THIS week's trip down West Fife's Memory Lane features Dunfermline photographer and rally-driver Johnstone Syer.

Were it not for the continuing effects of the coronavirus, Johnstone would be taking part in an event at the National Motor Museum this year to mark the 50th anniversary of the World Cup Rally of 1970, a unique high-speed 16,000-mile event from London to Mexico across three continents in which he came second out of 100 entrants.

Our first photograph shows Johnstone alongside his team-mate, Andrew Cowan.

Johnstone left Dunfermline High School in 1949 for a job as a message boy, darkroom assistant, cleaner and tea boy under Press photographer Peter Leslie who had a shop in Bruce Street. On his 16th birthday, he became a trainee photographer at the NCRE at Rosyth. After two years' National Service, in 1954 he decided he needed to earn some serious money in order to set himself up in business and, as the coal industry at that time provided highly-paid jobs, he resigned and trained at Townhill's Muircockhall Colliery, subsequently working in Yorkshire and Valleyfield Colliery.

His interest in rallying began around this time and he left Valleyfield in 1958 for a job with more sociable hours in the insurance industry.

"In 1959, I was asked by a local businessman, Bobby Crawford, to do the RAC Rally of Great Britain as his navigator. I thought I would never get a chance like this again so asked my supervisor for a week off to take part in the 2,000-mile, non-stop, four-day event. His answer was a resounding 'No' so I handed in my notice and set off on the RAC Rally unemployed."

On his return, Johnstone set himself up as a self-employed photographer, firstly in studio premises at the top of the New Row, previously owned by the Press, before moving to a number of other properties, including this one in our next photograph on the corner of Chapel Street and Queen Anne Street. His business went from strength to strength, at one stage covering 28 weddings in a single day.

This success enabled Johnstone to concentrate on rallying, and he was soon rallying professionally for some of the world's largest car manufacturers, taking part in hundreds of events throughout the world. In addition to coming second on the London-Mexico event, outright wins included Jamaica, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Hong Kong and the Ivory Coast, and second overall in the Paris Dakar Rally. The photograph opposite (bottom right) shows the type of obstacles faced in such events.

Our final photograph shows Johnstone being feted after one of the many victories during his glittering career as one of Britain's top rally competitors. "My first event was a 1956 Dunfermline Car Club Sunday afternoon rally, and my last one the 1993 London to Sydney Rally. I think it ironic, given the huge distances travelled in my career, that in 2017 I retired from my studio at 38 Chalmers Street just a couple of hundred yards from where I started 68 years before in Bruce Street."

More photographs like these can be seen in Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries (an appointment to do so has to be made at present due to COVID restrictions) and also at Facebook.com/olddunfermline. Old Dunfermline DVDs are available online from olddunfermline.com/shop.