Chum Taylor

 Born as Edwin Vernon Thomas Taylor, he was quickly nicknamed “Chum” in his native Perth in Western Australia. When he first came to the UK in 1951, he unsurprisingly found the going tough on the far smaller tracks. Claremont being some 580 yards to a lap. He spent the first half of the season in NL2 at Ashfield and, though he managed a few meetings in the Giants colours, moved on, dropping to NL3 with Cardiff. By the following year he was achieving an average of well over 7.00 and attracting attention from First Division tracks. In the end he joined Bristol where he proved to be a stuffy second string averaging 4+. He remained at Knowle when the Bulldogs dropped to NL2 and thrived in this tier of racing and helped the Bulldogs to a league title.

Like many of his compatriots, he probably saw the writing on the wall as the sport went into  a downward slump and decided to return home at the end of 1954

He returned to Britain four years later to join Southampton where he displayed the form of his career, generally averaging about 8.00 in his four seasons at Bannister Court and being a member of the side that won the National Trophy in 1961. His personal highlight was reaching the 1960 World Final where he finished 11^th with 5 points. He went home at the end of 1961, having won a GB cap in the final deciding test match against Sweden earlier in the season and many believed they had seen the last of the likeable Aussie.

After a year in Aussie, he was signed by Oxford in 1963 but found the going tougher and after considerable thought and possibly anguish went “black” by throwing his lot in with Provincial League Poole in 1964. He was banned along with all the other Provincial League riders by the ACU but he looked like being one of the few being affected by the ban being applied globally. He was concerned about this when he sailed at the end of the season with the situation being complicated by him being an office bearer of the Aussie governing body. Fortunately the situation was resolved when the ban was lift as part of the Shawcross Report

This time it looked like he was home for good as he rebuffed an offer from Ian Hoskins to join injury hit Edinburgh midway through the 1965 season. However his win in the Australian Championship at Rowley Park, Adelaide, in early 1966 prompted him to be tempted to give the UK another go, with him signing for Cradley.  A purple spell in July saw him record double figures in home meetings culminating in a paid maximum against Newcastle who had both Ivan Mauger and Brain Brett in their colours. He was a virtual ever present but missed the last couple of away meetings, rearranged meetings in Scotland  as he was booked to sail home. This time for good!