Plaque honours double world motorcycle champion

Cecil Sandford was a household name, but very unassuming, one of his sons said

A memorial to a two-time world motorcycle road racing champion has been unveiled in Warwickshire.

The plaque honouring Cecil Sandford was put up at the site of a Shipston-on-Stour garage owned by his father-in-law.

About 50 people gathered on Saturday outside micropub Thirst Edition and Harry's barber shop, where A R Taylor Garages used to be situated.

Sandford retired before the age of 30 in 1957, the year he won his second world championship, and went back to work in the family business as a car salesman.

Son Ian Sandford, 65, said motorcycling was "huge" in the 1950s, "as big as cars".

He said: "They were household names, the top riders in the world.

"We had an amazing trophy cabinet that was stacked," he said, but he added that his father "wasn't a flamboyant character. Very unassuming and very down to earth."

Cecil Sandford, pictured in 2019, died in November 2023 aged 95

Cecil Sandford was a carpenter, but his interest in bikes led to success doing "local grass track and scrambles" where his future father-in-law spotted him.

The entrepreneur owned a garage, which sold motorcycles and cars and had "one of the first petrol pumps in Warwickshire".

He provided the future world champion with racing motorcycles.

Ian Sandford said that his father was offered a place in 1950 on the AJS factory racing team alongside the reigning world champion, Les Graham.

With the MV Agusta team, he won the 125cc world championship in 1952.

In the 1957 season, he won a second world championship, this time in the 250 class riding for the Mondial team.

The plaque has been put up at Harry's barber shop

Those attending the ceremony included Cecil Sandford's wife, Pat, his two children, Ian and Mark, and his brother-in-law and fellow director at the garage Richard Taylor.

Ian Sandford said: "We're just very proud and honoured to have the plaque in my father's memory on his sponsor, mentor and father-in-law's garage."