Paul Archdeacon
Paul Henry Archdeacon was known to many of us. Either through family, teaching or community projects, he was loved and respected by so many.
Born in Manchester, he was the second of five children born to Harry and Celia Archdeacon. As a child he liked Airfix models: boats, planes and even a model of King Henry VIII. He would call them ‘artefacts’ and give them titles as if they were archaeological treasures. At 15, he designed and built a whole wall of fitted bedroom furniture for his sisters – leaving his mother in awe! He was interested in ‘fixing’ things – or at least trying to – taking things to bits to see how they worked. He customised an old bike with ‘cool’ wing mirrors and all sorts of accessories but was not protective about it; lending it freely to his sister to give her well-needed freedom. He also jazzed up her first car (bought for £100!)
Despite being brought up with classical music, Paul developed a wide-ranging, eclectic tastes: from dreamy Albinoni; furious film scores like 2001: A Space Odyssey; Irish music such as the Furies and his real passion – Pink Floyd, with its powerful music and lyrics.
Paul originally wanted to be a chef – it would have really suited him as his Sunday lunches were legendary! His father had other ideas and he was enrolled onto a degree course at Salford University to study Arts and Social Sciences. On graduation, he completed teacher training and moved to Canada. There he took up the challenge of volunteering with the Frontier Apostolate, working with First Nation people (then called Indians). He began his teaching career in Prince George, British Columbia, where he was a very popular teacher with a particular interest in photography. He really enjoyed the outdoor life in Canada, skiing, mountain climbing and hitch-hiking with his new, but now life-long, friend Gerry. In BC he also met his first wife, Carmel.
Moving to Ireland, Paul completed his MA thesis on cast iron in Georgian Architecture. Ireland was a great place to study cast iron as it was found everywhere; from foot scrapers to fire surrounds to manhole covers. They lived in a big old house with orchards in Wexford where he developed a passion for making jam. Later they moved to London, Paul taught in Ealing, he and Carmel married and his first son Brendan was born. The couple eventually moved to Leicester, where Paul began class teaching, then a language support teacher at Spinney Hill Primary, later Uplands in 1994 where he remained up to retirement in 2015. He still continued in education, marking and trialling questions for SATs papers, invigilating exams and volunteering as a governor at Bridge and Green Lane Infant Schools. He loved going into schools and engaging with children in any way he could, including playing a very smartly-dressed Santa!
In 1994, Paul married Lesley; their sons Lewis and Elliott were born in 2000 and 2005. He was devoted to his family; He adored his three sons and was very proud of their achievements.
Paul got involved in many community projects; from preparing an allotment for Mayflower School and digging a massive community pond at Hilltop Allotments. Loving the outdoors, this spurred him on to get his own allotment. He succeeding in growing fantastic vegetables which would be proudly served up for Sunday lunch. He loved chatting to people there about his super-fast generating composter and his weather station, his ‘brick museum’ and all his other passions.
He was very creative, always using recycled materials; no skip was left unchecked! His ‘designs’ were always a bit ‘Heath Robinson’ – with odd quirks and twists and turns. “But it works!” was always his answer. He was an active member of Friends of Evington, delivering the Echo and working on planting and maintaining areas in the local community to enhance the area for all.
Paul was brave and fought his illness with dignity, never complaining about how he was feeling throughout his treatments and surgeries.
Addy Tyler
