Blacon Resident reminisces on proudest years in The Navy
HC-One’s Lauren Court in Blacon, Cheshire, is home to 86 year old Nicholas Tate Smith who kindly shared some fascinating stories about the proudest years of his life. 

Mr Smith, who was originally from Christleton, was head boy at The King's School Chester, established in 1541, which was renowned for being a prestigious private boys’ school. Mr Smith recalls how Friday morning prayers were always in Chester Cathedral and as Head Boy, Nick had the honour of reading the morning’s lesson from the lecturn, dating back to the early 17th century.

After his school years, Mr Smith, who is known around Lauren Court as “Nick”, joined The Navy in 1953 for National Service Duty. He spent three years in there; two were his National Service plus he stayed on an extra year. 

During this time, Nick learned to speak Russian from scratch, first taking it to A Level and then completing a Russian degree by the age of 21. He had two famous Russian tutors, Count Lubienski who was part of the Polish Parliament in Exile, and Frank Esterkin, who was one of the Russian prosecutors during the Nuremberg trials, who had taught Nick Russian Literature.

One particular adventure in The Navy had Nick spending a long weekend on the HMS Sheffield off the coast of Poland during the Cold War. He was hidden down in the basement of the ship with a friend and spent the weekend listening to and dictating the conversations of the surrounding Russian fleet. 

After his time in The Navy, Nick had a place waiting for him to read Modern History at St Peter’s College, Oxford University. He completed his first year before changing to read law on the advice of his Father before becoming a solicitor for Walker Smith Way in Chester.

Nick recalled his story to Rebecca Jackson, who is part of the wellbeing team at Lauren Court. He commented, “It does you good to remember things!”

Rebecca remarked, “It was lovely being able to reminisce with Nick about some incredible events in his life as a young man.”