It was with great sadness that the Lodge learned of the Passing to the GL
Above of Bro. Colin Smith, PPrGChStwd in April. Below is a eulogy
to Colin from W.Bro. Peter R Champion, PPrGSuptWks.
I will remember Colin as a work colleague, Brother in Freemasonry and
above all as a trusted and loyal friend for over 50 years.
Colin – or “Col”, “Smudger”, “The Big Man” or just plain “Smithy”
– and I joined the construction company of R J Barwick & Sons Ltd
within a couple of years of each other in the mid 1960s and retired on the
same day – 30th June 2007 – both having completed over 40 years
service. Colin started as a carpenter, quickly rose to the
position of Site Manager then progressing to Contract Planner and eventually
to Contracts Manager. He was justly proud of his achievements in
his working life and was associated with many fine buildings throughout the
Kent area. We shared many trips on site visits and meetings and
unfortunately acquired a reputation for getting lost – no sat navs or
mobile phones in the early days! Nothing amused him more than to
see me on site on a cold, wet or snowy day – far away from my usual
comfortable surroundings – and he would delight in recalling my
distress in later life!
Being a true country lad he had a great understanding of people and was
an excellent communicator with everyone around him. Never one to
suffer fools gladly but always willing to share his vast knowledge of the
construction process to those eager to learn. There were many
young Architects and Surveyors across the county who benefited from a quiet
word of advice or one of his famous sketches to overcome the obvious gaps in
their building knowledge.
We enjoyed many years of good hearted banter and Colin was always
pointing out that “he carried me for forty years” to which I always replied
“bearing in mind our relative sizes it was a good job it was not the other
way round!”
