Hairy Biker Dave Myers named Cumbrian of the Year at awards

Barrow-born Dave was known for his 20-year-long career in TV as one half of the duo with Si King, where they travelled across the globe on their motorbikes testing different dishes and teaching viewers how to cook them at home. He also championed local businesses and hospitality in Cumbria and the north-west. 

TV personality Dave Myers died earlier this year (Image: PA)

Dave died in February aged 66, two years after revealing he had been diagnosed with cancer. 

At the 2024 Newsquest Cumbria Life Awards on Thursday September 5 in the Low Wood Bay and Spa Hotel, Dave Myers was announced as the winner. 

Before giving the award to his close-childhood friend Graham Twyford, the audience got to watch a video from his widow Liliana Myers and Si. 

Dave received a standing ovation from the crowd (Image: Newsquest)

In the video, Liliana said: "He was so passionate about what he was doing, passionate about cooking, passionate about travelling, passionate about bikes and there was always something on the go, there was always a plan brewing, there was always an adventure that he was thinking of and he was planning in his head.

The bikers travelling up to Barrow earlier this year (Image: PA)

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"We, in 20 years of being together, never had same meal twice; it was always something different always something exciting. The plate was full of love and his dream was to put Barrow on the map which he managed a few times, and even beyond his grave." 

Graham Twyford, who knew Dave for most of his life, picked the award on his behalf (Image: Newsquest)

Recently, Barrow was the subject of national media coverage when tens of thousands of bikers travelled from London to Cumbria for Dave Day. 

Si said: "He loved [Barrow] and he celebrated it wherever he could really and certainly on the telly because Cumbria, the people, the landscape the culture, the food defined Dave as a man and as one of the Bikers." 

Liliana Myers gave a speech on video honouring her late husband (Image: BBC)

In terms of how Dave would have felt about the award and Dave Day, Graham, who met Dave in Sixth Form at Barrow Grammar School, said: "I think he would be astonished, he knew that the bikers were popular but when you saw that outpouring of love how his life touched people that amazing display of bikes heading from all over the country, he would have been amazed."

The Hairy Bikers met in 1995 on the set of a TV drama and were friends for years before they became famous. In June, Si announced that there there would be no Hairy Bikers without Dave.