Paul Connell (28 Sep 1927 - 30 Oct 2020)

In loving memory of Paul Connell who sadly passed away on 30th October 2020

Dad/Grandad/Paul was born on 28th September 1927…although in recent months he often disputed the year! He would often tell us it was his birthday and would be anything between 75 and 100.
He lived all his early life in Hatch Road, Pilgrims Hatch, near Brentwood, with his parents (Ma and Pa) and 4 brothers, Terry, Arthur, Alan and Desmond. Alan is now 96 and living in New Zealand, and Des is 90 and lives in Chelmsford.
The five Connell Boys were renowned in the area and were always getting up to mischief, but nothing too serious. Dad said that the dogs crossed to the other side of the road when they passed their house…something to do with catapults.
One of his neighbours recently contacted me on Facebook (she is 88 now) to see if I was related to the Connell’s from Hatch Road, and when I mentioned Paul she said “he was the dark handsome one!”
The worst crime Dad committed was setting alight to a hay stack at the age of 9 for which he had to go to court and was publicly birched on his birthday!
In 1946 he joined the RAF to do his National Service, but didn’t get to go on an aeroplane until much later in life. After spending some time in training camps around the UK he was sent by ship out to India for 2 years. This obviously made a big impression on him, and he never stopped reminding us about it. But he did have some memorable experiences for an 18 year old, including seeing the Himalayas and stories about cobras under his bed and scorpions in his boots. It also started his love for curries, which Mum/Nana hated.
In 1948 he returned to civilian life and worked as a hod carrier for Cronin Builders.
He met Mum at the Bentley Social Club around then, and they got married in 1951 when he was 23 and Mum was 18. They moved in to a flat in Elizabeth Road on the Bishops Hall Estate in Brentwood when Jennifer was born, and then to a house around the corner in Sandringham Road when Jane was born. Dad got the job as a park keeper (or Ranger as I think they were later called) in South Weald Park 1956 He worked there for 37 years, and we all have lots of memories of different times in Weald Park.
For the last 16/17 years working in the park he was the water bailiff on the lakes, and he made a lot of good friends with the fishermen. He never picked up a fishing rod in his life, but always found plenty to talk to all the fishermen about, and he was known as a very friendly and sociable person. He would stop and talk to everyone, and sometimes it would take him all day just to walk around the lakes once.
Throughout the 1960’s and early 70’s he loved his annual family holiday to the Isle of Wight, and Jane and I have good memories of our time spent in the Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park with Jen and Mum and Dad, and sometimes other family members.
He retired in 1992 and they moved to Blackmore where they made some good friends and would spend hours walking around the surrounding area and visiting some of their old haunts. They also started going on more holidays, often on coach trips visiting gardens all over the country. They loved going to Scotland and especially Arran. They even managed to fly on a plane for the first time to Jersey, and went on a cruise to the Baltic Sea with Jane and Mark and a coach trip to Germany with Pauline and Des. Very adventurous and the only time they went out of the country, except for Dad’s trip to India of course.

In later years he would sit in his armchair watching the birds feed out of the window, watching Mum pottering around in the garden, and playing his harmonica, which he carried on doing to the very end.