A RENOWNED campaigner for cyclists who died in 2007 will live on in a commemorative plaque to be unveiled at Bromsgrove railway station, marking a new facility that would have been close to his heart.

Gordon Selway, described as a "larger-than-life" character and who was also a Bromsgrove district councillor, was transport spokesman for the Worcestershire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and volunteered for many charities.

He was a qualified barrister, a nationally recognised expert on rail issues and Cycling UK described him as "one of cycling's hardest-working campaigners and most formidable intellectual forces".

The plaque in his memory is to be unveiled in the cycle parking section of the redeveloped train station in the town on Friday (October 28).

Neville Billington, Bromsgrove Society spokesman and friend of Mr Selway, said: “He was intensely interested in the expansion of rail travel but he was also extremely committed to promoting the benefits of cycling to the wider public.

"The bicycle was certainly Gordon’s preferred mode of personal transport.

“He was for some considerable time a councillor with Bromsgrove District Council and undertook voluntary work for the County Council, not least helping with the county’s cycle ways, surveying and mapping.”

Various organisations have chipped in to provide the plaque, including Cycling UK, the national cycling charity.

Among those attending Friday's ceremony include family and friends, representatives from the organisations involved, Bromsgrove district councillors and members of the Redditch and Bromsgrove Cycling UK group.

Mr Selway, of Austin Road, Charford, who was aged 58 when he died, was a Liberal Democrat councillor and often wore shorts as he cycled around the district, riding to council meetings in Burcot Lane.

Bromsgrove-born, he read classics at Oxford University and, after a spell of teaching Latin and Greek, he embarked on a legal career until ill-health forced him to return to his home town in the late 1980s.

Janet King, chairman of Bromsgrove Lib Dems, said: “My abiding memory of Gordon is of his riding his bicycle along the corridor of the council house right up to the council chamber, parking it at the door and taking his seat at full council meetings still in his shorts and T-shirt. It certainly got him noticed as a district councillor."

The idea for the plaque was inspired by Carol Selway-Street, daughter of Mr Selway's first cousin, Roy Selway.

She contacted Cycling UK because she thought there should be some sort of tribute to Gordon Selway at the redeveloped Bromsgrove railway station.

Contributions to the tribute have been made by the Campaign for Better Transport, CPRE Worcestershire, the ATOC/Rail Delivery Group and local campaign group Push Bikes.