Cycling hero to join hall of fame

A Wolverhampton cycling legend will be inducted into a hall of fame for city sporting heroes next weekend after six years of campaigning.

Percy Stallard’s name will be added to the Wolverhampton Sporting Hall Of Fame at Aldersley Leisure Village on Saturday. And a champion cyclist who campaigned to get the council to induct the cycling legend into the hall of fame is to receive his own award.

Dave Orford, from Derby, will be at the ceremony.

After Mr Orford proposed to Derbyshire County Council that it follow in Wolverhampton’s footsteps and set up a similar scheme of its own he was informed he would receive one of its first ever Excellence In The Community awards.

Wolverhampton is thought to be the only council in the country to honour its local sporting heroes with a hall of fame.

Inductees’ names and the sports they excelled in are inscribed on an honours board and photographs and a comprehensive list of achievements are detailed in a commemorative book in the foyer of the centre in Aldersley Road.

Mr Orford, aged 77, took seven victories in the World Veteran Cycling Championships.

He said: “I’m really thanking Percy Stallard for this award because if I hadn’t taken up his case for inclusion in the Sporting Hall Of Fame I would not have found out about this great idea and received this award from Derbyshire.”

Stallard, who had a shop in Broad Street in the city centre, died six years ago at the age of 92.

He is credited with bringing road racing to Britain after he broke away from cycling’s governing body.

He will become the third member of the Wolverhampton Cycling Club to be honoured, joining legends Hugh Porter and Bobby Thom.

The event starts at 1pm.