Sadly, I have to report the death of Ted Cotton from Northampton. I met Ted many years ago at Duxford, and when it was found we had a mutual service corp friend we hit it off. I don't admit to knowing Ted well, but when we met up we always had a laugh. You might know him via his W/NG, which was always at the bigger events, and featured in the Bruce Main Spring book "first military scene". Ted joined the RASC in 1944 as an auto electrician. He was posted to Egypt and put in charge of the motorcycle shop with 634 coy in Cairo. From there he was posted to the Suez on the great bitter lake. A tail of his was when in Egypt they were sent a batch of tele front ends for the G3s they had. Four sets went missing.
When on a night out with his mates, an ox cart went past with a Matchless front end nailed to each corner! They gave chase, but it set off like a bat out of hell, never to be seen again.
Farewell Ted, keep riding.

email (option): mick@motorbikemike.org.uk

Sad but inevitable news..when there are no veterans left WW2 will finally become 'history' and not part of someones memory...Ian

Wonder what will happen to Ted's W/NG ? When he put it together in the 1970's it was a pretty accurate restoration (for the time).....I saw it at Founders day about 6 years ago now, and it still looked good....

Guess we will all face this dilemma when each of us passes on to that DR mission elsewhere....makes you wonder sometimes....do we really own our bikes, or are we simply (legal) custodians of history for our time here...?

The latter I think...unless the bike get's buried at the same time ..I don't have any 'liabilities' to leave my bikes to and if I did there would be every chance they wouldn't be interested.
If any of my aquaintences turn out to have a son or daughter who is genuinely interested I might just give my M20 away when I get too cranky to ride it.It will be the only chance I get to select the next owner!..Ian

Would just like to say to Ian, Hi Dad................

Hi Mick
I'm pretty sure I met Ted and his W/NG at last years founders day. I had a long conversation with him and he let me take photos of his bike as reference for the W/NG I am currently restoring.
His bike still looked great and he was a delight to talk too. It's a sad fact of life that such people are passing on. I believe if you know such people, make some time to listen to them, before it's too late.
Jon