Paul Vincent
Paul Vincent, Chairman of Dit'sum Players & Trustee of The Trinity Sailing Trust
Where did you spend your childhood?
I was born in Sussex in 1941 during the Second World War. My mother worked as a children’s nanny and we lived in part of a very large old house. The house was requisitioned by the Canadian forces so we were moved to another house where the first Doodlebug landed just half a mile away. As a child, I seem to remember thinking it was all very exciting! We moved from there to Southern Ireland where I spent the majority of my childhood in Cobh, County Cork. I was initially educated privately in a tiny little school where I achieved nothing, then at Cork Grammar School which managed to get me to a modest pass at common entrance to Christ’s Hospital in Sussex. For some years between the ages of 9 until 14 I travelled to and from Ireland and Sussex on my own. The family returned to England in 1956. Christ’s Hospital gave me a wonderful education, as it has done and still does for hundreds of young people. From school I went to Southampton University School of Navigation before going to sea with the Merchant Navy as a Navigation Officer.
Were you at sea for long?
No, only for about four years. I was taken ill in Singapore, came ashore and got a summer job teaching sailing. Very fortuitous as it was where I met my wife Sally who had been sent down to Chichester by her parents to learn to sail. I then tried to sell cars, very unsuccessfully, then one day I met a neighbour who had recently started as a cameraman at Rediffusion Television.He told me there were jobs going so I applied and became a trainee sound engineer in 1964. That neighbour became our Best Man in 1966 and remains a close friend. It was still the early days of television, most programmes were transmitted live and there were such interesting people to work alongside. I worked on shows such as No Hiding Place, Arthur Miller’s ‘A View from the Bridge’, Ready Steady Go and many many more. Rediffusion lost its franchise in 1968 and I joined the new Thames Television and continued working on a fine output of drama, light entertainment and current affairs that included big band shows with Peggy Lee, Charles Asnavour and Tony Bennett, comedy with Michael Bentine, Mike and Bernie Winters, Benny Hill, Morecambe and Wise – the whole gambit of television in the 60’s and 70’s. Then in 1980 I moved to the company’s base in Euston. Someone had invented a thing called ENG, Electronic News Gathering, which was a smallish camera and recording unit which could go onto the road and record video, taking away the use of film for news gathering. Up until that time all news items had been recorded on film and that meant the news had to be back in the studio by 2pm’ish so the film could be developed in time for the evening’s programmes. I worked in this Electronic News Department for a while before taking over as Manager of Technical Operations for Studios, News and Current Affairs at their Euston Studio Centre. Once again I was privileged to work with many of the world’s top movers and shakers. On 16th October 1991, Thames Television lost its franchise. It was a heart breaking time, telling so many people that I had known for so long, ‘Sorry but you are redundant’ – myself included!
What did you do next?
Sally and I decided we would try to become farmers! We had bought our home in Dittisham in 1982 after seeing it for sale when we were visiting friends in Tuckenhay and I had been travelling up to London on a weekly basis. Our house had originally been part of a farm and its former land came up for sale just at the right moment so we bought back as much as we could afford. We had a hilarious beginning buying two Jacob sheep which we had no idea how to handle. Sal got hold of one by the horns and set off careering downhill through stinging nettles. I heard a plaintive cry of ‘I’m not letting go’ which was absolutely true and should be her motto for life! Slowly but surely we became successful at rearing sheep and together with our flock we also ran a large poultry unit of hens and turkeys. When I got to 65 we decided to just continue with the sheep.
You are heavily involved with local dramatic productions….
Yes, it really all started when I was asked to produce the Nativity in St George’s Church. Sally and I had recently been to visit our son who is married to a lovely Japanese girl and lives in Tokyo. We went to a traditional Bunraku puppet theatre where life sized puppets are operated by adults dressed all in black except for the master puppeteer whose head is left showing. I proposed that the children in the village be the puppeteers and the puppets would be the Nativity characters. Then Brian Patten offered to write the ‘Nativity’ and it all culminated with a wonderful performance by the children and a sound recording done by the BBC which now goes out often on Christmas Eve. Since then there seems to have been a rollercoaster of directing productions with Ditsum Players including ‘Deck Chairs’, ‘Don’t Mention the Dream’ for the Dart Drama Festival and Teignmouth Drama Festival and last summer an outdoor production in the village of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and ‘The Stronger’ written by August Strindberg for the Dart Drama Festival. We are entering the Dart Drama Festival again this year, 10 – 13 November, with “The Hebrew Lesson” a play by Wolf Mankovitz about the IRA in Cork in 1921. It is being directed by Lesley Wells.
Do you have time for other interests?
Our son and daughter have produced five grandchildren for us to enjoy! We have three dogs, the youngest being a now handsome and fit black Labrador named Mr Porter which we took on from a Labrador Rescue Charity. He had been terribly mistreated and was in a very poor physical state so we had to work on building up his under developed muscles. I have a motor boat on the river and I still enjoy sailing and am a Trustee of the Trinity Sailing Trust (www.trinitysailingtrust.org) which does a marvellous job of maintaining three sailing Brixham Trawlers, often seen in Dartmouth, to give disadvantaged young people a taste of the sea, a sense of community and self discovery. Like all charities, especially in the present economic climate, we are always looking for financial help to continue this inspirational opportunity for young people which can literally turn their lives around.
First Published October 2010 By The Dart