Michael
James Payler, always
known as Jim or Jimmy, was born in 1940 in a cottage down from the Sun,
Moon & Stars, just by the canal. His father was a Canal Company worker, and Jim fished there as
a boy - it was to become one of the loves of his life.
The
family moved up to 40 High Street next door to the Fosters who, a little
later, sold to the Pykes who became good friends.
Jim
and Beryl met in 1967 - both were members of different Rambling clubs
and they met on what Beryl describes as a pub-crawl! They
were married in 1968 and at that
time Jim was working at the CWS Wholesale
Depot in Guildhall Road. Jim
moved on to be an Area Rep for the CWS. He worked for Express Lifts for
a while before settling on the job which occupied most of his working
life, which was spent installing and testing aerial masts, first and
lastly for RTM (Radio Telegraph Masts), and in between for J Beam
Aerials. This was when police and ambulances needed the airwaves;
Orange and the rest of the mobile phone stuff came later. The job
took him all over the country, and Beryl remembers that even on holiday
in Scotland Jim felt the need to look out for aerials and ponder their
function. On another occasion they travelled together to the
Coventry area and searched for trees with pink rings marked on them
that indicated intended felling to form a clearing where a mast would
go.
When discussing holiday locations, he would often reference a place to a
particular not-straightforward aerial installation.
Jim
served his village well - very knowledgeable in country matters.
He was a Parish Councillor for 29 years, where he was always
ready to make comments and suggestions in his characteristically cryptic
and sometimes
fairly blunt way. His
special interest there, of course, was Public Footpaths and to his great
credit some footpaths are open now that certainly wouldn't be if he
hadn't pursued this cause so strongly.
He organised Summer Walks,
and many of us will remember, "Come on, we have got to keep
the footpaths open". These
jaunts often took us through the middle of a field and sometimes barbed
wire had to be cut! The
outings always ended up at a pub.
Walking back in the near darkness was sometimes a bit tricky.
Jim's
photographic activities began in the late 1950's with guidance and inspiration
from Walter Alexander from whom he learnt professional techniques
and good composition, and has had pictures published in Country
Life,
the Canal Magazines, Peoples Friend and the Daily
Mail.
In fact, just a week before he died Jim took photographs of
Blisworth Marina Open Day and one was accepted in the Chronicle and
Echo. There are hundreds of Jim's pictures on the online Village Website
- so the fruits of his attentiveness will live on.
He
loved food and drink and Beryl is a wonderful cook challenged sometimes
by Jim's enthusiasm for
meat. Memorable was one
Saturday before one Christmas, now years ago, when he and the family
went to Northampton Cattle Market to buy a turkey. Beryl and Ruth left Jim and Andrew there but that
was mistake, for when they turned up later it was with 15 turkeys and
six geese. Poor
Beryl had to deal with the rest. Another
pursuit of Jim’s was vegetable growing.
He was a good keen gardener if a bit unconventional, perhaps a
tad chaotic someone impolite might suggest. When he had a plot on the
Parish Council field he would be seen cycling up there with a
fork and rake tied very precariously on the crossbar.
His
greatest passion though, apart from his family, was indeed the canal, it's
locks and it's towpaths and most especially the working boats along with
the lives of the families that lived and worked on them.
Jim watched as the old boat “Lucy” was dredged from the cut
but was too damaged to restore.
He would really have loved to see 'Sulphur', an old working
boat at Stoke Bruerne, restored to its original condition and purpose. Let's
hope that it will be. Oddly,
Jim never wanted to holiday on the Canal.
So,
as a Rambler, a Photographer, the Paths Warden and canal expert and also
The Friend you could meet for a drink down the pub, Jim has been a
familiar figure in the village for his entire life. Some
know him as a wicked
nicknamer - we have the Blonde Bombshell, the Martians, the Andrews
Sisters, Enid Blyton, Arkwright (the shopkeeper), the B-B-C and many many
more – all kindly meant for sure. There
was a particularly notable nickname he coined at a time when the village was
rapidly expanding: 'Blow-ins'
were folk who came in and
aimed to make changes and hence a big impression on the community.
All
of us knew Jim; folk would say "Well YOU know Jim". Well we
DID all know Jim ~ and we
liked what we knew. HE
NEVER CHANGED.
A
service in memory and appreciation of Jim Payler's life was held
at the Northampton Crematorium on April 27, 2011.
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