ED Holdgate will never forget the day in 1946 when he first sat on a motor-bike and revved the engine.

"I can still remember the excitement" he says. "The emotion and feeling are beyond mere words. It doesn't happen again the next time you start an engine."

Fifty-one years on, Ed, now 72, is one of the area's oldest motor-cyclists, and still gets a thrill from riding his 1951 James bike.

But to appreciate why the first time was so special, you must imagine yourself in the shoes of a motor-bike-mad young man in the days just after war.

For years he had dreamed of owning a bike. He spent all his spare hours watching bikers ride away on the by-pass, gazing through shop windows at new models, or reading motor-bike magazines.

And even when Ed had saved enough of his apprentice's wages to buy a second-hand bike and then painstakingly repaired it over several months, he couldn't ride it because there was a petrol shortage.

But when eventually he acquired a few cupfuls of fuel and fired up his machine, he set off on a journey that would last a lifetime.

The first bike Ed rode was a Coventry Eagle. It cost £20, a huge sum to a lad who earned five shillings a week as a trainee joiner, and there was insurance to pay as well.

In the 1950s and 60s, the motor-cycle's heyday, Ed and his wife Joan joined Pennine Range Motor-cycle Club. "I had many happy years motor-cycling back then," said Ed, who lives in south-west Burnley.

"At weekends we would go off to the Yorkshire Dales or the Lakes with Joan riding pillion. In those days there was less congestion and you could enjoy the open road more."

The couple have passed their love of bikes to their two teenage grandsons, Stuart and John. Ed still travels by bike to see them at their home in Lancaster, although Joan now prefers to go by four wheels.

Ed has owned and done up countless classic bikes, and still spends much of his time repairing old machines. He has fond memories of his fellow Pennine Range Club members.

"After a lifetime on two wheels I wonder how many of them are still riding," he said. "Yes, they were very happy days that will never return."

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