Evesham Wheelers' President Neville Chanin dies

Neville Chanin, president of Evesham Wheelers Cycling Club and a tireless campaigner for bicycle-related issues, has died while returning from a cycling trip in Europe.

The club’s social secretary, Adrian Main, told the Evesham Journal that Mr Chanin, who was in his mid-70s, passed away at a bed and breakfast in Winchester, Hampshire on Saturday, and said: “I was shocked when I heard of his death. He was an active member and had travelled the world on his bike.”

Mr Main added: “He was on his way back from France when this happened. I knew him for many years and he was a great ambassador for the club. He was a very likeable character and will be sadly missed.”

Mr Chanin, a retired food technologist,  traveled extensively on his bike around Europe and elsewhere, making many friends along the way, and it was said that anyone sporting an Evesham Wheelers jersey on the Continent would at some point be stopped and asked whether they knew him.

On his travels, he rode more than a million kilometres in over 40 countries and was a member of CTC for more than six decades. 

He often lamented the state of local roads and lack of provision for cyclists, taking action to highlight issues of concern, and in 2008 described the potholes in his home town of Stroud, Gloucestershire as the worst he had seen anywhere in the world.