16.2.1985 – 26.10.2023

Many of our readers will have heard of the tragic death of Richard, son of The Hockey Museum (THM) stalwarts Judy and Mike Smith. Although at 38 Richard had not achieved all that he undoubtedly would have done we are pleased to present this obituary of a short life, very well lived.

Richard was the younger son of Judy and Mike Smith (of Mercian Sports and The Hockey Museum) and younger brother of James. He was born in St Peter’s Hospital Chertsey, Surrey.

He went to St Andrew’s Prep School in Horsell from the age of four and as he progressed through the school his love of sport was born. As his parents were both hockey players, Judy at Wimbledon and Mike at Staines, he went to one or other of their hockey matches in his pram! Thankfully he loved hockey and represented St Andrew’s in all age groups as well as at cricket, football and swimming.

At 13 he won an all-rounders’ scholarship to Reeds in Cobham and entered fully into school life, playing hockey and cricket, representing the 1st XI in both sports, playing the clarinet in the school wind band, singing in the choir and acting in the plays. He also joined the school Army Cadet Corps and was Senior Cadet in his final year. His exploits with the CCF convinced him that he would like a military career after university. Whilst still at school he played hockey for Staines and cricket for Blackheath.

During school holidays he was gainfully employed in the family business, gaining a variety of useful skills which stood him in good stead in later life, although he didn’t always appreciate the life lessons he was learning at the time! He was always of a practical bent and enjoyed working with his hands.

He inherited a love of railways from his father and was a proud owner of miniature locomotives of his own and was an enthusiastic member of a miniature railway society based in Woking which his father founded.

Before university he embarked on a “Gap Yah” as he called it, spending three months working in a specialist hockey shop in Northern Ireland, playing for a local hockey team and passing his driving test. He then went travelling with his good friend John Wareham and together they had a great time travelling around the world, thankfully returning with no tattoos or piercings!

On starting Swansea University to read geography he attended freshers’ week and went to enroll in the university Army Cadets. However, he found to his horror that their activities took place on a Wednesday afternoon which was sports afternoon. He then discovered that the University Royal Navy Unit met on Thursday afternoons, so he signed up with them and enjoyed four happy years. His parents had an association with the Royal Navy as their Mercian Sports Company had sponsored Royal Navy Hockey since the late 1970s and one of their great friends, Alan Walker, ran Royal Navy Hockey at the time. So, after university joining the Senior Service was a natural progression.

Richard played hockey for the university men’s XI throughout the four years he was at Swansea, after which he became an officer cadet at Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, graduating as a Second Lieutenant in the summer of 2010. He decided to join the Logistics Corps as that meant most of his jobs would be shore based so he would be able to continue to play hockey and cricket.

“Life in a blue suit” as he called it meant that he changed jobs every two years, which meant moving house too. Over the years he played hockey for Staines, Old Cranleighan, Havant, Fareham, Bahrain, Taunton Vale, Dart, Shape (NATO HQ in Belgium) and his final club Andover. He was also the Royal Navy goalkeeper for some years both indoors and outdoors. He played club cricket when he could wherever he was posted. Richard was happy to give back to the clubs he enjoyed playing for and as a qualified hockey coach and a reasonable umpire he was the sort of member any club was happy to have. In the week following his death, five of his former clubs held a minute’s silence in his memory.

He was loving, loyal and hardworking with a great sense of humour and has left fond memories with all who played or worked with him. He was a great team player, whether it was a sports team or a work team and he always gave 100% at whatever he did. He made friends wherever he went. He will be missed so much.