Our Association lost one of our past Presidents when many of his former teammates attended funeral of Maury Mattingley, our VRA President in 2000.

The East Chapel Crematorium in Southampton had not seen anything like it. There, amongst the many floral tributes to Maury from family and friends, stood two Speedway machines, a 2-valve Jawa and a Mattingley-framed JAP plus body colours representing the various clubs he rode for in his long career loaned by Nigel Andrews, Malcolm Terry and Tim Templeton. 

Southampton, Poole, Plymouth, Wolverhampton, Coventry, Glasgow Tigers and England Test team were all represented along with photographs, as Maury's family and many friends gathered to say their last goodbye to a very special person.

Outside of the Church, in the cold wind and rain, Maury's ex-teammates and fellow riders, led by former World Champions, Barry Briggs and Freddie Williams plus Poole's Brian Crutcher and Bill Holden, Glasgow teammate, Terry Stone and others, formed a Guard of Honour as the coffin was brought into the little Church.
On top of the coffin, was Maury's one-piece black leathers and his "Pudding Basin" open faced helmet, complete with "Flicker".  The "Flicker", as you will remember, was a device to keep shale off of your goggles and one of my abiding memories of Maury was seeing him come down those long straights at Glasgow White City and "Salute", or so I thought. Actually Maury wasn't saluting, he was just knocking the lever on his "Flicker" to get the mud off!

The 'Order of Service' leaflet in the Church, bore a photo of Maury on the front page, proudly holding The Scottish Open Championship trophy he won from George Hunter and Eric Boocock back in 1963 when he was a Wolves rider. He later returned to Scotland to captain the Glasgow Tigers and was well respected amongst the knowledgeable fans North of the Border.

Maury's popularity was evident as, during the service in the church, it was standing room only. He was a popular and dedicated President of our Association, attending events around the country on our behalf and still managed, at 83 years of age, attend our annual dinner at Coventry.

All members of the World Speedway Riders' Association send their condolences to Maury's widow, Rosita, son, Tony and family.
R.I.P. Maury Mattingley.

Bert Harkins"

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