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09 June 2020

Captain Sir Tom Moore's Motorcycle

Well, we might have guessed that Captain Sir Tom Moore was a motorcyclist!

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So it turns out that not only is he an indomitable walker, oh and a veteran tank commander, but Captain Sir Tom Moore was also a champion motorcycle racer - why are we not surprised! Back in the day, Captain Tom owned a Scott Flying Squirrel motorcycle, which he used to race in local club events, and he was obviously good at it, winning many motorcycling trophies.

The Motorcycle now resides in The Bradford Industrial Museum in West Yorkshire, having been bought and restored in the 1950s by C.H Wood, a photographer and motorcycle scrambler who used the bike to compete in scrambles.  He re-registered it and changed the number but it was still the same bike underneath which Captain Tom had owned and raced. It now belongs to Mr Wood's son David who has kindly lent it to the Bradford Museum as it is a piece of industrial motorcycling history. The pieces of the puzzle putting Captain Tom and the Flying Squirrel motorcycle together, were only discovered when a collection of old black and white photographs was unearthed which showed Captain Tom astride his old motorcycle, clutching trophies from his riding days.

So not only is the bike a piece of mechanical motorcycle history, but it is a piece of the personal history of that indomitable veteran – now Captain Sir Thomas Moore (after his recent knighthood) – who came to all our attention after his amazing feat of raising over £39m for the beleaguered NHS by walking laps of his garden – oh and he's 100 years old too. He is apparently delighted that his old motorcycle has come to light after all this time to remind him of his happy motorcycling days.

Captain Sir Tom is such a great example of a life well-lived and how it's never too late to make a difference - even at the age of 100. Respect.

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