Go to the
Archive index
We are sad to have to report the death of Keith Ashby. His funeral is at Cromer Crematorium on Wednesday 28 October at 10:30am and after at the Feathers Hotel in Holt.
Keith and his New Hudson autocycle have been a familiar sight at NACC, ECP, and EACC events for more than twenty years. Carl Squirrell remembers:
I first met Keith when he called into my shop to enquire if I had any wheel bearing cones for his vintage bicycle that he was going to cycle to Spain on! I gave him a tin of an assortment of said items that had been on the premises for nearly 100 years and a few weeks later he brought them back to me, minus the ones he had found that fitted. Later on he reported back that he and the bike made it to Spain with no problems.
After this he called in again and rummaged through my scrap bin and took away an old Honda C90 silencer which he grafted onto his New Hudson autocycle and it is still on there to this day.
Keith regularly rode down from Holt to take part in East Coast Pedaller and EACC runs and usually stayed at his daughter’s house in Framlingham and would always pop into to see me to report back on his latest exploits—be that with his autocycle, boat, or A35 car.
Carl did more than supply Keith with bearings and a silencer, as Keith himself related in a letter to Buzzing back in December 2002:
Dear Andrew,
…
I acquired a New Hudson, also 1952 model, in pretty good condition, just lacking a stand and engine covers, which it still does, and also missing its silencer. My son, then aged about 17, fitted new coils and got it going quite easily. Then he cleaned and painted it up. As its brakes were poor and as we had no practical use for it, we stored it at the back of the garage. However, I did get the brake shoes relined.
A chance visit to Carl Squirrell’s motor cycle shop resulted in me joining the NACC and, with great help from Michael Flood, my New Hudson is now on the road, licensed and insured, albeit with an oversize Honda silencer. It starts readily and goes well. I think that I have been lucky in that it has only done a small mileage.
… it is a thing of beauty and a joy to behold. As soon as there is warm weather next year, I intend to use the New Hudson quite a lot for local runs around here.
When Keith said he intended to use the New Hudson ‘quite a lot’ he wasn’t exaggerating; he must have ridden hundreds and hundreds of miles on it since then. No ECP or EACC run seemed complete if Keith wasn't there–and none will from now on; he will be greatly missed.
Finally, a word from fellow Norfolk autocyclist David Watson:
Sad news indeed. What a legend! I met Keith on many runs over the years; he was a regular on the Mince Pie runs from Ipswich, riding to Framlingham the day before from Holt, North Norfolk. He also went to the Duloe rides in Bedfordshire via a stop-over in Cambridge. He even rode up to Hartlepool to do the NACC Coast to Coast run, apologising to Mr Casper for not riding the autocycle back home from Whitehaven. RIP Keith.
October 2026