Paul,his dog and Jess on his favourite walk round Childwickbury Estate in 2012, at 83.
This week was the funeral of my second cousin twice removed on my mothers side at St Marys Church, Childwickbury Estate, a church he habitually attended for years. In his lifetime he was an estate manager and forester and latterly the expert arborist used in court cases in legal disputes over trees.He lived in a quaint Victorian cottage converted from an old stables adjoining this estate, and I lodged there for a while too.
It seems right that his body was brought to this church on the estate where he fought one of his more infamous legal battles with Stanley Kubrick,the film director, who owned the estate and whose funeral was also in this church.The dispute was over ancient woodland and several hornbeams that Kubrick wanted to fell. Kubrick lost the case.It was a triumph for the little man,although actually Paul was over 6 foot.
He would often say he always knew when the opposition was losing because they would start to discredit his character. Then he knew they had failed at the moral or legal argument of their profession because character assassination was all they had left.A good lawyer leaves Reason only when they are desperate.That was the moment you had to stay calm and demonstrate Reason as a witness, he said.By doing that you defeated the lawyers at their own game!Well,he never lost a case.
He was a great man living a simple country life,quixotic and full of information,fond of singing old music hall songs.His coffin was made of wattled willow, like the old fencing,and threaded through it were spring flowers and moss and ivy; a beautiful sight. So the nature he had nurtured now nurtured him in death.
As the coffin was carried out I looked out the window from the church as the playful wind caught the flowers and the clothes of those surrounding it.The moment was uplifted.Such was the grace he exhibited in life, in death. Thanking you,Paul.
It seems right that his body was brought to this church on the estate where he fought one of his more infamous legal battles with Stanley Kubrick,the film director, who owned the estate and whose funeral was also in this church.The dispute was over ancient woodland and several hornbeams that Kubrick wanted to fell. Kubrick lost the case.It was a triumph for the little man,although actually Paul was over 6 foot.
He would often say he always knew when the opposition was losing because they would start to discredit his character. Then he knew they had failed at the moral or legal argument of their profession because character assassination was all they had left.A good lawyer leaves Reason only when they are desperate.That was the moment you had to stay calm and demonstrate Reason as a witness, he said.By doing that you defeated the lawyers at their own game!Well,he never lost a case.
He was a great man living a simple country life,quixotic and full of information,fond of singing old music hall songs.His coffin was made of wattled willow, like the old fencing,and threaded through it were spring flowers and moss and ivy; a beautiful sight. So the nature he had nurtured now nurtured him in death.
As the coffin was carried out I looked out the window from the church as the playful wind caught the flowers and the clothes of those surrounding it.The moment was uplifted.Such was the grace he exhibited in life, in death. Thanking you,Paul.
St Mary's Church, Childwickbury Estate
Church interior
http://hertfordshirechurches.wordpress.com/2013/06/16/st-mary-childwick-green/
http://www.christineaitken.com/childwickbury-the-book.html
And here is his favourite walk that encompassed the places he loved, an initiation he took everyone on, including my daughters from the moment they could walk. http://www.walk-talk.co.uk/rho.htm
