A tribute to Ann Taylor 1938-2026

Mum was born before the war in 1938. She grew up in Birmingham, and as little girl used her bike as a mode of transport to get to school, giving her younger sister a lift on the back and dropping her off at primary school on the way – usually remembering to give her a lift back too!

After school, Mum went to Aston tech to do a chemistry-related degree that included time in industry. At Aston she joined the Rucksack Club, a walking club run by “some Colin Taylor fella from London” (aka my dad!) who introduced her to the joys of mountain climbing, which she loved. What she didn’t realise initially was that he was a mad keen cyclist masquerading as a walker.

Her time in industry included working in Lancaster for six months at a plastics factory – her first time living away from home. Dad by this time had gone to Thailand for a year but managed to organise a lightweight bike for her.

She thought this was the most amazing thing and went cycling for miles on her own, for hours on end, much to the worry of her landlady. When Dad came back, she was a convert to cycling.

Mum and Dad married in 1962 in Birmingham and first lived in Walsall, joining the Walsall section of the Cyclists’ Touring Club. They loved the Black Country humour and Mum even started drinking beer.

They would cycle from morning to evening, finishing with afternoon tea and then the pub, laughing all the way. Mum and Dad fitted right in – just as mad as the rest of them – although we’ve been told even the Walsall section were shocked by the party trick of Dad riding his bike with Mum on his shoulders!

In the mid-60s they moved to the Wirral, due to Dad getting a job at Liverpool Polytechnic, and had us kids (myself and my sister). Cycling became a family affair: as kids we progressed from a sidecar to a kiddie seat, then a tandem, before finally graduating to our own bikes.

In 1973 Dad saw a British Council job advertised for a lecturer in chemistry at Chiang Mai University, Thailand, and persuaded Mum that the whole family should live out there for two years (1973-75). Their cycling adventures continued, including an ill-thought-out ride from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai, where in the 1970s the road deteriorated into unrideable rutted dirt. They ended up in the back of a tuk-tuk!

Once back in the UK, on the Wirral, cycling became the major focus and together with other cycling families in the area Mum and Dad were founder members of the Ledsham Family Section of the CTC. It started quite casually with ‘Cycling Tortoise’ tops and then over the years morphed into the more serious Two Mills section.

To recruit new members to the section, Mum started Tuesday evening rides in the summer, leaving from Hadlow Road station, Willaston. These were a great success and expanded to multiple rides going out. They are still going strong today: known as TEC (Tuesday Evening Cyclists) leaving from the Wirral Rugby Club.

Mum also wrote amusing articles about cycling for various publications. This included a regular column in the Chester Chronicle, designed to encourage people to take up cycling, including a series of beginner rides you could do yourself with her instructions.

Mum was secretary of the Ledsham/Two Mills CTC Section for around 10 years, and in 1997 she spoke at the CTC National Dinner in Chester when she received a CTC Certificate of Merit from Chris Boardman for her contributions to the club. From 2000 she became the president of the Chester and North Wales District Association of the CTC, a role she held for six years.

Mum also organised multiple cycle tours with various groups to different parts of Europe, including cycling up many of the famous Tour de France climbs, such as the Col du Galibier, Alpe D’Huez, Mont Ventoux, Col du Tourmalet and Col d’Aubisque.

One of the tours went over the Sierra Nevada via the climb of the Pico Veleta, the highest road in Europe at 3,394m and included descending the unsurfaced, rocky ‘other side’ on touring bikes. All this while recovering from a leg injury, after a car reversed into her in the car park of the local Willaston pharmacy.

Meanwhile both of us kids moved to Australia. Mum was sad until she realised the opportunity for holidays and further adventures over there. Mum and Dad came over with their bikes and went touring in Tasmania, Snowy Mountains, Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. They also came over for the Sydney Olympics which they embraced wholeheartedly, getting to see loads of events, especially cycling.

Everything changed in 2004 when Dad had a bike accident and suffered a brain injury. This was a very hard time but Mum, practical as ever, made a new life for herself pursuing interests through the U3A – a UK-wide network on local groups providing opportunities to get together – that were compatible with caring for Dad (walking, country dancing, table tennis and so on).

Sadly, all-day rides were no longer an option so cycling had to take a back seat. Despite this she always had such fond memories of her cycling adventures and reminisced about them a lot.

Her favourite climbs were the Col d’Aubisque and the Col du Galibier and her face would light up describing the spectacular scenery and feeling of elation she got from those climbs. Something that I completely relate to.

In 2007 Mum got breast cancer, but she recovered so quickly that we had almost forgotten she ever had it; she was embracing life and enjoying all her activities. Roll on to 2023 and sadly the breast cancer returned in her bones. She battled this for three years in a very positive way, constantly pushing herself to stay active.

She passed away on 25 June 2026 at home with her family. It was quick and the suffering was mercifully short, as she would have wanted. I’m sure you agree that her contribution to the cycling community was significant and she has left a big legacy behind.