Nicol Smith

Nicol, known as Nick to his friends, was born in Plymouth on June 27, 1930 to Mildred and Sydney Smith. As an only child, Mr Smith grew up in Bournemouth with his parents before attending Oriel College in Oxford where he qualified as a solicitor and went on to work at Poole District Council.

Whilst living in Northbourne with his family, he met his neighbour Margaret Jean Smith in 1956, marrying her in Bournemouth by the following year. The couple welcomed their first child Fiona into the world in 1959 then son Niall in 1962.

The family moved to Bradford on Avon in 1966 where Mr Smith got a job with Wiltshire County Council as the secretary solicitor for the county, a position he held until his retirement in 1991. An avid reader, Mr Smith was known for his thirst for knowledge. As well as reading, Mr Smith was also a keen rower and a long-term member of the Bradford on Avon rowing club, something he kept doing until developing Alzheimer’s.

Mr Smith, a grandfather of one to Niall’s daughter Beth, belonged to a number of clubs in Wiltshire, including the Trowbridge Rotary and the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust. He was described as a loving and generous man, known by a large number of people in the county.

Once retired, Nick cycled from Edington, to where he and his wife moved in 1986, to Portsmouth and then travelled to France where he began a journey on the Camino de Santiago trail, taking him all the way from St Jean-Pied-du-Port in France to Camino in Spain.