Fundraising campaign in memory of Chesterfield headteacher killed in crash

Friends of a former Chesterfield headteacher have launched a fundraising campaign in her name.
By Jon Ball
Published 11th Dec 2019, 11:45 BST
Updated 16th Dec 2019, 16:33 BST
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Paula Kingdon, who worked at Westfield Infant School, Vincent Crescent, Brampton, for her entire teaching career and was headteacher until the summer of 2016, died in a collision near Liverpool on Halloween.

Now friends have launched a crowdfunding page on JustGiving to fund a memorial to her.

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Philip Childs, 63, who has launched the page, said: “Paula was practically one of our family, but her influence, respect and love spread far and wide, not just in our circle of friends but through the hundreds and hundreds of children, and later, their children, who she inspired during 40 years, 20 of them as headteacher, at Westfield Infants School.”

Philip Childs and his wife Maggie Moran, with Paula Kingdon, centre, in Santa Barbara, California, USA, last year, after Paula flew out for Maggie's 60th birthday, while Philip was working in Los Angeles.Philip Childs and his wife Maggie Moran, with Paula Kingdon, centre, in Santa Barbara, California, USA, last year, after Paula flew out for Maggie's 60th birthday, while Philip was working in Los Angeles.
Philip Childs and his wife Maggie Moran, with Paula Kingdon, centre, in Santa Barbara, California, USA, last year, after Paula flew out for Maggie's 60th birthday, while Philip was working in Los Angeles.

He said the JustGiving funds would be added to donations from Paula’s funeral and those given to the school to fund “a brightly coloured seating area for children and parents” in the playground, a mosaic school logo bearing Paula's name to be hung in the school hall, and “the sponsorship of a child or children in link schools in Africa and India”.

Philip met both his wife, Maggie Moran, now 61, and Paula when they studied at Sheffield’s Totley Thornbridge College of Education together in the mid-1970s, with Paula and Maggie sharing a student house.

They have remained close friends ever since, with Philip, of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, describing Paula as an “honorary auntie” to his six children.

He said: “Her death was a great shock and a great loss.

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“She was the kindest person you could meet, the most open-hearted, funny, with a great sense of humour. She had time for everyone, she couldn't do enough for anyone.She was a wonderful person.

“I still expect her to come through our door to visit us.”

He said Paula, a proud Liverpudlian, was on her way back to her adopted home city of Sheffield, having been to Merseyside to visit her stepfather and see her beloved Liverpool FC play, when the collision happened.

The JustGiving page has already reached more than £1,700 – smashing its £1,000 target, but donations are still being accepted. To donate, see bit.ly/38nQlLU

Related topics:ChesterfieldLiverpool