Biography of Malcolm Archbald SMITH
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When it comes to collecting, Malcolm could well have been described as a Magpie. Anything that came in groups, types or sets and could be categorised or catalogued fascinated him. He would easily fall into collecting things even as a young child and some of these were retained throughout his life.
When Malcolm left school, he thought to continue his athletics in the hope that he would benefit from some proper training. He went to join the club in Camberley but found that the other members seemed only interested in themselves so he left without ever getting onto the track. He then joined Camberley Wheelers cycling club and found their attitude quite the opposite in that they were interested in new members and did everything to welcome and encourage them. Malcolm's brother Stewart also took up cycling and they both entered for time trials. Malcolm used to ride his bike from Camberley to London daily and when he moved to Dorset he continued to ride to work on occasions, also would take rides into the countryside twice a week.
Malcolm's interest in his family history started when he was about forty years old with a midshipman's chest inherited through his mother's family. The chest contained an amount of memorabilia which his mother had accumulated so he decided to study it. He quickly found a fascination for the subject and set out to research more detail and write it up for the benefit of his wider family. He had the benefit of travelling throughout the country for his work so took the opportunity to visit places of interest in the process. The project grew rapidly and became his nominated legacy for the future and he became the keeper of the family archive. He created a website in order to share the information and also to attract information from others. He also produced a series of books on aspects of different branches of his more immediate family.
Malcolm had his first garden at the age of five. His father let him use one of the flower beds in the front garden of their bungalow in which Malcolm grew some red cabbages from seed. Unfortunately he did not see them mature as the family moved house that same year. At "Kashmir Cottage" Malcolm had a small plot in which he grew flowers but also tried to grow wild things such as toadstools and moss, neither of which prospered. After he was married and living in the cottage in Manor Road, Verwood, he had to start the ¼ acre garden from scratch so he went for a traditional cottage garden and vegetable plot. He planted with the long term in mind as he and his wife intended this to be their home for life. The front garden had a rose bed, a flower border and a traditional herbacious border. One boundary had espalier apple and pear trees and the back garden had a vegetable plot containing the full range including a fruit cage. Despite their plans, Malcolm & his family moved home to "Shaftesbury House" which had an established garden which was difficult to change so he left it basically as it was. However, after the children had left home, Malcolm and Brenda moved to Fordingbridge where he was able to recreate a garden but additionally managed to be allocated an allotment nearby where he grew a great variety of fruit and vegetables.
Malcolm's interest in music widened as he grew older, but he generally maintained an interest in all the styles to which he had been attracted. He had been given piano lessons as soon as he started school. He never really did as well as me might as he always had too many other distractions to concentrate on practise and, a couple of years before he finished school, he and his teacher parted company by mutual agreement. Malcolm still liked music, starting with pop music in the mid 1950's, of which he bought a few 78rpm records. He progressed onto Skiffle, playing with his brother and sister. Next came Rock and Roll with the advent Bill Haley. At school, he became aware of jazz, firstly traditional then progressing to modern but he soon lost interest in the latter when it became too progressive. Some Big Band music such as created by Benny Goodman was on his list of 'likes'. He appreciated much of the more popular classical music. Once at work, Malcolm discovered World Music, in particular, Reggae, Blue Mountain and Pacific Island folk songs and, whilst working in Africa, he came across Soucous music to which he took an instant liking. Luckily, Malcolm's wife Brenda appreciated much of the same music as did he. They had first met in a Jazz Club so that was a good start. They went to a few concerts during their married life and after retirement they attended some local folk festivals as they had come to appreciate Celtic groups then Cajun and Appelation Mountain.
Malcolm took an interest in natural history about the time he became a teenager. Like many boys of his age, he started to collect birds eggs, something that was not illegal in those days. His interest extended into all aspects of the natural world and he accumulated a good collection of finds, ranging trough pressed flowers and grasses, fir cones, animal bones, sea shells, rocks and fossils.
Another major and enduring hobby of Malcolm's which has resulted in his having taken in excess of 30,000 photographs. He has kept the negatives of these pictures since the mid 1950's. More recently his photographs have been taken on a digital camera so the images are stored on his computer. Besides the usual snapshots that every family takes, Malcolm has embarked on a number of long-term projects which include railways as noted above, the British coastline and post boxes. Another unplanned project resulted from the many pictures Malcolm took of Verwood in the 1970's onwards, before the village was developed into a town. These have now been put onto his website and gain interest as the town changes with development.
This has been a major interest of Malcolm's since before he started school. During his school years he had a model railway to which he gradually added as time went by. From about 1970 his interest grew and he started collecting railway memorabilia and photographing trains and their environment. In the 1980's he achieved an ambition to build a large shed in his garden devoted entirely to railways, both original artefacts and a model layout. He constructed a new model railway layout each time he moved house. Much of the interest that Malcolm has relating to railways is displayed on his website.
Malcolm was always interested in walking but this really developed in later life. Holidays were usually taken in seaside locations in the West Country giving the opportunity to walk the coast paths. Each holiday was taken in a different place so that a new part of the path could be walked. These walks were linked to Malcolm's project of photographing the British coastline. Malcolm undertook some street mapping which entailed plenty of walking. His son James worked for a mapping company who subcontracted some of their work and Malcolm was able to undertake some of this. He has also walked extensively on the Isle of Wight which has a superb network of footpaths. Many of these together with other walks have been detailed on Malcolm's website.
Malcolm starting writing during his later teens. He found that he had an interest in composition and enjoyed the challenge of employing the flexibility of the English language. He relished writing short stories so his essay work at school was a pleasure. He did embark on writing a couple of longer stories but neither was completed. He also became interested in poetry and gained top place for a piece of holiday work that he completed. He wrote a number of other poems whilst at school and during his early working years. He later went on to submit pieces for various magazines, particularly in connection with family history. He also produced his own series of books on his own ancestors and some related families.