The Leader's regular archive galleries are big hit with readers, and on several occasions have led to members of the public sharing a story or two with us.

Today is the turn of John Jones, from Wrexham, who once again is inspired to bring pictures to life, providing the story behind them.

Here he looks back at the legendary sponsored walks by the night staff nurses at the Wrexham Maelor Hospital, to help raise funds for the essential continued efforts of Radio Maelor in the 1980s...

I recently read another fine article under the Leader's 'Way Back When' feature page. One picture brought back some very happy memories for me, this one was of the night staff nurses preparing for their sponsored walk.

Forty years ago I was introduced to Radio Maelor by a friend, Percy Jones, who worked as a porter at the Maelor.

Percy was a ward visitor and took his role very seriously, his dedication and devotion were exemplary.

He would be seen walking to the studio to collect record requests in all weathers, undeterred.

When I joined Radio Maelor, it was in its infancy thanks to a vision of Chris Jones the first chairman, who did so much to make things happen.

Radio Maelor's aim was to provide a selection of programmes to be broadcast to the wards for the benefit of the patients.

A major part of this was the visit to the wards by the request team, who would talk to the patients, their family and friends, and to get a record played on air later in the evening.

One of the most requested was I Want To Break Free by Queen. Another favourite was live broadcasts from the Racecourse covering all Wrexham FC home matches.

As time passed and Radio Maelor grew in membership and technology requirements, it became evident our studio (a converted broom cupboard) was no longer suitable.

A costing was agreed as to how much money this project would entail.

As the figure was way beyond our resources, it was decided to make an appeal to the public and businesses of the area.

My wife, Julie, herself a member of the night staff nurses, suggested I contact Pat Tasker, the night superintendent.

This I did, and met the most formidable character I had encountered in a long time. She was also wonderful motivator and a very good friend.

When we were arranging our first walk, I expressed doubts about how many nurses would take part.

She told me not to worry, there would be plenty of them walking. She was true to her word, we had a tremendous turnout. I don't know what bribery she used but it worked.

From the beginning of our appeal the Leader took an interest in us, and with the help of Erica Jones, agreed to run a weekly update on how the appeal fund was progressing.

Photographs and articles appeared regularly and contributed to the success of the appeal. We will always have a massive debt of gratitude to the Leader for their support.

Our walks became a major social event and on the evenings that the walks were taking place I often wondered who was looking after the patients.

Our early walks ended up at Llay Miners Welfare for much needed fluid refreshment.

On one occasion a couple, who should have known better, dressed up as Batman and Robin. By the time we had reached Hightown we had attracted a rather large following of youngsters who were taking great delight in singing the Batman theme tune.

The Pied Piper springs to mind.

Later we decided the end venue would be The Plassey, at Eyton, where once again the emphasis was on fluids in copious amounts rather than the sausage rolls and things on a stick.

I have enjoyed sharing some of these memories with you (there's plenty more of these) and hope some of you may remember these crazy, wonderful nights.

If you have photos or memories you would like to share with our readers, email claire.pierce@newsquest.co.uk