Julian Smith

Julian passed away 16 December 2024. He was part of the History Group in his latter years.

Pauline Barrett wrote a piece in the Newsletter in November 2020 celebrating his 25 years as a parish councillor and it is repeated here:

The 8th October 2020 marks 25 years since Julian Smith became a Parish Council Councillor and I hope you will enjoy this article, as I found out many interesting facts and can share some experiences with you that occurred during his long career.

Julian was born in Edwalton and educated at Bramcote Hill School. 

He joined the Police Cadets at the age of 16 and then at 19 in January 1966 joined as a Regular. Posted to Beeston as a probationary Police Constable, two years later he transferred to West Bridgford.  He tells me his promotions were down to good luck being in the right place at the right time.  Three years later he was promoted to Sergeant and later to an Inspector based at Hyson Green.  He was then asked to head the Vice Squad for 4 years.  He has also headed the Serious Crime Squad, Drugs Squad, and the Abuse Squad, so is well qualified in all areas of policing.

He met his wife Margaret at the old 99 Club in 1975.  They married and lived in Wilford Village moving to Tollerton in 1985 and it was there that their two daughters were born.

Following the Vice Squad he was promoted, he told me, ‘into the most boring job in the force’, but two weeks later in January 1989 he found himself in a helicopter which landed on the M1 next to the Kegworth air disaster where he witnessed the tragic aftermath. He also witnessed two light planes colliding at Tollerton Airport whilst attending a sporting function in the 70’s, which I am sure some of you may well remember.

The job became interesting again when the London prison officers went on strike and he went back to prison handling, when 3 weeks later Margaret Thatcher and Arthur Scargill had their very public ‘who’s in charge’ argument.

He left uniform branch for CID and was posted to HQ CID (Criminal Investigation Department) on homicide. Nottingham then averaged 3 such murders a year.  One weekend he had a call from the Home Office saying the murder of Julie Dart and the kidnapping of Stephanie Slater in Birmingham were linked and enquiries should be based in Nottingham.  Although all his officers had gone home for the weekend 50 arrived next morning.  A special edition of Crimewatch was organised when the recording of the offender’s voice was played and some 15 callers identified him.  Next morning armed with search warrants he visited a workshop in Newark’s Castlegate arresting Michael Sams for murder, extortion and kidnapping.  Sams laughed and handed him a carrier bag containing £30,000, but bribery was not an option.

He applied for a job in Crime Prevention and started a project known as the SAFE Scheme where elderly burglary victims were given enough locks, bars and bolts to guarantee no further burglaries.  The scheme was a complete success with only one house broken into again.  McCarthy & Stone builders joined the Scheme providing skills and the equipment and he was invited twice by John McCarthy, once to a London meeting of very rich funders to talk about the Scheme, and secondly to meet Prince Charles and introduce him to the victims of burglary.  Whilst in conversation with HRH he saw the Beverly Sisters being ushered into a side room.  Very interesting!!

Four years later, on the verge of retirement, he opened his morning mail to find he had been awarded the QPM.  Normally the Queen only awards 6 of these medals per year so he felt very honoured to accept.

After retiring he received a call from a friend at Carlton Television offering him a job as an advisor to Roger Cook, on the Cook Report (British current affairs television programme shown on ITV).  For 3 years he chased around Europe making 12 half hour programmes and 2 one-hour specials.  In 1997 it won a special BAFTA award for Roger Cook for 25 years of outstanding quality investigative reporting.

Shortly after this he discovered he had Parkinson’s disease and with Margaret’s dedicated care and love he has coped very well until recently.  Five years ago, he was given brain surgery, which lasted 13 hours, This was a partial success but unfortunately is now beginning to wear off, so he has decided to fully retire from the Parish Council after 25 years and enjoy his retirement fully, here in Tollerton – of course.

Now let us look at his achievements for us here in Tollerton.  Two years, after retiring from the Police Force he joined the Parish Council.  After about five years he became Chairman and remained in that position for 10 years and has continued on the Committee ever since.  During his time, the Committee set up the Village Fayre which originally was held in the grounds of the Methodist Church, and organised the closing of the roads, before it moved to the Open Space, and this has continued to thrive and grow ever since.

He was a School governor at Tollerton School for 8 years, and has been on the Village Newsletter Committee for 16 years and is also currently involved with the Village History Group.

Although these achievements have only been condensed into a couple of paragraphs, his dedication, and involvement with all has been remarkable and he is a much appreciated ‘long serving’ member of our community. He plans to potter in his garage and enjoy his time now and we wish both him and Margaret all the best for a long and happy retirement.

He says he is proud to have served as both a police officer and a Parish Councillor, but I am sure he will still be as much involved with everything as he is possibly able to.

The history group would also like to add their recognition to Julian who was a member of the group from the very beginning. His knowledge of the village surprised us many times and his garage held a plethora of items he would show us that he’d found from various sources.

He organised most of the pictures in frames when we gave our talks and also ‘decorated’ the post box by the church before the defibrillator took up residence. We will miss his input.