Fred Smith had a much wider influence than could have been thought when he founded the Merseyside Mountaineering club. I was one of those to whom he taught mountain craft and was also a co-founder of the club.
After a change of career I became a teacher, running a mountain club in every school that I taught in for 35 years. Untold numbers of my students took up mountaineering as their main interest and many have kept in touch, the most recent last summer, finding me through the Guardian letters page. After 60 years we met and I was able to tell him about Fred, then still alive, and tracing the link back to him.
