Ted Smith is one of the great pioneers of nature conservation, having had a lifetime involvement at both local and national level. His memoir "Trustees for Nature" is an intimate personal account of events and developments in wildlife conservation and of the people involved, against the background of Ted's own life, family and home. Sir David Attenborough, who wrote the foreword to the book, described it as "a very important document in the history of conservation in this country."

"Trustees for Nature" describes the foundation and development of the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, including the acquisition and management of a hundred nature reserves across the historic county's varied landscape. The Trust's progress is traced in the context of far reaching changes in national land use policies and practices over more than fifty years.

Also described is the rapid growth nationwide of the County Wildlife Trusts' movement in the late 1950s and in the 1960s, and the conversion of the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves into a national association, now the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts - in all of which Ted played a leading role.

Ted Smith signing copies of his book - "Trustees for Nature"

Trustees for Nature Hardback 384 pages illustrated with over 330 photographs and line drawings Forward by Sir David Attenborough   "Trustees for Nature" is available by mail order from Trust shops at Gibraltar Point National Nature Reserve, Far Ings National Nature Reserve, Banovallum House (Horncastle), and The Wildlife Gift Shop, Castle Square, Lincoln. To order the book by mail order please download and print out this order form, and post the completed order form back to us. (PDF format)

Dr A E Smith CBE MA (always known as 'Ted') was born in 1920 in Alford, Lincolnshire. After teaching in Leeds and Norfolk he returned to Lincolnshire in 1947 as the University of Nottingham Resident Tutor for Lindsey.

He was the founding Honorary Secretary of the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust from 1948, Chairman from 1969 and now President. Nationally he served as the first General Secretary of the Royal Society of Nature Conservation, and was also Chairman of the England Committee of the Nature Conservancy Council (now Natural England).

He was made an OBE for services to nature conservation in 1963, advanced to CBE in 1998, the year he also received an Honorary Doctorate of Science at the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside (now University of Lincoln). He was the first recipient of the Christopher Cadbury Medal for service to nature conservation.

He is married to Mary and their daughters Alison and Helen have doctorates in the Natural Sciences.