I first met Dick Tolley in 1974, when he was working for Trevor Goodall Motorcycles in Didcot. His son, Martin, worked there on occasion and always referred to me as 'TRD 78M', the registration number of the 500 Suzuki I purchased from the company during that year.

The bike doubled as a touring machine as well as a production racer, covering a total of 16,000 miles. It was the first of four motorcycles I bought from Goodalls between 1974 and 1982. The others were a 400 Honda 4, as well as 400cc and 750 Suzukis.

Dick started his career as a cabinet-maker at Minty's in Oxford and, during his subsequent National Service, in the RAF he worked as an airframe fitter. The painting below shows the wooden-framed De Havilland Mosquito, one of a squadron of Mosquito and Spitfire aircraft that he worked on in Singapore between 1946 and 1947.

After returning from the Far East, he joined his brother John, where they both worked on the railway as steam locomotive firemen. The photograph of Dick driving The Geen Knight, loco number 75029, (above) was taken in June 2007 during his 80th year.

Martin had written to Philip Benham of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, to explain that his father had driven thousands of miles in the same locomotive that was now in their possession. Philip wrote back and arranged for Dick to be allowed onto the footplate to drive 75029 once again. The railway runs between Whitby and Goathland - better known as Aidensfield in TV's Heartbeat series.

Dick wrote a biographical account of his experience on the Oxford railway. The book, suitably entitled Steaming Spires contained interesting and often humourous anecdotes that brought to life the bygone era of the steam railway. He recalls a visit he made to Shepton Mallet, to see The Green Knight when it was owned by David Shepherd in 1980. Steaming Spires was published by David and Charles in 1987 (ISBN 0-7153-9081-3) hardback and 0-7153-8896-7 paperback).

Dick continues his relationship with steam engines as a guide at the Didcot Railway Museum to this day.

During the 1950s, Dick Tolley was the secretary of the scrambling section of the Oxford Ixion motor club. The photograph taken from the Oxford Mail, shows the line-up of the Oxford team after their fourth successive victory in the Oxford versus Cambridge motorcycle scramble in 1956. There are some familiar names in the line-up: from left to right is Joe Johnson, who was featured in the April 2006 profile of motorsport heroes in this series.

Next to him is Gordon Shepherd, Eric Stroud, P 'Nibbo' Wheeler, George Bond (the team manager), Pat Lamper and Bill Faulkner. Pat Lamper went on to become a top-level competitor in scrambles, while Bill Faulkner became a successful trials rider and motorcycle dealer in Jericho.

After the Second World War, American Serviceman George White, who was based in England, married a local girl and settled in Oxford. Dick Tolley knew George, who was a competitor with the Oxford Ixion club, racing a scrambling sidecare outfit.

Dick recalled the time when George ran a newsagents in the Botley Road and used to call into the Oxford railway station to pick up the newspaper delivery. On one such morning, the two met on the station and George asked what he was doing there, when Dick told him that he was a fireman on the railway, George replied: "Do they have that many fires then?"

During his racing with the Ixion club, George raced at Horspath, the circuit was just above the village at Clay Close.

The farmer, Bob Walker, ran the meeting and also presented the Clay Close Cup for the winner of the event. The club ran four scramble meetings a year at Bletchingdon and at Stoke Lynne, where Dave Curtis and his brother Mike ran the farm, as well as competing in the scrambles. George White passed away in 2007.

Back in 1986 when I was working in Marlborough Road for Oxford Publishing Services, my brother and I made contact with Dick Tolley once again, this time in his role as a light aircraft pilot.

We all met up at Booker airfield, near High Wycombe, where he and his co-pilot flew us in a four-seater Cessna to RAF Duxford in Cambridgeshire. I remember the flight vividly. As we took off, a similar aircraft was upside down alongside the runway below, having crash-landed earlier!

If you have any memories of your own experiences in motor sport, please write to me at 90 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6AT or telephone 01865 434359. Commissions accepted. Visit the website: www.britishartists.co.uk