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 Life
& Times of Tony Peachey
29 August 1936 – 8 June 2022
Tony
was born on 29th August 1936 – the only son
of Fred and Di Peachey in St. James' Hospital, Ousleley
Road, Balham. He was taken home to 49 Rosenau Road
Battersea. By May 1940 the family had relocated to the
long standing home of 64a Battersea Rise, Battersea,
London.
During the war years Tony and his family were evacuated
to Llandaff, South Wales where Tony attended the local
school from 1943-1945, he struggled with academic
subjects mainly because the teaching was mainly in
Welsh, however he majored in drawing and artistic
subjects, which set him in good stead later in life. On
return to London in late 1945 he initially attended
Belleville Road School and later Honeywell Road School,
continuing his education at Wandsworth Technical College
to embark on ONC qualifications (Mechanical
Engineering). HNC studies followed in Civil and
Structural Engineering. After many years of further
study he finally qualified as a Chartered Structural
Engineer in 1997. To finish off his education he
successfully completed a degree with the Open University
in Geology in 1981.
Apart from a successful academic life he had always been
encouraged by his parents - Fred and Di to take time out
for sporting activities. The first sport was boxing.
Fred and his older brother both attended a local boxing
club and took Tony along, however Tony was never a burly
individual and suffered many bloody noses and soon
looked for an alternative outlet, this turned out to be
competitive swimming. Tony excelled here and was taken
all over the country competing for Latchmere Swimming
Club and nationally. This activity lasted until 1952
when he became bored of the non changing scenery of
indoor swimming pools and the grand outdoors beckoned.
Fred suggested cycling, it sounded good and saw Tony
selling his electric train set to purchase his first
bike from Russ Cycles in Battersea. He intended to join
the Balham CC but during a ride to their clubroom he
punctured, being a naive 16 year old, he was struggling
to sort the bike when a stalwart of the De Laune – Ken
Hill – came by, he helped Tony back on the road and
convinced him to join the De Laune CC.
Over the years he was proud to clock up many club
records and was always quite surprised to be still
holding the club records for 50, 100 and 12 hours to
date. He remains a member to this day.
As
a youngster he tried everything from touring,
marshalling, helping out at events, riding a few time
trials and road races. In his early years he preferred
road racing but rode the club time time trials and also
Herne Hill track. In fact he enjoyed everything about
club life, generally finding his feet in the big wide
world. He was not shy in taking on numerous official
roles within the club of Road Racing, Time Trial
Secretary, open event promoter, DLN editor, General
Secretary official time keeper.
1958 saw him called to undertake National Service,
albeit rather late. He had been delayed as a consequence
of ongoing educational studies, however he was accepted
into the RAF and instructed by the recruitment officer
not to apply for any long term trade training as they
wanted him in the RAF cycling team. In effect after the
initial 'square bashing' training, the rest of his 18
months of his 2 year service he was a poorly paid
professional road racing cyclist.
It
was while racing for the RAF in 1960 on the Isle of Man
that he met his future wife Val. Romance blossomed and
on 1st September 1962 they were married in
Our Lady of Assumption Catholic Church in Deptford.
After honeymooning in Jersey they settled in a flat in
Stockwell until they moved into their first house on 15th
March 1965. They both started working locally for Reed
Paper Group, Val in the Technical Library as a
researcher and Tony in Reed Engineering as a Civil
Engineer.
For
the next few years cycling took a back seat whilst
settling into a new home, Tony was still studying for
higher qualifications. Rather than do nothing he had a
spell of car rallying with a close friend, again quite
successful but after a time this became a little
expensive. Cycling called again and in 1969 Tony planned
a time trialling mission to become a high ranked
individual, nationally. It was a difficult task with a
full time job, and serious studying which meant
travelling to London colleges but he was determined. The
1969 comeback unfortunately was abandoned due to the
sudden death of his father Fred – the planned return
slipped to 1970, but again he was thwarted by sustaining
a broken leg from a fall down the stairs – 1971
beckoned, after a few months of mediocre races the big
year came in 1972.
Daughter Claire joined the family on 2nd
December 1972 and slotted into the family unit without
any hitches. Every weekend was spent racing somewhere in
the UK from the west country to Yorkshire. He tackled
all distances from 10 miles to 24 hours, experiencing
success at every distance. Despite his dedication and
back up from home, he never made the 'feted top 12
individuals' in the country, finishing 13th
twice !! He was extremely proud of the fact that Claire
attained National Champion status in 1990 having
supported her all along the way.
His
own racing career started to tail off in 2010 when age
and health issues seem to catch up with him, undergoing
a heart by pass in 2012, then problems with his sight
and diagnosis of non invasive bladder cancer. His wife
Val has supported him what ever his interests or
administrative posts he undertook, they worked as a team
along the way.
Tony not only competed in cycling time trials he also
gave his time to the administration of the sport both
locally and nationally, spending over 50 years on the
local CTT District Committee, 15 of those years as the
General Secretary. In recognition of his work and
dedication to cycling he was awarded a Gold Badge of
Honour by the CTT National Committee when he retired in
2018. A truly prized possession, one that he treasured
more than all the competition medals and records he
accumulated along the way.
Val, Claire & Ian
12-06-22
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More sad news - We have just heard that Bert Collins died
yesterday evening (Thursday, 13th February 2025) of a virus he
contracted in hospital where he was an in-patient as a result of
Alzheimer’s Disease. Bert was 88 and first joined the club in
1954. He leaves a wife, Doreen, and son, Lee. No other details at
the moment. 14-02-25
So sad to report that Terry Deeley's wife Carole died
last Sunday (27 March 2022)
