Geoffrey Paul, 22 February 1937 – 6 July 2026
In memory of Geoffrey Paul, previous Tower Captain of Kingston upon Thames (1982-1988), who passed away on Monday 6th July. Geoff learned to ring in Lincolnshire as a boy. He was a competent tenor ringer and rang the tenors of York Minster, Newark and Manchester Town Hall amongst others. He rang at Kingston upon Thames from 1978.
Obituary by Paul Flavell and will be published shortly in the Ringing World.
Geoff was born in Mablethorpe on the Lincolnshire coast in February 1937, the second son of Dorothy and Harold Paul.
His older brother Julian became a talented musician and organ builder having served an apprenticeship with Cousans of Lincoln. At 10 years old, Geoff inherited Julian’s job of blowing the organ at Mablethorpe church. He would stand and watch the bellringers performing and eventually the ringers asked him if he would like to learn, having his first lesson on his 11th birthday. He was pleased that ringing for weddings earned more than blowing the organ! So began a hobby which gave Geoff a great deal of pleasure for over 70 years.
Geoff passed his 11+ exams and went onto Alford Grammar School, commuting there by bus from Mablethorpe. As the tourist industry picked up after the second world war, Geoff would meet trains with his barrow (made by Dad, a joiner and undertaker) and wheel the luggage to the boarding house or caravan.
Sadly Geoff’s father became ill with muscular dystrophy and had to sell the joinery business. The family moved to Lincoln and Geoff transferred to the larger and not so welcoming City School.
He was now ringing at St Giles Lincoln and Lincoln Cathedral and remembered being called out of school to ring at the cathedral for the death of the king on 6 February 1952. He was elected a Member of the Cumberland Youths in March 1953.
After school Geoff began an apprenticeship with local firm Ruston and Hornsby, makers of diesel engines. In 1954 he won a prize as one of the top apprentices. He studied for ONC and HNC at the local technical college and was now working in the new Cost of Sales section at Rustons.
He was called up for National Service in 1958, learning amongst other things how to operate 25 pounder field guns for ceremonial occasions.
After National Service he returned to Rustons in the Cost of Sales department and was able to prove that several projects made losses instead of profits.
Bellringing was a major part of Geoff’s life, and he rang his first peal at Alford on 27 July 1951, the second peal at Mablethorpe. He joined George Fearn’s peal weeks and became a talented heavy bell ringer, including ringing the tenors of York Minster, Grantham, Newark, St Mary’s Nottingham and Manchester Town Hall to peals. He also became part of Denis Mottershead’s group which necessitated installing a phone by the bed, as Denis was inclined to ring in the small hours to confirm peal details!
Geoff decided there was more to life than bellringing, and took himself off for a holiday in Tenerife in August 1966. On the journey by train to Gatwick he sat next to Maggie and they discovered a shared sense of humour. But the clincher was that Geoff noticed that Maggie didn’t eat her bread roll and sat with her at dinner during the holiday to take advantage of this. The relationship developed with long commutes from Lincoln to Rainham (Kent) and they were engaged in the November and married on 4 February 1967, setting up home in Lincoln.
Both Geoff and Maggie had now established careers – Maggie with the Tax Office and Geoff with the Ministry of Aviation Supply. Career moves to Derby and Skipton and London followed with Geoff and Maggie finally settling near Kingston upon Thames. Geoff’s subsequent work in the Ministry of Defence was highly sensitive and he worked on costings for new helicopters amongst other projects. Geoff, always interested in figures, completed an Open University BA degree in pure mathematics at the age of 45.
Whilst in Derby he was also part of Gordon Halls’ peal ringing teams, attempting to ring peals on all available rings of 10. This became an almost impossible feat as bells were being augmented to 10 faster than Gordon could arrange peals.
His final peal total was 459, conducted 19 (with thanks and acknowledgment to PealBase).
Maggie learned to ring at Skipton (taught by Digby Burton) and she and Geoff were regular ringers at Kingston upon Thames since 1978. He was a Life Member of the Surrey Association.
Geoff served as Tower Captain at Kingston from 1982 to 1988. He enjoyed calling Stedman on all numbers. He could sometimes be brusque with learners with poor handling skills. Calling bobs was like an explosion!
After retiring, Geoff and Maggie enjoyed exotic holidays like safaris to Africa and visits to Bermuda and South America.
Geoff had sadly not rung for some time due to ill health and he passed away peacefully on 6 July, aged 89 years, after being devotedly nursed by Maggie for several years.
In memorium, Geoffrey Paul Performances rung in affectionate memory are listed on Bellboard.