PAW Nicholls 1942-2024
PAW NICHOLLS, 1942-2024
OBITUARY: PAW NICHOLLS, 1942-2024
We are sorry to report that former Senior Partner of TW Gaze, Patrick Nicholls, passed away earlier this month. Patrick worked with TW Gaze for 36 years.
He was born in Worcestershire in 1942, his father worked as an Auctioneer and Estate Agent. His father was running an Estate Agency in Hereford specializing in the sale and valuation of licensed property, pubs and hotels. His father took him on as a trainee aged 20. He enjoyed doing the field of work and settled into studying by a correspondence course with The College of Estate Management to become a Chartered Surveyor.
Having worked for his father for some 6 years and become professionally qualified it was time to spread his wings. He was offered a job by Thos. Wm. Gaze & Son and moved to Diss in 1966. He married Liz a year later and had two children Ben and Sarah. Life and work in Norfolk was happy and the firm was prospering. He always said that he didn’t recall a day when he felt other than happy to be going to work. In the early years of married life Patrick set about restoring a derelict Elizabethan farmhouse in Bressingham, just a couple of miles from the Diss office.
TW Gaze continued to do well and Patrick became one of six partners, sharing the running of the business in its various disciplines. He particularly enjoyed the quick business and a degree of fun and ‘theatre’ in auctioneering. He had a hard work ethic and developed a strong reputation for integrity and reliability, which served him well in the housing estate agency sector of South Norfolk and North Suffolk. Patrick was charged with developing the Estate Agency practice for TWGaze and he did this with great aplomb as he turned this fledgling department into one of the three cornerstones of the firm in the 1980’s and 1990’s and in the good years the stand-out department. Not content with just turning his hand to the selling of houses and chattels he also led the Commercial side of the business possibly a throwback to his father’s practice in Herefordshire. After 20 years living in the old farmhouse, they moved to a Georgian townhouse only 50 yards from the office and the auction salerooms up the road. Patrick threw himself into activity in the Diss community, he was an active rugby player and later Vice President with Diss Rugby Club, he was a regular on the squash courts and was often engaged in raising money for charities. When the children were young, the family discovered sailing at Aldeburgh. Patrick was a keen dinghy racer and was Class Captain of the Wayfarer fleet, before moving into a Flying 15.
TW Gaze continued to develop, grow and prosper. The Auction Rooms were booming after a significant period of recovery from the fall-away of the livestock markets of old. Patrick became the Senior Partner following Peter Smith’s retirement in 1992. He retired from the firm in 2002 passing a far stronger department and firm onto the new custodians of TWGaze than when he joined in 1966.
Patrick retired aged 60 and moved to Aldeburgh where he enjoyed time with his family and teaching his grandchildren to sail. Unfortunately Liz’s health deteriorated and she died, aged 70. Following her loss, Patrick oversaw the building of a new house in Aldeburgh, to a specification embracing maximum thermal efficiency. It took the best part of two years from concept to completion. Patrick led a full and active life in retirement, he was a Flag Officer at the Yacht Club, an avid sailor and navigator of the high seas. Patrick was a keen golfer and Bridge player. While Chairman of the Aldeburgh RNLI Guild, he was awarded the Silver Medal by the RNLI for raising significant funds over a 50 year period in both Diss and Aldeburgh.
Patrick loved socializing and helping in the community. He was also known for his enthusiasm for good health and fitness. His sudden and unexpected passing has come as a shock and surprise to many.
The family has asked us to provide the following funeral arrangements.
There will be a private Cremation week commencing 26th February.
The family will be having a Service of Thanksgiving for Patrick on Friday 15th March at 14:30 at St. Peter & St. Paul’s Church, Aldeburgh.
Donations in the memory of Patrick to The Aldeburgh Lifeboat Guild c/o Tony Brown Funeral Services, The Funeral Parlour, New Cut, Saxmundham Suffolk IP17 1EH. The Aldeburgh Lifeboat Guild is part of the RNLI, but funds are specifically for the Aldeburgh crew.
Donations can also be paid directly by bank transfer to bank account: 20-68-95 40325236, with the important reference 910254, which allocates it to the Aldeburgh Guild. Please let the family know about any direct payments, so that they can allocate accordingly.
