'I wouldn't change a thing' - village stalwart Smith bows out after 54 years

Retirement is clearly working out for Charlie Mann, who quit the training ranks in the spring.

"I've been to Corfu, St Tropez, Prague and Portugal since," he told me when I recently bumped into him, although the pack of nails he had just picked up from the hardware store in Lambourn suggested it might not all be pipe and Speedos and something bubbly.

John Smith also has some travelling planned after bringing to an end his 54-year association with the Candy family.