Paul Garrad
Tuesday 15th Sep 20We have sadly heard that Paul Garrad a long time member, player, referee, committee member & supporter of the club sadly passed away on last Tuesday.
Paul played for the club when we were Old Guildfordians, and after the merger of the seniors with Guildford and Godalming Paul returned to play as a member of Stoke Park RFC aka ‘The Bisons’. When Stoke Park RFC merged with Guildfordians Paul continued to play for the club and he took on the role of administering International tickets for the whole club which was not a job not to be under estimated.
I played many games with Paul for Stoke Park RFC and Guildfordians – Paul was a great to have as a team mate and if the team couldn’t get a referee Paul would also step in to the breach to ensure that we all had a game to play. When I started playing for the club Paul was also playing as a flanker but Paul then made the scrum half role his own and his prowess around the scrum, breakdown and his service to the backs became thing that legends are were made of.
After Paul hung up his playing boots in his late 50’s he continued to referee for the game for us and would make the occasional guest appearances on the pitch and would be often on the sideline supporting the teams.
Since hearing this sad news I have been contacted by so many ex players and supporters who all said what a great person Paul was, the word legend was used many times. Paul will be sadly missed by all of us, he was a great friend and a great supporter of Guildfordians. A lot of people at the club have great memories of Paul.
In honour of Paul the next Chairmans game will be dedicated to Paul as his memorial game, we also hope to celebrate Pauls life in the new year by which time we hope that the Covid restrictions have eased.
Our thoughts are with his wife Thora and daughter Freyja.
Paul on the left and front row second on the left.
Paul back row second on the left.
Simon Davies
Club Secretary