A nostalgic feast looking back to the Southampton of yesteryear is due to appear in the shops tomorrow when the Daily Echo takes a walk Down Memory Lane.

In more than 300 separate Friday features, this column has recalled most aspects of life in and around Southampton from previous decades.

Now many of these recollections have been brought together in a special 32-page publication.

There are scores of rare and fascinating photographs showing Southampton as it was when life moved at a slower pace and the city's roads echoed to the clank of trams and the clatter of horse and carts.

More recent times in the Fifties and Sixties have not been forgotten either as the publication journeys back in time to glimpse Southampton as it was.

Names such as Edwin Jones, Mayes and Plummers appear once again, there is a chance to recall the days of steam trains and remember how once Weston Shore was Southampton's summer sunshine playground.

Although there is a rather forlorn feel about Weston Shore today, back in the 1950s it was altogether different.

The Daily Echo said at the time: "When one emerges from the busy streets and roads of Woolston on to Weston Shore, there is a sense of exhilaration at the sweeping views up to the Test to the docks and down towards the Island, while the freshness of the sea breeze is a tonic."

The publication also looks at how people prepared for Christmas nearly half a century ago, how 10,000 people were locked out of the Dell at one game in 1948, and the speedway thrill of the Stadium's cinder track.

"It was always a great evening out, full of excitement, thrills, a few spills and, of course, that very special pungent smell of exhaust fumes which hung heavy in the air over Southampton's Stad-ium,'' recalls Down Memory Lane.

"The Saints of the dirt track revved up the engines of their specially-tuned motorbikes and, for years, attracted speedway fans by the thousand.''

Trams and the Floating Bridges are there as are aerial views of Southampton as communities emerged after the Second World War.

The look back into the past includes earlier times in East Street when the area was the place to go for a Saturday night out in Southampton.

East Street was a magnet for evening shoppers looking for a bargain as crowds milled around the stalls and stores illuminated by naptha lamps. "In addition there were seven pubs, two cinemas, and early Woolworths and at one time even a Marks and Spencer's bazaar with nothing over a penny,'' recalls one history book quoted in the Daily Echo publication.

* Down Memory Lane is due at selected newsagents in and around Southampton from tomorrow, priced £1.50.