RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARCHIVES

My quest to find out the history about my local Vespa Club started with a letter to the Leicester Mercury earlier this year. The net result was a few emails back from former members and an invite to meet Gordon and Susan Marlow, formerly of Leicester Vespa Club (VCB Branch 39).

Gordon had been a member of the club from 1962, until its demise in 1969, and Susan had joined towards the latter part of the club’s existence. I’d checked most of my old 1950s and 60s scooter magazines and couldn’t find any record of the Leicester Vespa Club before 1962, though Gordon reckons that it may have been formed a year or two before he joined.

The club used to meet at the Southfields Community Centre and at its peak had 80 members riding a variety of Vespas. Most club nights would see at least 50 Vespas parked outside the venue. Gordon used to own an Andre Baldet Mona dealer special, which appears in many of the photos you see here (RVV 94). Finished in white, with blue and a subtle gold pinstripe he told me that when he picked the scooter up from Moto Baldet he met the man himself Andre Baldet. Andre asked him if the scooter was new and he replied that it was. Andre took the scooter from Gordon and rode it up the street and back.

On returning to the shop he promptly went and had words with the mechanic for not preparing the scooter properly.
The Mona was to be a willing workhorse for Gordon and during his first weekend of ownership he clocked up a mighty 1000 miles. The photo taken in Bournemouth during the Easter of 1964 shows Gordon on his Mona and at that time the mudguard mounted headlight was painted white. This was knocked off at some point and Gordon had it replaced, though this time the headlight casing was painted blue. Gordon reckons that the Leicester Vespa Club had a total of 30 Baldet prepared machines in the club.

Gordon and Susan said that the club attended many events including events at Woburn, Luton, Coventry, New Brighton and many other places. Club members varied in their interests with many of them being into scooter sport and the club even had a few Mod members. Club scooters had legshield banners that were black with the club name in yellow and some club members took to wearing white boiler suits with the club’s name embroidered on the back in blue. It wasn’t unusual on a club night for someone to suggest that they go for fish and chips – this didn’t mean a trip to the local chippy, but a trek to places like Skegness for some fish and chips by the seaside.

Gordon’s Mona was written-off in an accident on 28 August 1966 – he could even tell me that the car that hit him was a Morris Traveller. At the time it was written off Gordon had clocked up an impressive 100,000 miles.
By 1969 attendances at the club were on the decrease, with many members finding alternative modes of transport. In fact attendance was down to a hardcore of four to five members, a dramatic change from the heyday of 50 members. Gordon and Susan were married in 1969 and they stopped going to the club.
Gordon did solve one mystery for me: I asked what the club’s cog badge had looked like and he was happy to tell me that the club never had one. So my searching for one during the past few years had been fruitless.

The photos that you see here (along with a few others) are now in my collection. Gordon and Susan wanted them to go to someone who would appreciate them and I in turn reckoned that a fair few of you would like to see them too.
Pete Davies

• This is a full article taken from the current edition of Classic Scooterist Scene magazine. To read many more like it - please buy a copy, or subscribe and save even more.

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