MORE than 250 turned up at Thornton Crematroium 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 Brittain 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.
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John Finnigan wrote...
It was with great sadness that I heard of the death of Ken Matthews. I got to know Ken through being a member of the Dover Fellowship at Lydiate. He was a quietly spoken modest man who put a lot of work in and was well respected througout the world of cycling particularly on Merseyside and his beloved Kirkby CC.His weekly reports which he read out at the fellowship were always interesting and appreciated by the members. He will be sadly missed.
Posted by: John Finnigan | August 6, 2008 11:18 PM