Bernard Smyth obituary by Paul Breeden
NUJ member Bernard Smyth, who has died aged 91, was well known to colleagues at the Western Daily Press, where he was a long-serving casual sub editor in the 1990s and 2000s. Born in 1934, he had a wide-ranging career which included roles at the Daily Mirror and The Australian. He worked in the Civil Service for the Central Office of Information in Bristol and then moved to London to join the Home Office where he edited Crime Prevention News, Civil Protection and later Drug Prevention News. He launched and became editor of a staff magazine, Focus, for the Nationality and Immigration Directorate in Croydon, and continued to produce it on a freelance basis after retiring and moving back to Bristol.
More recently he was the newsletter contact and webmaster for Prospect, the Bristol and District Prostate Cancer Support Group.
Mike Wren, another retired NUJ member, remembers meeting Bernard in 1994 at the WDP, where they became firm friends. “Whenever Bernard embarked on some new enterprise or course of study he always did it thoroughly,” said Mike.
“When he was called up for National Service, he decided to join the Royal Navy and in 1953, Bernard volunteered to learn Russian and qualified as a signals intercept technician.” (Though a tribute front page which Bernard kept in his bathroom alleged that some of the time Bernard was monitoring Russian radio signals, he was also listening to jazz stations!)
When Mike took in two Ukrainian guests into his home three years ago, Bernard was able to welcome them at the door in their language, Russian.
Bernard had formerly worked as a reporter at the Bristol Evening World (a rival to the Evening Post that folded in 1962) where he met his wife-to-be, Pauline Maxted. He worked at the Western Daily Press as a sub-editor, before he and Pauline moved to Birmingham where he joined the Birmingham Evening Dispatch. He was headhunted by the Daily Sketch in London and later moved to the Daily Mirror. He emigrated to Australia in 1967 with his wife and two daughters where he worked on The Australian and the Daily Mirror in Sydney.
“When he and his family returned to the UK in 1970 he next turned his attention to gliding,” Mike remembers. He qualified solo at the Bristol and Gloucestershire Gliding Club at Nympsfield and (of course) prepared and edited the club’s newsletter, Severn Skies, for several years. He attained a Gold badge and one Diamond leg. In 2008 he was awarded a diploma by the British Gliding association for “services to gliding”, after his work on the editorial board and proofreading the national gliding magazine, Sailplane and Gliding.
“When he thought that perhaps he had become a little too old for gliding he decided he needed some sailing lessons!” added Mike.
“Needless to say, he qualified as a day skipper with the Royal Yachting Association and spent many weekends with friends navigating the South Coast and further afield – around Greece, the Canaries and the West Indies.” He also took piano lessons, pursuing his studies with his usual thoroughness.
Bernard leaves two daughters, Heather and Bridget, a grandson, Ashley and great-grandson, Louis.
Bernard died on 23 May 2026. His funeral is in Bristol on 15 June – if you would like to attend please contact paulbreeden@gmail.com as soon as possible. Family flowers only at the funeral please, but donations can be made in Bernard’s name to Prostate Cancer Research through https://www.justgiving.com/page/bridget-stone-1