My “uncle”, Paul Hockaday, who has taken his own life aged 53 following a period of illness, was a trade unionist, socialist and community champion. As a community development worker for a Bangor housing estate, he was tasked with improving quality of life for residents, in particular young people. Paul said that he gained immense satisfaction from seeing adults he had known as small children building their own lives and beginning families of their own.
Born in Bangor, north Wales, to Ann (nee Williams), a clerical assistant, and Paul Hockaday, who worked on the railways, Paul Jr lived and attended school in Llandudno, leaving at the age of 16. He worked a number of jobs including spending some time in the Royal Navy. He then became a development worker for the co-operative youth movement. In 1989 he enrolled at Ruskin College, Oxford, to read trade union studies, then completed a master’s in industrial relations at Warwick University in 1993.
Paul was not related to my family by blood – he and my father met at Ruskin College and remained very close friends.
Music was a passion of Paul’s and in the mid-1990s he opened a music retail shop in Llandudno. His specialist instruments were the piano accordion, bagpipes and tin whistle. He enjoyed singing traditional songs too. Unfortunately the business was unable to generate profit, and was closed down after five years.
In 2002 Paul began working at the Maesgeirchen, or Maes-G, housing estate in Bangor. He made a huge difference to the lives of residents, by raising aspirations and building a strong sense of local pride.
Eight months ago he began to suffer from suspected throat cancer, however, despite a period of investigations, no conclusive diagnosis was reached.
