important to him. We regularly went on holidays and spent Christmas together. He was often accompanied to football matches and music gigs by his nephews, and to the theatre with his niece. He took an interest in the progress of his great nieces and nephews. One year, it looked as though he wouldn’t be able to join us on the family holiday, and little Chloe, aged 10 at the time, said, ‘Oh no, it won’t be the same without Great Uncle Paul!

And indeed it won’t.

He was kind and generous to all of us, he entertained us and made us laugh. He was the first to admit that on occasion he could be a bit grumpy! But that also made us laugh.

He will be sadly missed.