We regret to learn of the death of Peter Mackenzie-Smith on Thursday, August 20. Peter had been a Winchelsea resident since 1951 and he enjoyed an active career with the British Council at home and overseas in the Middle East and Africa, building cultural and educational relationships and his last job for the British Council was as its director for Africa and South Asia.
He then worked for GEC Marconi as director of education. He was the British government’s first trade advisor for education and training and was chairman of the Arab British Chamber of Commerce Charitable Foundation.
He became a trustee of the Rye Arts Festival in 2013 with responsibility for sponsorship, advertising, and art exhibitions. As part of the festival heritage events, he led a series of second world war history tours round the town that proved so popular that they were repeated for a second year. He was a regular attender at St Anthony's Roman Catholic Church.
John Minter writes: I knew Peter as a keen croquet player and he was often to be seen on the croquet lawn at Rye Tennis Club on Sunday morning, small cigar in his mouth and old, battered tennis club mallet in hand and invariably demonstrating an expert and skilled level of play to the rest of us, but always charming and modest with it. One weekend he was not able to play and we heard later that he had 'been playing golf croquet against locals in Egypt'! Although I don't think that was the primary reason he was there. During the annual summer tennis tournament, when croquet was not possible at the club, play emigrated to Peter's house in Winchelsea and a challenging croquet lawn set up in his garden - always enjoyable mornings, and made more so by the generous hospitality of Peter and Sandra.
We give our condolences to his wife Sandra and family.
