ranger brings long association with estate club to an end
Golf stalwart steps down after 81 years
Published:
A north-east great-grandfather is stepping down from his part-time job at the golf club where he has been a member for 81 years.
Alex Smart, 89, of South Finnercy, Echt, reminisced as he strolled around Dunecht House Golf Club yesterday.
He said: “I have enjoyed all my years here.
“It’s a beautiful place with a lot of memories.”
Mr Smart joined the club in 1928.
Although he has not played golf for some time, he has continued as a club ranger at the private course for the past 16 years.
The only break in his lifetime link with the club came during World War II.
The former Gordon Highlander was a prisoner of war for five years.
His father, Alex, was from Aberdeen, “a Torry loon” who took a job as foreman painter on the Dunecht Estate after surviving three years with the Royal Artillery during World War I.
He was one of the first members of the golf course, which was created for workers and tenants, and he introduced young Alex to the game when he was eight.
After Mr Smart left Dunecht School, at the age of 14, he joined his father as an estate painter. He was a talented cricketer, selected to play for Aberdeenshire, as well as a keen golfer.
In 1938, he joined the Territorial Army as Europe again faced the threat of war.
He said: “A film show came round the area, showing Hitler and a recruiting call.
“All the lads working on the estate and round about immediately joined the TA. You felt you had to.”
The 5th Gordon TA Battalion was among the first called up. After a few weeks’ training at the Aldershot garrison, the young soldier and his comrades were on the front line in France.
As the Nazi blitzkrieg swept through the Low Countries and France, the Gordons were surrounded by German troops, under Erwin Rommel – who later became famous as the Desert Fox in North Africa – and were ordered to surrender at St Valery.
Mr Smart then spent five years as a prisoner of war, and was forced to work in coal mines on the German-Polish frontier. “The Germans were brutal,” he said. “The guards didn’t mind beating, or even shooting, prisoners.”
In 1945, the British prisoners were freed. Once home, Mr Smart spent several months recovering in Woodend Hospital, Aberdeen.
He started his own painting and decorating business in 1953.
Yesterday, as the father-of-five reached the final green on the nine-hole course beside the mansion house, he said: “I will miss my part-time job, but my sight is failing a bit.
“I don’t enjoy driving so much nowadays, so it’s time to go.”
