Paul Hayward - maker of Silkstone whistles

[Mick Woodruff]

Hi everyone.

I have dropped by to pass on some sad news. Searching the forums here I can't see any recent posts about Silkstone whistles or, Paul Hayward, who was the man behind Silkstone Whistles, so it is probable that this information has note reached the community here: I have only just discovered that Paul died in November last year after several years of illness. I feel very sad about this and I know some of you will share this sadness with me. I didn't know Paul personally but he was always lovely to deal with as a whistle maker. His alloy D whistle was my first ever "high end" whistle. It is a lovely whistle and remains a favourite. When it developed a problem after 7 years of use Paul fixed it for me without charge. You don't get service like that very often!

Here is a link to an obituary: http://goo.gl/fqwwV

Best wishes to all!

Mick

[raindog1970]

Sorry to hear of Paul Hayward's passing, he was quite a whistle maker in his day, and a really nice guy too.
Many here will not be familiar with his name, because he stopped making whistles several years ago due to his illness.
I have several of his whistles in my collection, and like Mick, I have a special fondness for the alloy high D.
I even have one of the PVC low D whistles that he made a limited number of, because I continually pestered him to make a batch from PVC instead of aluminum!
Rest in peace, old friend, you will be missed.

[Claus von Weiss]

This is sad news indeed! Paul was a truly fine gentleman to deal with. Not only did he make some great whistles for me, actually he also built for me some excellent tabor pipes, which meant a lot of trial and error to him then, as he never had made tabor pipes before. But that was Paul, as I knew him, open to new ideas, always friendly and always willing to help.

May you rest in peace, Paul, I'll play the "Silkstone Brawl" in your memory!

[tomcat]

Best wishes to his family and friends. Thanks mick for letting us know and for the link to the obit.

[david_h]

That is very sad.

My first high-end whistle was one of his. I have not felt the need to get a different one, nor seen one that looks better engineered.

His whistle web site is still there, as it was in 2008. http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/silkstone/silkstone/

[ChristianRo]

Same with me. Had an D Alloy from him. Superb whistle maker and a pleasure to deal with. The output of his craft will whistle on for a long time.

[PhilO]

May he rest in peace. He also made a lovely line of speckled green and red PVC whistles - I still have the green in C -"PH 58 C." A talented and lovely maker.

Philo

[Jay-eye]

Very sorry to hear of Paul Hayward's passing.
I'm sitting here with PH 37 D in my hands, a luverlee, sweet sounding whistle with an impeccable maroon finish.
I once spent an exceptionally pleasant few hours at his house playing whistles and chatting about stuff. I think I played nearly every whistle he had in the house at the time.
He was a proper gent!

[littlejohngael]

I have a green pvc of his, as well as an aluminum low d ... Stellar guy. Great to deal with. He'll truly be missed.