I spent too much time in 1971 trying to be a rock star. It was never going to happen but it was OK to dream. All of a sudden I noticed my parents had left home and moved to Lightwater in Surrey. I remembered my dad vaguely muttering something about the company he worked for relocating to Basingstoke in the summer but never really took much notice until the time came for the move.

Lightwater was about halfway between where home used to be and Basingstoke where dad was working. I tried it for a week and gave it up as a bad job. At the time I was still working in Teddington and going to college in Kingston-on-Thames. The SX150 was up to the job but I wasn't so I moved in with my nan back in Ashford.

Mrs.D: Margaret Denton in full BA uniform. Tony's mum and my landlady at 179 Feltham Road, Ashford Middlesex. Pictured in my bedroom. See more by clicking on the image.

My god that was hell but I was soon rescued by my friend Tony Denton who persuaded his mum to let me come and live with them. Mrs Denton was great. She had divorced Tony's dad - a complete prick as far as I was concerned - some years previously and worked at Heathrow for BA. She was more often away from home than there and life for Tony and I was good.

Mrs D even put up with the guitars and amps which was pretty incredible really. At the time I had graduated to a bass the boom from which must has caused the neighbours to consider slashing their wrists. But no, never heard a peep from them either.

Around this time we made our first foray in to a recording studio. Back then a four-track reel to reel was pretty good - Sgt Pepper was recorded on a four-track supposedly. We didn't book Abbey Road however and nor did we have George Martin sprinkling magic dust over our recordings. Eden Studios in Kingston-on-Thames was our choice. We all pitched in some money to cover the costs and came away with a few recordings.

Recording Studio: Adele Greenwell, John O'Sullivan and Julie Carpenter. Not sure which studio this was.

Of course we thought we were 'the dogs bollocks' but sadly, as we soon found out from all the rejections, that description was two words away from the truth. We were just 'bollocks'. We did however have balls and somehow got ourselves up in front of an A&R man at Apple, the Beatles label, in London's Saville Row.

We walked in as the Righteous Brothers were in the lobby. We thought we had arrived. But we were soon leaving by the same door. We persevered for a number of years. I knew we were bollocks but what the hell, I enjoyed trying.

Then one day at Tony's mums place there was a knock at the door. It was my girlfriend du jour announcing she had come to pick me up and take me to the pub. "How are you going to do that then?" I said. She countered that she had been taking driving lessons on the quiet, just passed her test and had gotten hold of her mums car. No shit. Drive on darlin'.

SX150 PUC89F pictured in Sunbury-on-Thames in 1971 with Janice Duffin on board. Her family emigrated to Austrailia in the 70's

It was the beginning of the end for the Lambretta. No longer would the girlfriend jump on the back in the pouring rain and head off to the pub with me. No siree Bob.

Actually, it was in reality turning out to tbe beginning of the end for Lambretta - full stop. Their big sales years had taken place in the 1950's and 60's and now, with the Mod era long gone and under ownership of BLMC, the Innocenti brand was in its' last year of production.