Simon Charles Milward

Simon Charles Milwardborn 28th of January 1965 in Strete, South Devon, UK.In 1989 Simon quit as quality control manager with a leading British reprographic printing company to concentrate on something he believed in and where he thought he could do something useful. Simon started a fulltime career working for the interests of motorcyclists with the Motorcycle Action Group United Kingdom.In 1992 Simon established the Brussels headquarters of the Federation of European Motorcyclists (FEM) in Brussels and became FEM's General Secretary. Finding his way through the EU maze he started co-ordinating efforts towards specific legislatory targets. This resulted in bikers being among the first citizens to benefit from the democratic changes of the Maastricht Treaty and due to Simon's never ending work, FEM became a well-known and effective lobby group in the EU institutions. In 1998 FEM merged with the EMA (the European Motorcyclists Association) to form the Federation of European Motorcyclists' Associations (FEMA). Simon Milward became FEMA's General Secretary. Affiliated to FEMA today are 22 national riders rights organisations from 18 European countries.On January 1st 2000 Simon left Europe to fulfil a lifelong dream: to ride his handmade motorcycle around the world on a humanitarian mission. His journey was supposed to last for 18 months, but it turned into a five year long odyssey. Simon was expected to arrive back in the UK around October 2005. It is with profoundly sad that Simon died following a road accident near Kayes, Mali, West Africa.With the passing away of Simon Milward, the European motorcycle community has lost a true rider and a pioneer in the riders' rights movement. Simon always inspired those who have had the honour and the privilege to work with him and we will never forget him. We have lost a friend, the world has lost a true friend and a very good man.