Biography of Malcolm Archbald SMITH
[Ref. S.1]
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In his later teens whilst on holiday from school, Malcolm spent most of his time at home with the family. He did quite a lot of work in the garden, landscaping and planting shrubs. He also frequently went cycling with his brother. They were both members of Camberley Wheelers Cycling Club and often participated in the weekly time trial event. After one Sunday 25 mile event, they both decided to cycle down to Selsey which was over 50 miles away. The journey down was fine then they had a swim before setting out for home, but the journey back became more and more difficult and Malcolm had to walk up some of the last hills.
On leaving school at the end of 1958, Malcolm started work immediately in 1959 with George Wimpey & Co in Hammersmith, and would travel there daily by coach. A colleague called Hamish was tasked with helping Malcolm to get settled in and the became good friends. As part of their training, the boys had to attend college in Shepherds Bush which included nightschool in Holland Park. They would often meet up in a pub beforehand nightschool which frequently led to their staying in the pub and missing their class.
To avoid the daily commute from home, Malcolm moved into Hamish's digs in Rocks Lane in Barnes. However, this had been without the consent of the landlord and, when he found out sfter a few days, he evicted them both. Hamish went to live in South Kensington and Malcolm found digs in 9 Beverley Road in Barnes. The two used to meet up on one night a week for a drink, the Casltenau being the regular choice. A couple of pints was usually all they had due to lack of money to spend. Alternatively, Hamish would come back to Malcolm's digs where they would play chess. They would buy a bottle of stout and one of cider to make a poor mans 'black velvet' which was poured from the teapot, being the largest vessel in the digs. Malcolm would also visit Hamish in South Kensington where they would go to a local pub. One evening in the Zetland Arms they were approached by someone who wanted to give them a pistol to assist in robbing a store.
Some evenings, they would meet up with other friends as well, one being an Egyptian called Nabil who worked in the embassy. He was a jolly fellow and invariably provided a bottle of vodka, free from the embassy, to help the evenining along. Another was Peter who was a friend of Hamish from the Lake District and, in 1961, they all went up to Troutbeck on the Whit bank holiday weekend to stay with Peter's mother. The following year, Malcolm decided to take his brother Stewart on the same trip, but this time the holiday was miserable.
Every now and then, someone in the office would be holding a party, and it got to the point where it was the same friends at each event. Shortly before leaving London, Malcolm had digs near Barnes railway station. He had invited colleague Brian for a drink with the intention that he could sleep on the floor rather than risk riding his scooter home in Wimbledon. The landlady heard them coming in and refused to let him stay.
Malcolm's brother Stewart was apprenticed as a car mechanic and used to fiddle about with cars at home. They both developed an interest in stock car racing and used to attend the weekly meeting at Ash Vale. Malcolm purchased a Corgi scooter, a leftover from the war when they were designed for use by parachutists. He did not own a car until he was married and got about by driving his parents cars. He had been able to drive his mother's car from well before the legal age by keeping to the lane they lived along also through the adjacent woodland. Because of this, he was able to pass his driving test at the first attempt in 1959.
Malcolm had been friends with Tim from his office and occasionally joined him for a weekend visiting his girlfriend's family in Buckinghamshire. The three of them went on a camping holiday in Cornwall for the week after Whitsun in 1960. Another colleague from Malcolm's office called Rupert decided to organise a group trip to Norway to take place early in 1961.
Malcolm had developed an interest in traditional jazz and started going to St.Peter's hall in Frimley every Saturday evening. There he met Jenny and they became friends and used to dance together for a few months until the latter part of 1961. The resident band was the High Curley Stompers, named after a local landmark hill, and they relocated to St.Andrew's hall in Frimley Green where Malcolm continued to attend. It was late in November, just a week after his 21st birthday, at that jazz club that he met Brenda Parsons whom was to become his wife. Brenda lived just a few miles from Malcolm so they continued to attend the jazz club, including when it relocated to the Cambridge Hotel in Camberley. He would visit her every Sunday at her home and often bring her bck to his own home. At the Whit weekend in 1962, Malcolm took Brenda to a party at the house of an aquaintance in Egham. They ended up spending the night on the floor of one of the bedrooms as both Malcolm and Brenda had drunk too much to drive home safely. He returned Brenda home in the morning expecting trouble from her parents but nothing was said and there was no tension. The two then spent the day on the beach at Selsey Bill, meeting up with others from the party.
Brenda worked as a hairdresser in Sandhurst and, in 1963, was given tickets to the Military College prestigeous midsummer ball, so Malcolm escorted her there. Another gift of tickets from a customer to Brenda took them to a London for the televised program Sunday Night at the London Palladium, hosted by Bruce Forsyth. What they did not know until shortly beforehand was that the top act were The Beatles whom had no particular interest at the time. However, it was quite an experience as the theatre was packed with young girls who screamed at every mention of The Beatles, in fact, drowned out all the preceding acts who went on as best they could.
In 1963, Hamish with his friends John and Vic decided to take a holiday in Spain and invited Malcolm to come along, part of the reason being that he was a driver and Hamish and Vic were not.
In the summer of 1964, Malcolm and Brenda went on a week's holiday in Torquay where they stayed in a hotel then travelled around each day.
The following year Malcolm and Brenda drove up to Scotland for a camping holiday where they first met a Dutch couple called Hans and Ynskje with whom they became lifelong friends.
Brenda's sister had married a fisherman in Mudeford and they lived on the quay there. Malcolm and Brenda would visit them and grew to like the area, deciding eventually to live in that area once they were married. Their choice was to find a cottage in the countryside and remain there for life on the basis that such a place was the ambition of couples when they retired, so why not start there. Malcolm hired a car and made a tour of the south coast, reaching Dartmoor where he stayed at the Poltimore Arms, owned by a former pupil of Worksop College, but he did not find anything suitable. He did find a small terraced cottage in Bransgore with the benefit of a separate building plot but that came to nothing. He contacted another Old Worksopian friend, Herbie, who worked at the estate agent Fox and Son in Bournemouth, and through their Ringwood branch he found a cottage in Verwood. It was not in best condition and the price was probably too high, but they liked it and Malcolm managed to meet the purchase price with the help of a loan from his mother. The purchase was completed in July 1965, the legal matters being dealt with by another school friend, also named Malcolm.
Having bought the cottage, Malcolm set about to restore it but keep it in it's traditional style. The building had sunk towards one end so there was a considerable slope on the floors but Malcolm was happy to take on the work himself which he started but soon found that there were many more problems than anticipated. He was not daunted and set about a complete refurbishment. Malcolm started the work by travelling down each weekend with his fiancée Brenda. However, he had been able to transfer his job from London to the local office in Southampton, and moved down later that year, lodging with Brenda's sister and family at Mudeford.
Malcolm soon found it difficult travelling about by bus, also he needed to buy building materials, so he bought an old Ford van in Purewell for £15. It was a bit of a wreck and usually had to be started on the handle, however, with a new battery it would roar into life. One morning Malcolm was pleased to give a lift to a neighbour who had a Rolls Royce which would not start. Malcolm moved into the cottage in spring 1966 and, despite the meagre conditions, managed to cook proper meals also get his washing done. Brenda would come down each weekend in her car to help. They forewent their holidays for the next couple of years so as to put all their effort into restoring the cottage.
Malcolm and Brenda were married at Farnborough, Hants on 11 November 1967 then took their honeymoon in Paris.
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