Rodney Charles Smith 1963 – 15/08/2026
It is with great sadness to announce the passing of one of our members Rodney Smith who suddenly died of a heart attack whilst at home with his family.
He was a great character who always had smile on his face, always generous and would offer his help to others where he could.
Rodney grew up in Kent and when he left school, he became a hairdresser working in Barnetts, Rainham. He later opened two other salons in Medway.
He was quite the entrepreneur even though he was dyslexic and had the foresight to realise that property was going to boom through the early 2000’s acquiring several properties in the Medway area to rent out which took up most his time whilst keeping his eye in on doing a few haircuts for his friends.
When not working his two passions were sailing, he half owned quite a large yacht with his uncle which he used mainly around Turkey which is where he had an apartment and spent several months there in recent years, and of course, cycling.
Rodney was an accomplished time trial rider regularly recording 10mile TT’s in around 22 minutes – mainly at Harrietsham, Grain and Iwade. He also liked to do some of the longer distances around the Romney Marsh/Lydd course but occasionally with some unfortunate issues.
I recall one time in particular he rode a 100mile TT and wore through his shorts to the point of not having any padding left at all in just over 4 hours, he walked around very gingerly for the next few days after that. Another time he forgot his cycle shoes and rode in a pair of brogues but still recorded a competitive time! He even qualified to ride for the British Team in the over 60’s class but due to having an unfortunate accident he couldn’t compete.
He had a few big accidents in the last few years resulting in several fractures, a punctured lung, being in a coma for several days but amazingly this didn’t appear to affect his enthusiasm and he got back out on the road as soon as he could, even though he was still in pain, where I am sure this would have put most people off ever riding on the road again. He even rode on the morning of his passing.
Rodney will be sorely missed by his many friends and family including his 3 children Liam, Scarlet and Pearl and his two grandchildren.
The funeral is to be held on Thursday the 1st of October at Blue Bell Hill at 1pm.
Wake to follow at Upchurch golf club.