South Bucks Midweek Cycling Newsletter - December 2022

Tony’s funeral took place on Thursday December 8th at Chilterns Crematorium with about 100 people in attendance.  Many attended the wake at Penn Golf Club afterwards where there were further tributes to Tony.  My thanks to Tony’s son Tim and to Willie Reid for allowing me to use their speeches to compile this brief tribute.

Tony was born on 1st November 1938 in Walsall, the eldest of three children in a working class family of modest means. At school he didn’t achieve good exam results but went to work for the Central Electricity Generating Board who sponsored him through Cardiff University where he got a degree in electrical engineering.

At University Tony had already been cycling for several years and was competing at a track cycling meet one evening when he met this sophisticated, good looking lady with red hair called Eileen who was to be his future wife.  They spent a month-long honeymoon travelling around Europe, which became a lifelong passion.

Tony filled his time with cycling, his vintage Riley Kestrel car, The Riley Club, opera, ballet, and music with Eileen, and The Daily Telegraph.

Tony was a member and subsequent chairman of High Wycombe Cycling Club and more recently Amersham Cycling Club.  He was also a regular rider and leader on South Bucks Midweek rides

Tony and Eileen’s most recent travels were only a matter of a few months ago; they hooked up the caravan to the back of their car once again and off they went with everything meticulously planned and organised.  Most octogenarian couples would go to the coast in the UK or perhaps the Lake or Peak District, but not Tony and Eileen. Over a three-week period in September, they travelled through the Baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia covering nearly 4500 miles!

In recent years Tony came on many cycling holidays mainly in Scotland with Willie Reid who recalls,  “He was the oldest member of our group, yet he always seemed to cycle the most miles on any holiday often stretching distances by going off on his own. This he did this year when we all went for a sail on Loch Katrine whilst he cycled round the loch. And at the end of each day, he always seemed to find time to phone home to speak to Eileen which shows just how much his marriage and his family meant to him.”

According to Ray Bennett Tony kept a record of his annual mileages and made a point of riding 100 miles at least once a year. This he did until he was 80, but he regularly rode 130 miles in a typical week whatever the weather.

Tony was a man of principle and standards who didn’t suffer fools gladly.  He liked cream in his coffee and no helmets on tables.  He was a mudguard enforcer and once told me “I hope you didn’t pay much for those mudguards”.  Tony was no longer at the front uphill but still had the ability to sweep past most downhill.  He had an encyclopaedic knowledge of the local lanes with no need for GPS.

Tony will long be remembered and missed.  Our thoughts and condolences go to his wife Eileen, to Tim and Kate and his wider family.