Paul Howling 1963-2020
Posted on 23rd April 2020
It was with great sadness that the Corn Hall recently received news of the sudden death of our much loved and respected long-time volunteer and Stewarding Coordinator, Paul Howling.
Paul was one of the first people to volunteer to help the Corn Hall when we opened in 2010. In 2011 he offered to take on the additional responsibility of Stewarding Co-ordinator, a key role which involved organising 70 volunteer stewards to make sure that, for each and every event, we provided the best and safest audience experience on the night.
Whenever possible, he was also there to carry out pre-show steward briefings and he trained all of our stewards to make sure that they knew what to do in an emergency. If there was any sort of incident or problem, Paul was the person you wanted to have by your side. His calm, decisive and systematic response was always a huge support to staff and volunteers and customers.
Paul’s dedication in undertaking these essential tasks was extraordinary and he generously gave up huge amounts of his time, fitting this work around his full time job. He was doing all of this for the Corn Hall right up to the moment on 16th March when we had to suspend our events due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
From its first beginnings, Paul was right at the heart of the organisation and of the Corn Hall family and he will be deeply missed by all of us, professionally and personally. Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time.
Angela Sykes
Corn Hall Programme Manager