Still working at 90, Bath-born solicitor Jeremy Thring reflects on a lifetime in the city, the value of kindness, embracing change and why you have to go out and meet life.
You were born in Bath in 1936. What is your earliest memory of the city – and what was childhood in Bath like?
My earliest memory is a frightening one – the bombing of Bath during the war.
We lived between North Road and the golf club, and although the hilliness of the land spared us a direct hit, shrapnel rained down over the house. I remember hiding under the kitchen table while my mother, a tough Scot, remained a complete oasis of calm – nobody was going to pick a fight with her.
I remember the local policeman and the ARP warden coming to check we were all right and thinking how brave they were. It was a dramatic start to childhood, but underneath that, wartime Bath was actually a quieter, gentler place than the city it has become today.
You’ve called Bath “the most beautiful city”. After a lifetime here, do you still notice its beauty? Is there a view or street that still stops you in your tracks?
Most definitely. If anything, I appreciate it even more now! Bath’s architecture still gets to me every time. It’s the rhythm and the style of it that’s so special – the way the buildings sit together and lead the eye through the city. That sense of proportion and harmony is, to me, simply perfect.
You’ve watched Bath change over the best part of a century. What has changed most – and what reassuringly remains the same?
To me, the two biggest changes have been the arrival of the Admiralty and, later, the University.
The University in particular, I believe, has been a real force for good in the town, and I hope that continues. It’s wonderful that it has been so successful while sticking to a concept of excellence – producing well-adjusted graduates who go on to do good things.
When you also consider the incredibly successful businesses that have flourished in Bath and become champions of our communities, the charities that do so much good for the people and our rugby club that is admired and supported well beyond the city limits, Bath continues to find new ways to be great.
What has stayed the same, reassuringly, is the beauty of our city. That has never lost its power and continues to be a magnetic force that brings the world to our doorstep.
If you could give the next generation of Bathonians responsibility for just one thing, what would you ask them to protect – or perhaps to change?
I’d ask them to keep welcoming change where it matters: new people, new ideas, new institutions. Bath has always been strongest when it holds on to its beauty while still letting new life in.
Your life in Bath has taken you far beyond the law – through the RUH, schools, the University and many other organisations. Has being part of a city’s civic life changed what Bath means to you?
I’ve learnt an enormous amount from sitting on various committees over the years, seeing what different organisations, mostly charities, have aimed to achieve over the years and the lengths they have gone to in order to make our community a better place.
If anything, the amazing individuals I have met and continue to meet always seem to find a way to surprise me and demonstrate the continued innovation and excellence that our city continues to cultivate.
People are essentially nice and kind, and prepared to give.
You’ve spent almost 70 years working with people and families, sometimes across generations. What has that taught you about people?
One learns about people all the time, and what I’ve found, above all, is that people are essentially nice and kind, and prepared to give. If you’re polite, helpful and well-mannered, there is almost always a relationship you can build on. And if that turns into a friendship – well, that’s the best outcome of all!
You’ve said communication skills remain essential, however sophisticated technology becomes. What does the younger generation do well – and what might they learn from yours?
I have great faith in the younger generation. On the whole they’re well educated and they do genuinely seem to care about other people.
Having grown up in a world where speed is ever increasing, they have certainly adapted to the strain and continue to do so. When you get to my age, you come to appreciate it when things slow down a bit and hopefully that is something they get the chance to realise as well.
Your wife Cynthia clearly had an enormous influence on your life. You’ve said that loving someone made you want to do your best and make her proud. Looking back, do you think the people we share our lives with ultimately shape us more than our careers do?
I do think that, yes. You are indeed shaped by your education, your career and defining experiences – my National Service in the Army being a significant one for me – but nothing quite leaves its mark like the influence of the person or people you love.
My wife was a huge influence on my life, and I’ve seen the same thing happen for many other men with their partners, extraordinary people in their own right, building them up.
If you’re lucky enough to have children, you have a duty to set an example and to know the difference between right and wrong – that matters enormously – and having someone to share that experience with not only helps make them better but helps you grow in ways you didn’t realise you could.
At 90 you’re still going into the office, meeting people and taking an interest in what is changing around you. What keeps you curious?
I like people. It really is as simple as that.
You’ve said, wonderfully, that “you have to go out and meet life – you cannot expect it to come to you.” What does going out to meet life mean to Jeremy Thring today?
It can mean almost anything, so long as you’re not sitting back passively and waiting for things to happen to you. Life comes to those who go looking for it.
With a completely free day in Bath, how would you spend it?
I’d start with a round of golf, then treat myself to a good lunch. If I was feeling a little indulgent, particularly now as I’m getting older, I’d love to take a walk from the bottom of town right up to Beckford’s Tower.
I would enjoy taking in the crescents along the way, love their magnificence and the way they were conceived – the build-up from Queen Square and along Gay Street, into the Circus and beyond. It’s simply beautiful.