Paul Hawes
Paul Hawes was born in Burwell in 1935: his father was also a villager, and his mother was ‘delivered to Burwell at the age of five in a horse and cart from Newmarket workhouse’ (Lifestory). As a child, Paul lived in a cottage on the riverbank near Judy’s Hole ‘with no electricity or anything like that and our water used to come from the river – we used to scoop a bucket in.’
In 1953, he joined the Army and saw action in Egypt (Soldiering 1&2). In 1960, he married Pauline and has lived in the same house on Newmarket Road ever since. In 1993 he started Cambridgeshire Brick and Tile Company to make traditional Cambridge gault clay tiles (Brickworks 1&2).
He was a member of Burwell Windmill Trust in the 1970s, and a founder member of Burwell Museum Trust, which he chaired for over 15 years, retiring in 2015 (Mill). In 2006, he donated Pauline’s Swamp, an open nature reserve, to the village, in memory of his wife.