Hi members, Matt here. I’ve been appointed to write a new series of posts, of which this is the first. The series is called ‘UKAPU Heroes’.
Over the years certain people like myself have acted as figureheads for the association, and members will probably recognise our names because of this. But behind the scenes other people have been grinding away at thankless tasks for UKAPU, for no pay or benefits. Without their extraordinary efforts UKAPU would not be here today, and would have achieved nothing. So what we’d like to do is draw your attention to some of the low profile people who went above and beyond what was asked of them, and thank them.
UKAPU Hero #1- Paul Gilbert
The first person I’d like to talk about is Paul Gilbert of Defcon Airsoft. Back in 2016 UKAPU had been neglected, our website and membership system had fallen over completely, and the committee at the time had quit without finding replacements. The PCB had started to come about, so a few of us decided get the association restarted as quickly as possible, for the upcoming fight.
Paul was moving house and moving his shop to new premises at this time, and despite already having a mammoth workload, he volunteered to create a brand new website with integrated membership system for us. This system has been absolutely brilliant, and is the same one we still use today. Despite taking time away from his business for us, Paul never wanted any payment for the many hours he spent sorting things out, and we’d have been at a loss without him.
We’ve never given him credit for creating the membership system, website, and everything that goes with it. The UKAPU committee would like to belatedly pass on our enormous gratitude to Paul. If you see Paul around we hope you’ll give him a thank you too, and please check out his excellent store in Stoke-on-Trent too https://www.defconairsoft.co.uk
So, a huge thank you, Paul Gilbert, UKAPU hero!
