A Tribute to Tommy Thompson

It is with great sadness that we learned of the death of Tommy Thompson, one of the clubs longest serving members and cyclist to the core.
Tommy had a heart attack when returning from a Sunday ride to Parkhead on 22 April 2007.
He never recovered and died in hospital the following Thursday.

Tommy will be greatly missed as one of the most active members of the club and also one of it's great characters.

The funeral took place on Friday 4 May, at Saltwell Crematorium, Gateshead, with a huge turn out of friends and fellow cyclists. A fitting tribute was paid to Tommy by Ian Murray on behalf of the club.

Tommy joined the club in 1959 and after a spell of National Service, in the Middle East, with the Royal Engineers, took up the trike and joined the Tricycle Association (TA) around 1962, eventually taking on the post of regional secretary which he held for over 30 years.
A keen cyclist and tricyclist, Tommy used his bike as his main form of transport, despite once being the chauffeur for the Tyne and Wear Corporation and Tram driver at Beamish Museum.
Tom attended many functions, usually going there by bike and doing a "James Bond", where he would peel off his cycling gear to reveal a well turned out suit and tie.
He was also a popular speaker at many cycling functions, as well as a dab hand on the dance floor.
Tom was adept on the unicycle and through his work at Beamish, the "Penny Farthing" and other vintage bikes, frequently appearing in period dress and featuring on some of the museum's publicity material. He was also involved in a lot of the restoration work, both on period bikes and motor vehicles.
He was associated with the northern veterans association as early as the sixties, long before he was a vet himself, and joined officially when he became "of age".
Tom was a life member of the Tricycle Association and the VTTA, a second claim member of Solway Sociable and actively associated with Bygone Bikes.
Although Tom led a very active life, which included the job of membership secretary at Houghton, he still found time to compete regularly in time trials and organise TA events.
Tom was in the winning vets team in the 1985 24 hour TT and still holds the Houghton to York and back trike record.
Tom will always be remembered for his love of cycling, friendly and helpful nature and one of cyclings great characters.

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