Paul Johnstone

COM COM Correspondence
#1

It is my sad duty to report the untimely passing away of the DOC Regalia Secretary Paul Johnstone.
Paul developed a respiritory problem during December and had some hospital treatment over the Christmas period, but was taken back in again last week, since when he had undergone more tests.
Although there had been no worsening over the last week, Paul died suddenly at 5:15 am today (29th January).
I can count “Jonno” as one of my best mates and had known him since we were both involved in the local branch of the Norton Owners Club in 1974. My Ducati addiction and the reliability record of my Paso was one of the major reasons for Jonno abandoning Japanese hardware for the Bolognese treasures in 2001, when he bought his ST4. He took on the DOC Regalia when it was at a low point in 2003 and has rebuilt it to a successful operation, including the DOC’s first foray into electronic trading with the E-bay online shop.
Jonno was Best Man at my wedding to the current Mrs Spaggy and a regular companion during TT week, where he was responsible for organising the switch of the Mad Sunday Rally to the Creg in 2009. We last met at the hospital last Sunday, when I had promised him I’d get the first drinks at the BMF Show. I’ll save it for the TT, when I can share it with all his other mates.
Paul is survived by his widow, Marie, and two daughters, Sarah and Charlotte. I will miss him as much as they will.

Spaggy.

The DOC Regalia operation is on hold until we organise an interim set-up pending a new Regalia Secretary. Please direct any enquiries to me.

#2

Thoughts with family at this moment, regalia can wait !!!

#3

I visited Marie on Sunday, and we had a lengthy chat about Paul, and the DOC Regalia operation, and I can now add the following information.

Firstly, the funeral.
Charlotte (Paul’s daugher by Marie) is currently in Canada, and is coming back on Friday. She expects to be back for a week, so Marie is aiming to have the funeral during the week beginning 8th Feb. There will be a general invitation to all DOC COM and other members, so even if you are not specifically asked, please turn up if you are able. DOC shirts will be welcome too.
Both Marie and Paul had an opinion that wreaths and floral tributes are a waste. Consequently, although Marie would appreciate the gesture of a floral tribute from the club, she would discourage individual ones. The reason being that the cemetery can’t even give the flowers away to local hospices or old folks homes as in the past, so they simply get chucked in a skip 48 hours after the funeral. Blame the health & safety bods. Paul would have loved that! Marie thinks this would be a waste, so requests instead that if anyone wants to make a donation or show their appreciation it be done through a charity.
Paul had strong links to the NABD but in recent years lost most respect for them as it appears they now spend much of their revenue on alchohol. Instead, he was a great supporter of Riders for Health, and never missed a Day of Champions at Donington to help support them. I agree with Marie that a donation to RfH would be the best option, and am working on getting something on site which will enable such donations. Details will follow in due course.

Next the Regalia.
The stock will need to be moved, and Graham Stoppani has volunteered to assist with this. Graham will need at least two trips in a decent size estate car, or maybe one in a medium sized van to move it all, and probably a spare bedroom in which to store it. We’ll talk about this individually when we get a chance.
The e-bay shop is proving troublesome, as Marie and I could not find any login codes written down anywhere. Paul’s PC has an auto-login with a saved password, but I have been unable to make any adjustments to the store as neither Marie nor Paul’s sister have any idea of the answers to some of the security questions required to do so. I cannot therefore yet adjust the email (which uses Paul’s personal ntl account) for notifications etc, or suspend the shop until I can get back to his PC and use the email/ebay logins saved on it.
The problem with Paul’s set-up is that the e-bay shop is all in his name, and so this makes it difficult to switch “ownership”. I spent a couple of hours getting no-where on Sunday night, and as much time again today.
For the time being, I have used Paul’s outlook express to auto-forward email addressed to his e-bay/ntl account to me via the regalia@docgb.net address, so I hope I will be able to access things remotely this way. This depends on Marie logging in every now and then, though, so I’d like to sort this out asap to avoid the need for her to be involved. I have copied the mails received since Jan 1st to my PC, and will attempt to resolve any outstanding issues asap. I have also copied Paul’s email address book, and will notify all of his contacts by email of the sad events of last week.
I have removed Paul’s contact details from the website, again to avoid Marie having to deal with potentially upsetting mail or calls, but if anyone wants to send a sympathy card, then it’s - Marie Johnstone, 47 Queens Rd, Hinckley, Leics, LE10 1ED.
E-bay have proved singularly unhelpful, but I think they may have now sent me (via Paul’s email) a way of logging in to re-set the password. I spent about two hours today talking and “chatting” via the keyboard to three different departments, none of whom could do anything for one reason or another. Even suspending it is beyond them, so bear with me while I try to sort it out. It may now need a trip back to Paul’s PC to take it one step further, or with Marie’s help I may be able to do things remotely.
I suppose that in the worst possible way this shows the value of using dedicated club email accounts etc, as it would make dealing with this sort of thing so much easier.

I will put out an abbreviated version of this on the email list and the website, and keep everyone updated as things move on.

Regards

#4

Thanks, Spaggy. Please keep us all informed of any further news.

#5

Just a short update on the latest position.

Paul’s funeral has been arranged for Monday 15 February, 12.15 pm, at Gilrose Crematorium, Groby Road, Leicester LE3 9QG.

The ‘wake’ afterwards will be held at The Brant Inn, Leicester Road, Groby, Leicester, LE6 ODU.

I finally got somewhere with e-bay, and have now managed to get access to the store with a changed password. The store has been placed on indefinite suspension using the “vacation” settings. I have amended the contact details to mine, and changed the email address for correspondence to regalia@docgb.net so that I can monitor it. Once Maria and I get a couple of outstanding issues sorted we can then take our time to sort out the rest.

#6

Thanks Spaggy, should be ok, i will book day off work now.

#7

Thanks, Spaggy, as I don’t work Mondays that should be ok for me.

That’s good news that you have sorted out the ebay password too.

#8

Thanks for that, I will be attending, and it the weather permits, on the bike.