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It was in 1954 that the
Manchester Lambretta club came in to existence with four people meeting
in a greengrocers shop. From this humble beginning the club grew in size,
and it wasn’t long before larger premises were required, and so the moved
to the waterloo hotel in Withington.
By 1957, the membership
stood at 55 a number of whom represented the club in the first Isle of
Man 200.
Though the club attended
rallies it was mainly concours type of events that attracted the members,
as they preferred the leisurely Sunday runs to the hustle and bustle of
the rally fields though they did get their share of the trophies.
It was in the 1958 MANCHESTER
EVENING NEWS do-it-yourself exhibition where the club had it’s own stand,
that Ben Lyon and Bebe Daniels (American TV stars) asked if they could
join the club. They not only became members of the club but in fact accepted
honorary presidency, and so the nickname of the club became THE LYONS. |
By now some of the members
had become decidedly sports conscious, and decided to form a sporting club
dropping all social activities; and so the MANCUNIANS was formed. This
however did not last long and soon went out of existence, leaving the Lyons
rather depleted. It did however prove a point always maintained by the
club, that being that you must cater for the tastes of both the sporting
and social members in order to have a successful and versatile club.
1964 saw the club moving
to Kingsway Hotel. It was at this time that things started to happen.
All but two of the older
members, the chairman and treasurer, who to date have served us for twelve
years had left, and there was an influx of new members, the average age
dropping from 30 to 18. From 1964 to 1967 the club built up its strength
and began to show a lively interest in both sporting and social activities,
Norwich being the first rally for most of us, 15 of us went to watch. |
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By the end of 1967 we
had gained sufficient experience, and decided in 1968 to have a serious
try for the Championship. With a great deal of effort and a certain amount
of success, we managed to reach 14th place by the close of the season.
1969 saw us starting
off with rather more experience behind us and more determined than ever
to fight our way to the top. Despite considerable misfortune in the Isle
of Man and on the Tour of Britain we managed to pull second place in the
Championship.
By the early seventies
scootering was on the decline the club was still in to the racing side
and this kept the club alive. the club members raced solo and sidecar outfits
being very competitive and winning many trophies, also running E.M.S.A.
at the three sisters circuit in Wigan . |
Starting in the early
90’s the club started to grow once more attending rallies etc , and has
just joined the Lancashire Alliance at the present moment it has 30 plus
scooters. The club has always maintained that to have a good time and to
come last is better than to win and not enjoy it.
Eddie Yates (Manchester
Lyons)
They are the oldest Club
in England having run since 1954 without a break and have been a Lambretta
Club since 1999 and then a Scooter Club for allowing all scooter owners
to join. |
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Thanks very much
to Eddie for his help and support, and a big ciao to all member of the
greatest Club ever
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