Graham Glazier, the Head of Dorset Freemasonry, attended a presentation ceremony where he presented the ‘Craig Smith Memorial Trophy’ to the best team voted by Service Dogs UK (South West).
Craig Paul Smith was born 18 Jan 1982 and grew up happily in Zimbabwe, very much an outdoors lad and very sports orientated. Craig served with the Royal Marines and was discharged on medical grounds suffering PTSD following a tour in Afghanistan.
He was Initiated into Amphibious Lodge on the 10th Feb 2016. He came to the attention of the Almoner of his Lodge, Rod Playford, himself a former Royal Marine having tried to take his life and was subsequently hospitalised in July 2020.
There followed periods of hospital visits to see specialists for assessments and with the assistance of the Royal Marines Association (RMA) and Dorset Masonic Care (DMC) a series of psychiatric assessments and further support was funded. The Masonic Charitable Foundation in London also became involved and helped address some financial issues. Craig was selected for a support dog through Service Dogs UK, with assistance from the Royal Marines Association and our Provincial Charity. Craig travelled back and forth for training and was paired with Bella a chocolate Labrador, the pair seemed a good fit and Craig was noticeably cheered by her presence, even making the local TV news.
Due to Covid, face to face meetings were difficult and his counselling was done via a video link, it was during one of these video sessions that Craig had a catastrophic seizure and died 1st September 2021 at his home address, support dog Bella, sponsored in part by Freemasons, at his side. His funeral took place at Harbour View Crematorium, Randalls Hill, Lytchett Minster on Saturday 23rd October 2021.
In a tribute to Craig, Dorset Freemasons donated the sum of £1000 to Service Dogs UK, ring fenced for the South West.
When the training team talked about awarding the Craig Smith Memorial trophy, they felt it should go to the team that had shown Courage, Determination, selflessness and cheerfulness in the face of adversity – which are the four elements of The Commando Spirit that Craig lived his life by as a Royal Marines Commando.
The 2022 recipient has demonstrated all four elements of The Commando Spirit in the way they have supported their Service Dogs UK cohort, work colleagues, and most importantly their Dog! This year’s recipient of the Craig Smith Memorial Trophy are Clare and Charlie.
Nigel Hub Manager South West Service Dogs UK said 'To all at the Dorset Freemasons thank you for your support. Craig I’m sure would rather none of it happened in his name and he would be rather have been there in person, himself. I wore my flip flops at the presentation as that’s what Craig would have done, made me smile anyway”
To find out more about Service Dogs UK click here.
