More from Friends and Family ...

When I started at New Zealand area mapping in December 1956, Paul worked in the mosaic room which at that stage were still in Russell Street. Brian Perry and I were in the new building which was under construction at the time. Brian and I operated the old Bausch and Lomb Multiples plotters. It wasn't long before the plotters gave way to the first wild 88 stereo plotters (658) then as the department grew, the new wing was added to the building and the mosaic room shifted onto the top floor and the photogrammetric department moved into the old mosaic room and the second A8 (725) was added. Jim Johnston started and Bob Fleming came up from the copy department and joined us for a short time. A third A8 (11**) was added and Paul moved across from the photogrammetric department along with a newbee, Mike Ladbrook. With five operators and three machines we started sharing and doing shift work. Mike departed, Bob moved to the air crew and I took six months off to work for Australian Aerial Mapping in Sydney. Soon Stewart and Brenda Hyslop joined the department from England and they shared the latest A8 with Paul. In 1970, I left NZAM but kept my interest in the staff that I had known and that included Paul, calling in to see them whenever I was in town on holiday.
About 1960, Television New Zealand started broadcasting from Auckland and in 1963 or 64 they ran the competition for amateur film – makers in several categories including humour. At the same time the goons (Harry Seacombe, Peter Sellars and Spike Milligan) put together a short film which was shown in the theatres in New Zealand entitled the Running Jumping and Standing Still Film. A group of us thought it would be fun to make one of our own along the same lines so after discussions over smoko (when we were not chasing table tennis balls around Martin Campbell's table tennis table in the mosaic room) we all assembled at Paul and Mollie’s place on Napier road to thrash out a cast and script. I remember Paul was perfectly cast as the dapper gentleman who purchased a bicycle from a ‘lady of the night’ played by Gillian Ebbit. Jim, Stewart, Martian and I played various parts, Bob did the camera work including shooting the horseman, and David Kittening sorted out the background music as well as playing has double bass for one sequence. We had a lot of fun doing this and the final cut was presented to TVNZ as ‘Thruppence Worth’. To our delight we won the humorous division and shed the prize which was double the contribution. After many years in Bob's archives he had it digitised and distributed a copy of the disc to us all.
- Peter Trask 

(From Kate: Check back here in a week or two and I may be able provide a link to this little movie)

It never failed to amaze me that Paul and Gwen would come all the way to Napier from Havelock North to participate in our weekly U3A French classes over many a long year. Paul impressed me – not only with his enthusiasm – but also with his love of nature, his keen perception, his depth of knowledge and his quiet sense of humour.
We would usually start our class with each of the participants talking about something they have seen or done the previous week and Paul always managed to come up with something interesting that he'd seen or done on his tramping/cycling trips. When it came to doing projects for homework he would research his subject thoroughly – often linked to some boyhood memory – which he would illustrate with a diagram, map, photo or what have you and, having read his recent notes, they brought back some of the themes on which he touched. After our lesson, we usually adjourned to a nearby cafe and I got the impression that Paul enjoyed the socialising just as much – if not more so – than the actual class!
Paul and Gwen were among the first members of Club FàHB (Francophiles / Francophone à Hawkes Bay) - an informal social group I formed locally to celebrate all things French, including La Fete des Rois, Bastille Day, pétanque, wine-tasting, etc. At its peak, the club had 187 members, including 134 Kiwis, 40 French, 3 English and 3 Mauritians, 2 Poles and 2 Swiss, an Indian, a Canadian and a lone Scot - before I was neutralised! The club was the forerunner runner of today's Hawkes Bay French Association.
- Franki James (formally Fewkes) 

Compassionate 
- Unsigned. 

We have all been privileged to have had Paul as part of our lives. Whether as family or friend. He was such a fun, caring, gentle man and his family were always uppermost in his mind.
On many occasions we would chat about his earlier life with Mollie, family and working at Aerial Mapping. Then his love of orienteering, cycling, gardening, music and “Parlez Vous Francais”
On one occasion Paul and Gwen and Anne and and Syd Jago joined us for a barbecue. It was an alfresco occasion in the twilight with candles and an old wind up portable gramophone. We all loved Gilbert and Sullivan's ‘Mikado’, ‘Pinafore’, and ‘Pirates of Penzance’. Paul especially loved the old English ‘Last night at The Proms’ songs. ‘Land of Hope and Glory’, ‘Rule Britannia’, and the ‘Eton Boating Song’. We all sang at the top of our voices ably led by Paul as we bobbed up and down the appropriate places.
The neighbours were all very impressed.
We all loved you Paul. You made the world a better place.
Arohanui
- Bill Trewheelar 

Paul was always a gentleman and I have the utmost respect for him. I remember in the middle of a conversation he would sometimes burst into song. Which I loved, as I would often remember my grandfather singing those same oldtime songs.
- Kiri Kirk 

I remember when Paul used to keep breaking the fly zappers because he hit it too hard on the table when he tried to kill the flies. It was funny because he had to keep buying new ones when he should have bought fly spray instead. 
- Ryan Kirk 

Paul was a very funny man. Whenever we had Christmas with Grandma and Paul he would always be the first to crack the Christmas crackers, put on his party hat and tell the best jokes. 
- Lachie Kirk 

Paul was very good at cycling and was a very fit man, which is not something I see in many old people. I hope I can be the same when I'm his age. 
- Caitlin Kirk 

Paul was a very good man. He was really good at fixing things like the toys we used to play with at their old house. 
- Kegan Kirk. 

My overriding memory of Paul from Hawkswood to Summerset in the Orchard is of a physically active gentleman– And to whom being active was important. This in my opinion is an admirable trait and one to emulate. 
To this end, Paul introduced me to orienteering and took me along to several of his club’s events and patiently encouraged me to lead he and I around the course – he wasn't worried about winning so much as he was giving someone the opportunity to experience an activity he plainly enjoyed.
- David Kirk. 

Paul, Gwen, Richard and I rented a ‘gite’ in Carcassonne, France for a week in 2011. We had a marvellous time, sampling French life and exploring the area and the castle. 

We suddenly came across the rugby shop in the city and this wooden cutout was outside the shop. Paul thought he looked a bit skinny around the waist and needed sustenance. 
- Carol Dacey

I miss them all, Mum, Mollie and Paul, but I’m grateful for the extra years we had with Paul, especially after his diagnosis a few years ago - I’ve lost track of when that was - but I did use him as a fantastic example of someone who kept on living his life after that devastating pronouncement. I’m also very glad I got to see him on my last trip home. 
When clearing Oakdale I found a very old present from them both, a birthday book that they gave me for Christmas 1976. I’m not sure if that was the Christmas we spent with you and my grandparents - one that always makes me smile when I remember my very merry granddad singing with Mollie outside the window. Granddad was not normally like that so it’s a memory that I treasure. That book is now my go to for birthdays - I’m hoping it might make me better at remembering them!

- Gail Hyslop