Biography of Malcolm Archbald Smith - life after retirement - Eastworth Road, Verwood
Malcolm Smith's Family History Archive
Biography ofMalcolm Archbald SMITH
[Ref. S.1]
Chapter 5 : Life in retirement
Part A : Eastworth Road, Verwood
Malcolm took the opportunity of early retirement in 1998 having accepted voluntary redundancy with which came a lump sum payment then an immediate pension. He and Brenda remained in Shaftesbury House even though their children had long left home. Malcolm did continue to work over the next five years, initially on a full time job, but then on a variety of part-time jobs.
It was no secret that Malcolm liked railway trains. As a treat to himself, he used some of his redundancy money to fulfil his ambition to drive a steam locomotive
. The locomotive was the Battle of Britain class 257 Squadron on the Swanage Railway. The event took place on 25 September 1998.
In February 1999, he flew to California with his wife's cousin Tony McClure to visit their uncle Norman over whom there concern about his welfare with his new wife Mary-Ann. Later that same year, Malcolm flew across to California again to collect Norman and bring him back to England for a family visit then accompanied him home again afterwards. These trips gave rise to a series of events which Malcolm put into words. He took the opportunity on the return trip to visit relatives in Mill Valley near Los Angeles.
Malcolm and Brenda took a holiday in a hotel in Paignton in September 2000. Malcolm's mother passed away in October that year. He was executor to her Will. Just after Christmas, Brenda and Malcolm flew over to California to spend the New Year celebrations with uncle Norman at his home in Santa Barbara. Being mostly paralysed by a stroke, Norman had a live-in carer who cooked and cared for Norman and drove him about. From there they took the train to Los Angeles to stay with Brenda's bother Mike and his son Chris' family. In May 2001, son William treated his parents to a stay in a Landmark Trust property in Kent. In October that year William moved out. Brenda and Malcolm travelled once more to their friends in Holland.
In 2001 they decided that it was time to move house. They placed the property in the hands of an Estate Agent but they raised little interest so Malcolm took on the task himself by creating a webpage. However, that also did not bring in many enquiries. Eventually a buyer was found but they set a date to complete that did not allow Malcolm and Brenda to find a new home so they rented a holiday chalet in nearby West Farm, moving out of Shaftesbury House in November that year.
Moving to a smaller house meant that Malcolm had to dipose of some of his hoard of belongings. One such collection was the model aeroplanes that he had made and, not having found anywhere that would take them, he took them to the rubbish tip. There were also many old large toys of his plus sporting equipment that had belonged to his maternal grandfather. These he managed to give to a specialist dealer so that they would not be lost.
