Paul Astell, FRMS Vice-President

Paul was born in London and moved to Shropshire in 1977. He joined Oswestry RMS in 1980, has served as a committee member since then and was elected chairman in 2014. For 40 years he worked for the company we now know as BT, taking early retirement in 2007. Initially trained in telecommunications, Paul eventually moved into information and communications technology and computing.

Paul's musical passions were aroused at an early age when he had access to the family's record collections. His musical tastes are fairly wide-ranging and is equally at home at the ballet, opera, orchestral and choral concerts or Big Band 'swing' events. Mahler, Wagner, Elgar, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Malcolm Arnold are particular favourites among many.

Paul has a special interest in music for film, past and present, as well as the musical theatre. He also retains a certain nostalgic enthusiasm for the popular music of his youth, the Beatles and others having seemingly left an indelible impression!

Paul enjoys travel and there aren't many European countries to which he hasn't tugged his caravan! He is also involved as a technician for the local Talking Newspaper for the Blind.

Paul has been married since 1976, has two daughters and four grandchildren. He was appointed FRMS Bulletin editor in 2011 and continued in that role for eight years. In 2022 the FRMS committee appointed Paul to the honorary position of Vice-President.

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