About Us
PAUL REYNOLDSON
As you will have read elsewhere on this website, Paul Reynoldson was the man who cajoled, persuaded and threatened me in order to get me up on a stage with a guitar in hand for the first time. It took him a few years, but his encouragement and faith in me changed my life. When the band he was in split in 2010, we formed PG CHiPS. We became best of friends, and even after the musical work ended in 2014, we spent time together whenever it was possible to do so. including two rather messy weekends celebrating the best of 70's in Butlin's Minehead in 2019 and 2021.
He worked hard to 'normalise' conversations about Men's Mental Health, including taking part in a BBC TV documentary featuring HRH Prince William, and football legends including Gareth Southgate, Peter Crouch, Thierry Henry and many others which has been repeated many times since it was first broadcast in 2019.
It was during a conversation on 20th July 2022 that he first told me about his Cancer diagnosis. He was determined to beat it, and we began talking about setting up a charity event once his Chemotherapy had worked it's magic. The climax of this would be the first live appearance of PG CHiPS for 9 years. We spoke about what songs we could perform, allowing for the expected limitations in mobility that the treatment would temporarily present him with.
One month later, and after an infection took hold, his family were informed that his prognosis was now poor. I drove up to see him on Monday 22nd August, and in the early hours of Thursday 25th August he passed away.
One of his final conversations with his family was to ask me to perform at his wake on Tuesday 6th September, 2022. A performance I was honoured to carry out.
Every single show in which I sing and play on a stage is a testament and a tribute to the work he did a decade and a half ago to persuade me to give it a go.
Mark Paul Reynoldson, 25/10/62 - 25/09/22.