23rd May 1930 – 18th January 2020
Broo Started cycling in 1946 with friends and formed the Warren Rd Whrs and after 12 months
or so he got involved with Southport RCC. He was soon going on club rides at weekends with his new club mates and I think the most famous of these was the grand tour of the Lakes in Oct 1950 230 mile with 12 starters which took in Windermere Kirkstone Pass Patterdale Matterdale St John in the Vale Grasmere Kendal and back home just before midnight. Rides of more than 150m were a regular feature in those days.
Holidays with his clubmates followed to the Isle of White and back to London to the Festival of Britain – when they got to Festival it was 2/6p to go in and as that was all they had they pressed on home using the money for food and sleeping in barns on the way up. Another 3 week trip was to Northern France and Belgium with Harry Wright. Linking up with Roy Freeman who was in the army North of Paris they toured the area using Youth Hostels.
After all the touring he tried his hand at Time Trials and found he was better at the longer races such as 100m and 12hr. In 1951 he was in the winning team with Frank Marshall and Bob Bird taking the North Lancs Best all Rounder team championship including races of 25m 50m 100m and 12hr which would be his best win I think. In 1950 he broke the club Carlisle and back record with a time of 12-22-10 a record he held for many years and he was also the club President for four years. He took a long break from the sport after 1955 to bring up his young family they had three children Ian, Pauline and Lynn, He returned to cycling in the early 1980s following the sudden death of his brother Ken . He had a great sense humour and became the life and sole of the Southport Club and it really was a laugh a minute him telling tales of the building trade on Cycling Holidays in Mallorca and weekends all over the UK.
He was a joiner by trade starting out at J W Ball Funeral directors acr
oss the road from Mosscrops on Bispham Rd having passed all his building trade exams. He moved on to Building houses in Birkdale in the Guildford Rd /Heathfield Rd area and went on to work for Byrons the builders in Formby who he worked for for 40 odd years . Possibly his biggest job was building Stanley High School in Southport. He was of course the Clerk of Works on the new Cycling Club that we built just over 30 years ago and it’s a lasting legacy to him. He was a very popular member of the Southport RCC and enjoyed the friendship of many people throughout the sport in the Northwest. Rest in Peace Broo.
KB 20-01-20
