Hilary as a young girl

Mum was born in Castle Carey near Mere in 1935. Her father was an engineer, and her mother a corsetière, who also played the piano part time for the silent movies. They moved to Andover when Mum was a young girl, where her father worked for Taskers for many years. She attended Rookwood School, were she excelled in Maths and English. Little did she know how useful these skills would be in later years! Upon leaving school she worked as a secretary to the director of the Andover Timber company. In her spare time she was secretary at the young farmers club, which is where she met Dad, who was chairman.

Hilary and Reg on their wedding day

They married at Abbott’s Ann church in 1956. They were friends with the vicar, and apparently he used to hold all his meetings prior to church services in the snug of the local pub.

Dad had already been living at Sarson Farm prior to them getting married; in fact he was famous in Andover for being the youngest man to have a mortgage. He was the son of a butcher, and had wanted to be a farmer from a small boy. They used to say that their early farming days were some of the happiest times of their lives, but also some of the most difficult financially. They were lucky to have good neighbours like Mr Knight from Manor Farm, who would readily loan them farm equipment, rather than have the extra expense of buying machinery. They would rear turkeys for Christmas, kept pigs and a small milking herd of cows which were housed in what everyone now knows as the industrial estate next to the park. When the weather was cold and the milking machine froze up, they would hand milk the cows in the old traditional way. They had a fruit and veg. stall on Andover market, and when Martin was born in 1960 his early days were spent wrapped up in an orange box next to the stall.

I suppose we would all consider this to be the good life, although this was not always the case. Mum would tell stories of how they would hide behind the sofa in the sitting room, when the man came to collect payment for the animal feed. How the bank manager called them in, and made them post-date milk cheques from the Milk Marketing Board to guarantee payment to the bank. Never the less they loved working with the animals, and very soon got a reputation in the parish for caring for all sick and young animals that people found in the countryside.

This lead to radio interviews about the animals they looked after, and then television appearances and the rest is history.

The bungalow at Sarson Farm

In 1965 they sold off part of the farm, something that Mum and Dad always regretted. This raised the capital to start what was to be the beginning of a lifelong passion. Weyhill Zoo opened in 1966 and now, with two young children, they opened the doors to the public. Animals came from various zoological collections; many of them had to be collected by Mum and Dad. Ted Ewans tells the story of a bear that was being collected from a local pub in Longparish. The bear started to escape from its carrying crate, and Dad made Mum sit on top of the crate to stop him eating out through the roof. Anything that was young inevitably ended up in the house, whether that be green monkeys, foxes, badgers or even a bear. Babies were mums great passion and she saw them as an extension to her family, and spent the rest of her life mothering anything that she could. She never quite knew what would be arriving next, whether it was Dad buying animals from a van in the car park, or snakes arriving through the post in Hessian sacks.

At this time my Mum’s Mum had come to live with us, and was not quite so comfortable at living in a house full of animals, especially when any escaped. I remember Martin had an Indian python, that got loose in the house, and we were both sworn to secrecy not to tell Nan. Can you imagine the excitement as children wondering and really hoping that Nan would find the python? However I think that Dad secretly hoped that the python would find Nan. It was later recovered, being found behind the breakfast cereals on the top kitchen shelf.

Hilary with Martin and Ashley

Home was open house, when I first went to school I could not understand why all the other kids did not have monkeys and bears at home, or why the postman did not stop for breakfast at everybody’s house. In the winter the house became the headquarters of the Grot Factory. A production line was formed around the Rayburn in the kitchen and we would stick little toy animals, fir cones, and a matchbook holder onto a block of wood. The team was made up of family and friends including Anna (who later became Martin's wife), most of her family and anyone else who happened to drop by for coffee. Mum's job was to use a burning tool to inscribe Weyhill Wildlife park on each creation, before it was to be sold in the Gift Shop the following season. In fact Anna and I still blame the Grot Factory for our problem with chilblains, caused by putting our feet on the Rayburn. They were always opened to the public, only closing Christmas Day, and they were constantly at the beck and call of visitors. Those early days were always being recalled, Mum & I were watching Animal Country the other night, which showed the wildebeest on migration, to which Mum looked up and said to me, "They are not very nice you know, we had one in the potting shed out the back, and he was always trying to get out".

As time went on Mum and Dad realized that the way forward for the zoological industry was for smaller collections to specialize. Martin had decided to pursue a career in Antiquarian books, which was Dad's other great passion in life, and carried on as a third generation of the family having a stall in Andover market. We all had a passion for birds of prey, and so the Hawk Conservancy began in 1980. Mum carried on being in charge of all the finances, and would sit in a little kiosk taking the admissions. She had an iron bar across the gate, and when you paid she would pull it back to open the gate. If you tried to get in without paying, Mum would ram the iron bar into the mid drift of the visitor, rendering them incapable until they paid up. This proved and showed that Mum had a strong strength of character, and at times would take no prisoners. I remember Shaun who worked at the Conservancy, when told by Dad that he should really call them Reg and Hilary rather than Mr & Mrs Smith. He was happy to call Dad Reg, but thought he should carry on calling Hilary Mrs Smith out of a mark of respect.

Hilary feeding a young badger

Mum carried on rearing young birds of prey; probably her greatest success was successfully raising endangered New Zealand Falcons for Dr Fox. For which she received a bowl of fruit and a job offer, I tried to explain what she had achieved, however all Mum could think of was how a nice man he was to send her a bowl of fruit.

When Dad became ill in the mid eighties, he spent many months in hospital, and Mum never missed a day at his bedside. She would leave home at 8 in the morning, taking work that needed to be done with her, and often not return until 10 at night.  When Dad had recovered, they both decided they wanted to do other things in life. They took up new hobbies, most of which were instigated by Dad, and Mum dutifully went along and supported him in everything that he wanted to do.

They went to art classes, and Dad could not resist trying to sell their efforts in the shop, Mum’s went really well, but we secretly bought Dad’s, without him knowing to give him the inspiration to paint on. They took up hill walking, but Mum was the only one who could read a compass and a map. They kept orchids, went on photographic courses, tried leather making, but Mum drew the line at Dad buying a sports car as once he had struggled to get into it he could not get out. Through all of these hobbies their passion for wildlife was always at the forefront.

Hilary surrounded by her family at Christmas

When Dad sadly died in 1995, a part of Mum left with him as she loved him so much. She was so proud that Reg’s meadow was created, and when she walked around the grounds with her devoted dog Bella, she always felt that Dad was there with her. And he was, as he had planted all the trees around the grounds with her, and together they had created something that was very special.

Later in Mum’s life she suffered from ill health, but was always happy to see the many friends that she had made over the years. Right up until last year she was still rearing baby owls, which she so loved to do.

When Patrick and Hugh were born Mum became a Grandma, which she adored. Sharing their excitement opening presents at Christmas and birthdays, doing her very best to share their enthusiasm of Southampton Football club, often listening to the radio so that she could keep up to date with the results as they came in.

Hilary celebrated her birthday in May holding a young animal at Marwell Zoo

She was always offering to baby-sit and make them tea. This in turn gave her the chance to share with them all the sweet things that she was not supposed to eat. She was so proud of her grandchildren, and the way that their Mum was bringing them up.

During the last year of her life ill health had made life more difficult for her, but with the support of home care life was made easier and new friendships were formed.

Mum was so proud of all that had been achieved at the Conservancy, and that all of the hard work in those early days had been worthwhile. With Marion Paviour’s help in forming the charitable trust that Dad so wanted, she knew it would continue long into future.

Dad will always be remembered by the creation of his wildflower meadow, and how wonderful it is to know that Mum’s memory will live on after the opening of the Hilary Smith Bird of Prey hospital in 2002.

Both Martin and I have been so lucky to have Anna and Tracey to support us, and we have all been overwhelmed by the cards and letters that we have received. From reading them all there is one sentence that stands out, and that is that Hilary was indeed a lovely lady and Martin and I were so lucky to have her as our Mum.