obituaries
Peter Doidge 1955-2012 I wanted to write a little piece about my dad, Peter Doidge. I’ve written a bit about his life before he became a keen cyclist. But I’ve tried to keep it brief as cycling was clearly his passion and he achieved a great deal. And I’m sure this is the part in which you will be most interested. My dad Peter was born in 1955 and grew up in the village of Barley in Hertfordshire. He was the eldest of three children; followed by his brother Chris and sister Hillary. Dad went to primary school in Barley and secondary school in Royston, Hertfordshire. After leaving school at the age of 16 he completed an apprenticeship in engineering at CamGears in Hitchin. His wages earned him keep at my grandparent’s home, which he eventually left in his early twenties to go travelling. He travelled through much of Europe and Asia, reaching as far as Afganistan, then worked his way back through Europe making a simple living picking fruit. He met my mum, Marijke, in Holland where he was working in 1979. She decided to finish her studies early so that she could travel with my dad. They bought an old Citroen H van and set of together with the plans of travelling through Europe, but they fell in love with France and made a living picking peaches. My sister Melanie was born in Perpignan in the south of France in 1983, where they stayed for the next year or two, before moving to England in 1985. Mum and dad married in1985 and I was born the following year. Work took my dad and the family to Cincinnati in America for two years before we all returned once again to England. We all lived in Kilhams Green in Essex for 17 years. It was here dad found his love for cycling. At first he cycled to and from work in Saffron Walden in Essex on his 1980s racer and quickly became enthusiastic about cycling. He joined the CTC and bought a Dawes Galaxy, soon after starting Audax rides. At first he cycled the shorter 100 and 200km rides (one of which I rode with him at the age of 14, but quit before the finish as it came past our house!). In 1998 he completed the notoriously difficult Paris-Roubaix with my uncle Frans on the cobbles in the rain. Although I believe Frans might have sneaked a lift towards the end of the ride! Soon he found himself completing the longer 400km and 600km rides. He also organised two of his own ‘After the Harvest’ and ‘The Albion’. The Albion was a 600km ride which finished at our house; we set up our trailer tent in the back garden as a sort of refuge for exhausted cyclists. I can still remember the weary cyclists retiring to the tent for
Peter Doidge in Majorca.
a well earned lie down. He also completed Paris-Brest-Paris and some cyclo-sportif stages of ‘Le Tour’ with the support of my mum. He had two articles published in Arrivée, after riding solo the length of the Pyrenees (‘Pyrenean Plunge’) and the Alps from Geneva to Nice (‘Alpine Assault’). In recent years Peter stopped riding the longer Audax rides in favour of the shorter rides with which he had started, and his weekly Sunday ride with Bishop’s Stortford Cycling Club. He always cycled to and from work whatever the weather, and would always make time for an evening walk or cycle with my mum. In 2010 mum and dad moved to Devon for a change of lifestyle and to support my sister and their two grandchildren, Freya and Lily. He loved the Devonshire countryside for all the amazing cycling and walking it offered. On March 30th my dad was riding home from work on a sunny Friday afternoon when he had a bad fall. He injured his head badly and was air lifted to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth where he stayed in intensive care for the following week. He never woke from the coma in which he found himself and died of his injuries on Good Friday. We will all remember him as a great dad, granddad, husband, brother or friend. We all loved him very much and he will be sadly missed. His final resting place is Bidwell Wood near Rattery in Devon. Tim Doidge
At that time Chris was riding a recumbent bike, the only one in the section, and also an Orbit touring bike, finished in pink of all colours, which seemed to break down most Sundays. I remember an occasion that the whole transmission fell apart while crossing the river Exe in Exeter in the middle of all the traffic one Sunday afternoon. Chris encouraged me to ride my first 200 after only riding the odd 100k event, assuring me that I would find it quite easy. I didn’t, but he was there, riding with me at the finish making sure I got round in time. At the finish he mentioned that the National 400 starts in Bristol that year, come and join the Torbay team going up to ride it, nothing about trying a 300 first. That was Chris, always dispelling any fears you had about your capabilities, assuring you that you could do it and being there to help you along. Six of us rode the event that year, the best turnout on a 400 by Torbay section. After that I rode many 200 and 400 events with the section with Chris always encouraging new members to join us. Trips to France started to be discussed and on two cycling tours around Brittany, Chris organised the routes and booked all the accommodation for us. He also put together a 300k ride starting at midnight in Newton Abbot to cycle to London through the night and returning to Devon on the Sunday on the train: route, accommodation, and the train tickets all put in place for us by him. Chris filled about every post on committee with CTC Torbay in the last few years and was currently the Rides Co-ordinator putting together up to eight rides a month, sorting out all the destinations, coffee stops and ride leaders as well as putting the final touches to a 300k Audax going round Devon and Cornwall which members of the section rode in his memory. [You can read Kevin Presland’s account of the ride on p.44.] Our thoughts are with his wife, Cathy, his four daughters, Grace, Flory, Winnie and Frances. This year would have been their 30th wedding anniversary.
Geoff Sharpe
Chris Bennett 1957–2012
I first got to know Chris in the mid-90s when I joined the CTC and started cycling with the Torbay section as it was then known. Chris had come up from Cornwall in 1985 and was working as a Crown Prosecutor for the CPS in the Exeter courts and I found it amusing to learn that he was driving up to Exeter each day in a Reliant Robin threewheeler, a vehicle I considered a bit naff. Chris explained the mileage allowance he gets with such a vehicle and it overtook a police squad car going down Telegraph Hill the other day.
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Chris Bennett on a club run crossing Exeter Bridge, Devon.
Arrivée Summer 2012 AU
DAX UK