This page has been created in memorial and testament to our dear father. Despite him always telling the world that he was “indestructible”, he passed away after a short illness in 2023. This is our tribute, with some of the words and music we used at his funeral.
I hope we did you proud, Dad.
Paul André Nutkins was born in Finchley on the 7th of May 1936, with his twin sister Marie Estelle , to 2 loving parents, Hilda and Reginald. He grew up in wartime London, and sadly lost his beloved father at just the age of seven. He cared for his sister at home while his mother, a talented seamstress, went out to provide for the family.
These weren’t easy times. He often spoke of being bullied at school, and of his many decades living with chronic asthma.
But Paul always refused to let his problems define him, and developed a thick skin which would serve him well in later life.
It was of course during these formative years that he developed his deep and lifelong connection with Mother Nature.
He was a man of multitudinous hobbies which included wildlife conservation, photography, cricket and, especially, New Orleans jazz.
On leaving further education Paul acquired a job in chemical research at the Wellcome Foundation , where he was able to put his extensive knowledge of biology and chemistry to practical use. He loved to spend time in the Cambridgeshire fens, with a particular interest in the Holme post and the wildlife that inhabited, and used to inhabit the area.
Later he worked as a laboratory and teaching assistant at Chislehurst and Sidcup Secondary school, which he loved, especially on the occasions he got to do some teaching.
He would have made a good teacher. But then, he was a good teacher.
He was, again, deeply affected by the untimely death of his sister Marie at the tender age of 30, and after a few years with his mother in Kent, the call came to move to Essex, where he worked for the JCC (Joint Credit Card company) and later, the newly-formed NatWest bank.
Paul was indeed fortunate to meet the true love of his life, Dorothy, in December 1971. The couple were engaged within a week, married within a year, and in good time, welcomed a son and a daughter into the family.
Many years of happiness followed.
It wasn’t always plain sailing. But Dad strived hard to get the best for us all.
Despite his ups and downs, he always stood up to the numerous challenges that life continued to present, with his trademark sense of fairness and equality.
He worked hard to provide for his family, and was a deeply proud man : a loving father and grandfather.
A keen photographer, he was never far away from his beloved cameras and planted a wildlife garden at home which would provide an excellent source of nourishment and repose for hundreds of species of wildlife, particularly his beloved butterflies.
Paul tried in the 1980s to reintroduce a species of butterfly to the UK which had been extinct here for 130 years.
He raised several generations of the Dutch Large Copper butterfly, and set them free in the Cambridgeshire fens, where he asked us to eventually scatter his ashes.
He may not have been the tallest or physically strongest of men, but believe us, inside this man beat the heart of a giant. A man so utterly devoted to his family that he stood up for us all whenever it was needed, and in setting up a Neighbourhood Watch scheme in our neighbourhood, helped clean up what was once a very rough part of Leigh indeed and transform it into one to be proud of.
Paul was a deep fount of knowledge, and if he didn’t know the answer to anything, he would always go to the library in search of it. That thirst for knowledge will live forever in the interests he has shared with us all, from jazz and general knowledge quizzes, to local history and conservation. We are all, in that sense, his children.
He had a brief battle with mixed dementia towards the end, but possessed the strength and courage not to let it show, not to let any of his worries show, and was determined not to be a burden to anybody. He wouldn’t want to have been remembered that way.
Right up to the very end, he cared.
The final word comes from his lifelong friend Pam, living in Australia.
“A smile, a wink would get him through. Well done, my old pal of 77 years. His knowledge will help many to plan ahead.”
God bless you, Dad.
