Paul had served with distinction on the Society’s Committee since the early 2000s until his retirement just earlier this year. During his working life he had been involved in the technology sector and the background knowledge which he possessed was to prove invaluable when stepping forward to take on different roles to serve the Society. Paul was admirable in that he fulfilled ‘vacancies’ on Committee when they arose, firstly agreeing to take over as Editor of the Society’s regular Newsletter, a job he did successfully from January 2008 until the autumn of 2016. In 2014 he came to the rescue to manage and co-ordinate the website, something he excelled at in view of his background. This he continued with until 2018, with a colleague then taking the reins in his stead, though he remained an in-house IT ‘consultant’ for some while to come. But then early in 2020 along came Covid ! Paul was now to be instrumental in the establishment of Zoom as the alternative way for us as a group to communicate and conduct operations virtually, both the lecture meetings programme and the holding of our Committee meetings, and so on. It’s true to say that without Paul and his commitment to and enthusiasm for Zoom, we would have struggled to implement this now vital technological concept, and we owe a lot to him for the success which it has undoubtedly proved to be.
Paul had always had an interest in history and archaeology and first became involved with SA&HS following his completion of a Keele University Archaeology Studies qualification at Staffordshire University’s Lichfield campus nearly 25 years ago. He was also a keen member of Lichfield Science and Engineering Society; no surprise perhaps ! Paul is survived by his widow Jean, who is probably known to many of you, and three now ‘middle aged’ children with their respective families. Mention has been made of his dry, occasionally wry, sense of humour ! He will be missed.
Arrangements for Paul’s funeral are yet to be announced.
