MORE than 250 turned up at Thornton Crematorium last Friday afternoon to pay their last respects to Merseyside cycling legend, Ken Matthews.
Former greats at Ken's funeral included the likes of Ian Emmerson, Pete Mathews, Frank Lyon, Andy Wilkinson, Harry Welch, George Hewitt, Stan Britain and Jack Lowe.
An article celebrating the life and achievements of Ken will be published in Cycling Weekly this Thursday.
Matthews, former cycling correspondent for the Liverpool Echo, passed away on Thursday, July 31, in Aintree Hospital at the age of 83.
He covered the sport for the Echo from 1955 to 2006, when he retired due to ill health. He also reported for numerous media organisations, including BBC Radio Merseyside and Cycling Weekly magazine.
At the age of 18, he began four years' service in the RAF as an aircrew member with a squadron at Mildenhall.
After completing one Tour of Ops (30) on Lancaster Bombers, including raids on the Mohne and Eder Dams in the Ruhr, Matthews was made a warrant officer.
In 1946, he was demobbed and so began his lifelong service to the sport of cycling. He helped to form a new club, the Melling Wheelers, who changed their name to Kirkby Cycling Club in 1963, when they moved into Kirkby Stadium.
KJM, as he was known, assisted in the design of the new banked cycle racing track at there and as club secretary helped KCC gain much success at home and abroad.
He was still acting as chairman even after their HQ, now called Kirkby Sports Centre, was closed in August 2007.
His own racing career ended when he was 32 due to his commitments as an official, but in 2001 he received British cycling's Gold Badge of Honour award for his diverse roles over the years, including senior commissar, race commentator and, in the 1970s, GB team manager.
He was chairman of countless organisations, including the Liverpool Time Trials CA, the Dover Cycling Fellowship and the Merseyside Veterans Time Trials Association.
As a race promoter, he organised the Eddie Soens Memorial Race at Aintree for 40 years. In June 2002, he was awarded a replica Manx Sword of State from the Isle of Man's Tourism Minister for his 57 years service as a race official to Manx Cycling Week.
During the same year, he received the Aintree Village Council Civic Award. A hardworking, loyal and popular figure, his drive and enthusiasm for cycling was unstoppable. He will be sadly missed.
- Post to:
del.icio.us
Digg
Newsvine
Nowpublic
Reddit
« Previous | Home | Next »
Jon Burnham wrote...
It is with sadness that I read of the death of Ken. Ken was the Kirkby CC and will be sorely missed. He was a great inspiration to me in the late 60´s and will never be forgotten.
JonB
Posted by: Jon Burnham | July 31, 2008 2:51 PM