Paul Young (Chelmsford)

Having suffered five heart attacks over the last few years and undergoing surgery several times, the fatal attack occurred while playing the sport he loved with his friends.

Paul, who was 54, leaves a widow, Myra, and two daughters, Kathryn and Natalie Keen athlete Paul, who ran the London Marathon three times raising money for the CAT scanner and Reyes Syndrome, was a trustee for several organisations inclduing the Kidney Unit at Broomfield hospital.

Friend and colleague George Cattermole shares this eulogy of his life and times:

Paul had been unwell with heart problems for some time and had been off work for nearly a year, undergoing yet another by-pass operation in July.

Having received confirmation from his consultant that his working life had come to an end, he was still positive about the future and was looking forward to as many years as he could with his wife and daughters and their partners and looking after his widower father, Jack.

Paul started fishing at a very early age. His young neighbour at the time shared a bedroom with his older brother and was not allowed an alarm clock for early fishing calls.

Paul's solution was to tie the end of a very long cord around his friend's toe, the cord running from there across two gardens till it reached Paul's bedroom, where HE had an alarm clock!

Born in Chelmsford in 1947, the second child of Jack and Joan who had been bombed out of their home in 1942. There were not the number of cars around then and his parents had been saving up for a decent motorcycle and side car.

However, his mother came around to the view that a brother or sister for Julie would be a better idea. Joan's views prevailed and Paul appeared in lieu of the Young family's wheels!

He showed an independent mind very early in life in that after the first day at Infants school to which he had been taken by his mother, he announced that he did not want to be collected and would make his own way home.

Ably coached by his father, he developed an abiding interest in cricket and football, at which he would distinguish himself over the years such that at the age of nine at Kings Road Primary School, he played for the Under 11s, and at 10 represented Chelmsford in Schools Competitions.

Having passed the 11 plus and entered King Edward the VI Grammar School, he captained the School's Cricket and Football XIs, played for Essex Schools in the Home Counties Inter Schools Competition, and after School, was at one time the only amateur in Chelmsford City's professional football team, before moving to Witham Town and Heybridge.

He was captain of Critalls for 11 seasons, later Braintree Town, still holds the record of 525 appearances for his Club and was mentioned in the Football Handbook as an example of a player's loyalty to a club.

On one occasion he lost his two front teeth in an illegal challenge on the football field, which were fortunately recovered from the mud by a quick thinking referee, who shoved them back into his mouth at which Paul, lisped through his bleeding gums, "What about the penalty, ref ?"

The teeth survived thanks to some excellent dentistry on the part of one of Paul's clients, and the incident later led to possibly one of the first successful civil actions for sports injuries, mounted by and at the persuasion of the Stamp Wortley & Co litigation department.

He was an all rounder at cricket and regarded the bat as something with which to hit the ball very hard. He was a passionate England supporter in all ways from a very early age. When playing cricket as a lad he was always England, while his friend and neighbour, Peter Collins, who later played football for Tottenham Hotspur, always had to be Australia. Needless to say, England always won!

He completed three London Marathons at a time when he was not quite a spring chicken. It may well be that they had a harmful effect on his health as he later had to have two artificial hips.

He was a perfectionist, was thorough, he played to win, and did not like coming second, even in board games with the children. Nonetheless he was able to be tolerant and forgiving and he had a keen sense of fun that was often hidden.

On one occasion some years ago in Long Melford on Christmas Eve, dressed in a Father Christmas outfit, he was seen waving down the fortunately sparse traffic and asking motorists if anyone had seen his reindeer!

Later in life he would go around the roads in the vicinity of his home on other Christmas Eves similarly dressed, with the support of other parents, distributing Christmas presents to the children of the neighbourhood.

His disguise and timing were so perfect that for many years even his own children were totally unaware of his true identity.

Similarly dressed also, on other occasions, he would visit an old people's home and local hospital hoping that by so doing he would bring some cheer to those he visited.

By this time, having decided against going to University, Paul had risen from office junior to qualified solicitor and partner in Stamp Wortley & Co both in Chelmsford and Witham, and, after a merger in 1989, in Wortley Redmayne and Kershaw.

While an articled clerk burning the midnight oil for his finals and working a full day, he decided to enjoy his sandwich lunch on a Southend sea front deck chair before returning to the office.

It was one of those rare sunny days and he fell asleep. His embarrassing suntan which could not be disguised, was obvious to all when he later returned.

He was painstaking in his work in commercial and domestic conveyancing, setting himself the highest standards.

He believed in good staff relations, was a good listener and was sympathetic to their problems, acquiring the nickname of "soggy shoulders".

He commanded the utmost respect of his fellow solicitors, whether colleagues or competitors. Paul had a great love of nature, would as a boy rescue mice from the next door neighbour's cat; climb trees to place keep nets under birds nests to prevent chicks from falling to the ground and in later years at the family home in Wickham Bishops, constructed and placed feeding boxes for birds and squirrels at strategic locations.

Throughout the illness that preceded his mother's death in 1992, he constantly visited and supported her and his father, whom he continued to support and comfort after her death. His words are a fitting end to this tribute, "He loved life, enjoyed life, loved his family and was a good and loyal friend. What more can you ask of anybody?"

The funeral took place on Wednesday at St Bartholemew's church, Wickham Bishops,where male mourners were invited by the family to wear bright ties, followed by a private cremation.