A FEW weeks ago we published in The Press an appeal from York archivists for information about the York and District Lambretta Club.

The city archive holds the official club records. But community collection archivist Sarah Tester said they amounted to little more than dry financial records and minutes of meetings, with no personal memories, and no photos.

"I'm sure there will be people who were involved with the club," said Sarah. "We'd love to hear from you."

Step forward Mary Wright.

In the late 1950s and 1960s, Mary was chairman of the York Lambretta Club. And she has memories and photos galore...

It was Mary's older brother John who got her into Lambrettas. She was a young woman in her early twenties, living in the South Bank area and working at Rowntrees. She cycled to work: but when John got a Lambretta decided she wanted one too.

"It just seemed obvious to me to get one, because I was going backwards and forwards every day," says Mary, now 78 and living with her brother in Bishopthorpe.

Before long, both brother and sister had their own Lambrettas, and both were key members of the Lambretta Club - John the secretary and Mary becoming the chairman.

They were wonderful days, Mary recalls. Lambrettas were great for nipping around York on: but club members used them to go much further afield as well.

They organised regular 'treasure hunts' with neighbouring clubs, in which they had to follow a series of clues to complete a journey.

"There was nothing at the end of it!" Mary says. "You just had to get back home! But you'd be looking for clues in windows, particular buildings, signposts."

Then there were runs out on a Sunday - and also weekends away, to the Lake District, Blackpool or Scotland.

The bikes were fine for the longer journeys, Mary said - at least until you came to a steep hill. "Then all the pillion passengers would have to get off and walk. They were only about 150cc, and with two people and luggage... I don't know how we made it sometimes, but we did!"

These days, a line of 15 or more scooters pulling slowly up a hill would probably be a nuisance to other traffic. "But there wasn't as much traffic then as there is now, and we weren't in a hurry," Mary says.

Those weekends away on their scooters were in the days before motorways, of course. Theoretically, they probably could have gone on motorways if there had been any and they'd wanted to. But they wouldn't have, Mary says.

York Press:
Members of the York and District Lambretta Club having a roadside picnic. Photograph supplied by Mary Wright

"You always had to be prepared for breakdowns. The plugs were always sooting up, and we would have to stop and clean them!"

The club's president was Bob Mallaby, who had a shop in Toft Green which sold scooters and also did repairs. That came in useful, Mary says.

There was a club dinner every year - and all in all they were great times. "We made lots of very, very good friends."

Mary remembers her own mother, Florence, going out with her on the back of her scooter when she was quite elderly. Florence wasn't too impressed when Mary eventually got a car. "She used to think it was stifling inside!"

But gradually, as she got older, Mary herself began to realise a car was more comfortable. The Lambrettas were great, she says. "But you did get soaking wet at times!"

She has lost touch with many of her old friends from the Lambretta Club days. But if any former members are still out there, she'd love to hear from them, she says. "So if anybody sees these photographs, it would be nice to hear from them."

• If you are a former member of the York Lambretta Club and would like to get in touch with Mary and John, contact Stephen Lewis at The Press on 01904 567263 or stephen.lewis@thepress.co.uk and we'll pass your details on.