Nigel Paul died on August 23 2022 at the age of 89. He was without doubt one of Cranleigh’s best sportsmen, as the excellent obituary reprinted below written by his old friend John Cooke shows.
Nigel, a towering man at 6ft 5in in old money, which he mainly dealt in, and with a strong and forceful personality to match, was the outstanding all round sportsman to emerge from Cranleigh in his era or probably any era. If cricket and golf were his top sports, he played all the rest with skill fuelled by his natural strength and aggression. Early memories are of ‘ Big Nige’ as we affectionately called him, bounding up the Speech Hall steps to receive his colours for yet another sport. If his academic successes were more modest (think Agricultural VIth) that probably was indicative of him being an action man rather than a swat. For the record he played three years for the 1 st X1 cricket and made the first XI for most other sports before moving on to bigger fields.
With Nigel the overriding questions were was he a better batsman or bowler, then increasingly was he a better cricketer or golfer? No answer needed as he was outstanding at all of them. He made his mark at Lords with a century for Southern Schools v The Rest and was on the Warwickshire books for two years, 1954-55, playing seven first class matches. He was an aggressive, hard-hitting batsman and in his younger years a fearsome fast left arm over the wicket bowler with a penchant for leaving batsman bruised if not battered. In those days I was pleased to be fielding for him rather than facing him as he steamed down the hill from the top end at The Jubilee.
But his overriding achievement in OC terms was in re-forming the cricket club in 1958 after its moribund war and post war years and laying the foundation for our hugely successful club with its honours board of international and first class players and successful participation in the Cricketer Cup. He established the bones of our current fixture list and the Jubilee Week which is still the major piece of our season. During those seven years from 1958 to 1964 he was not only captain but secretary, fixture secretary and even treasurer(!) for much of the time. And he led from the front with the majority of his 4,424 OC career runs and 253 wickets coming in that time. And off the field – still the leader. In those far off days we ‘camped’ in the Sanny for The Week and the day would start with the full English prepared by the skipper (always a foodie man) to soothe our hangovers before the day’s play. And he would of course lead the evening revelry. For a time we had the use of the old Common Room but were banned when it transpired that the holes in the ‘papier mache’ walls in the billiards room were caused by flying billiards balls whilst playing one of Nigel’s favourite games, ‘billiards fives.’ In the captain’s book all games were played competitively – ask Niall & Jenny, his son and daughter, that one.
He came back for many games in the 70s & 80s, still scoring serious runs but bowling reduced to slow medium. His record score of 201 stood for many years. And he was President from 1981-85. And he found time to captain the OCRFC for two years in the early 60s. A towering second row to say the least, no need for a specialist jumper with Nigel around. And he even took to the hockey pitch with the OCHC in those years – some all rounder. But 1964 was not retirement; he simply headed off to his other sporting love – golf. A scratch golfer for many years, he played at Effingham and later Reigate Heath in Surrey and then Newport Links when he decamped to Wales. And if memory serves he had a penchant for pro-ams in Spain in those earlier days. He played OC golf in the Halford Hewitt from 1959-94 and was in the team that reached the finals in 1968 winning five of the six matches. He partnered Bobby Stovold in all these matches. He won the Prince of Wales cup at Deal three times in the 60s and the Surrey Open Championship at Effingham in 1966 with a final round of 65 beating many of the professionals. The following year he represented
England against Sweden and almost made the team for the Walker Cup.
Typical of Nigel he gave up golf for a time in the 70s when his form dipped and he returned to the cricket world to take further toll of perspiring bowlers. Both for the OCs and Esher, where he played for so many years, scored so many runs and had so many friends. But he came back to golf refreshed in the late 80s winning the Surrey Senior Championship in 1989 at Burhill and the
Surrey Mid-age Championship in 1990 at Sunningdale, the year he also won the England Senior Amateur Championship. In his later years having moved to Newport, Pembokeshire, he was content to play his local course at Newport Links but there remained no such thing as an uncompetitive round – you played sport to win was his abiding philosophy. Precedence has been given to Nigel’s amazing sporting achievements so far in this obituary because it was cricket and golf that made him this OC sporting legend.
But he was a family man at heart and he and Maureen were married for over 52 years and brought up their children, Niall and Jenny, who themselves have growing families, in a warm, if competitive(!), family environment. A roller coaster ride at times , no doubt, being married to such a self willed man (who said obstinate?) but Maureen was equal to the task. And as
Niall said in his eulogy at Nigel’s funeral ‘ he was an enormous man but the most kind and gentle person.’ The family albums show holidays in their beloved West Wales and further
afield and there was always a warm welcome with good food, drinks and games at their wonderful family home in Holmwood outside Dorking.
And then in 1994 Nigel moved to Newport where he enjoyed the relaxed pace of life with golf club, yacht club, a small boat for fishing and crabbing and a cluster of life time friends. In time the family followed to rejoin their obstinate old Dad. As Niall so touchingly said in his eulogy, Nigel was their friend, mentor and hero. And what about work? Well, Nigel obviously worked to live rather than lived to work. Certainly not the ‘Company man kowtowing to management’, he was always self employed, when employed, and friends would often say ‘What’s Nigel doing this year?’ A dry cleaning business with brother Chris was an early venture and as the years went by his penchant for cars, particularly fast cars, and his practical, mechanical skills transferred into a business buying up wrecked versions of the aforementioned type of cars and doing them up before selling them for substantial sums on his local garage forecourt. He had mechanical skills aplenty. And an eye for a bargain whether it was spotting cheap wine from the local budget supermarket or importing light bulbs from Taiwan, or was it Cambodia , for selling on at a profit.
And again if memory serves me right he B&Bed his first house in Newport before Maureen joined him and perhaps suggested it was time to retire. Our mutual friend John Mcdermott , he of the sharp wit, said that the biggest management decision Nigel made in those years was whether or not to put a new tyre on the front offside of the car he was currently rebuilding or leave it to the prospective purchaser. Nigel’s working life reflected his personality – his own man from start to finish.
My own memories of Nigel cover some 70+ years from those early days at Cranleigh but in many ways the most cherished ones are from recent years when we met up on winter holidays in Gran Canaria and enjoyed such hospitable stays at their lovely ‘West Dairy’ in Newport. Had he mellowed – well no, still the old obstinate Nige – but what an honour to have been his friend down all those years. Healthwise Nigel had a tough final few years and Maureen had a formidable task in seeing him through it with the help of the Paul family. Nigel died quietly in his sleep on 23 August which was a blessing. And as Niall said ‘Dad would have liked us to remember the good times’. And I do.