The 59 Club - the Beginning by Rev. Bill Shergold

locOleoN

Is that the best you got? OK.. now my TURN...
I thought this was particularily interesting... ;D

By Rev. Bill Shergold.
Magazine of the Fifty Nine Club, November 1966.

For the next two or three years I used the bike for pottering around my parish, but the thought never entered my head that one day I would start a club for motorcyclists. Most of my time was taken up with the youth club, which had just been launched by the Revd. John Oates. Perhaps I ought to say a word about this club because it answers the question of why the club is called the 59.

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The club which we now know as the 59 Club started in 1962 as a section of the already flourishing 59 Club of the Eton Mission. This was the club we started in January 1959 with Cliff Richards as our guest star. We called it the 59 Club because we wanted to get away from the rather stuffy image of the traditional church youth fellowship. It was immensely successful from the start and many well-known recording stars came to visit us. The most fabulous evening of all was the night we were visited by Princess Margaret and her husband, together with Cliff Richard and the Shadows.

By this time the motorcycle disease had really taken hold of me. I traded in my C15 for 1959 Speed Twin and began to enjoy the thrills of a bike. I even bought a crash helmet(police-style with peak) and a leather jacket(three-quarter length, of course). Then one day I read in the daily papers that a special service for motorcyclists had been held in the newly opened cathedral at Guildford. This struck me as odd because cathedrals tend to be rather respectable. But it game me an idea.

If Guildford could do it, why couldn't Hackney Wick? Why couldn't we have a get-together at the Mission for the motorcyclists in north and east London? For the first time in my life I wrote a letter to a paper-to MotorCycle- asking if anyone would be interested in such a service. The editor, Harry Louis, published it and almost at once I got a letter from Bob Matthews, general secretary of the Triumph Owners Club, saying he thought it was a good idea and would like to help me organize the event. He was in the hospital at the time and I went to see him there to talk things over.

I caused a minor crisis at the hospital by riding my bike into a rainwater downpipe and smashing it. Bob sent me along to the North London branch of the Triumph Owners Club which in those days had its headquarters in a Quaker meeting house at Stoke Newington.

I shall always be grateful to the members of the TOMC for the way they welcomed me and backed up my ideas. Up to this moment I had been very much a lone motorcyclist. Now, through the Friday evening meetings at Stoke Newington, I found myself enjoying for the first time the fantastic comradeship of the motorcycle world.

Meanwhile plans were slowly taking shape for our big event which was now fixed for a Sunday in May, 1962. We had roped in the local road safety officer and we sent out dozens of circulars to all the motorcycle clubs in the area. Then something happened which was to have a profound effect on the whole future course of events.

One day, while I was talking about the service with some of the lads from the Triumph Owners Club, somebody said: "Of course the people you really ought to invite to your service are those young hooligans who go blasting along the North Circular Road."
"That's all very well, " I said, "but I don't' know any of them. How can I get in tough with them?"
"If you really want to meet them you should go along to the Ace Cafe."
"Okay," I said, "I will!"


Until know we had thought only of inviting members of highly respectable motorcycle clubs to our service. The other section of the motorcycling fraternity was completely unknown to me. I did recall, however, a magazine article I had read some years before whilst waiting to have my hair cut. It was the sort of article which appears from time to time in the American Press, describing the activities of the Hell's Angels. It was lavishly illustrated with pictures taken at the Ace. It certainly wasn't calculated to inspire confidence in anyone proposing to visit that cafe for the first time.

The more I thought about it the more alarmed I became. The time I chose my trip to the Ace was a Sunday afternoon. Had I known more about the habits of young motorcyclists I certainly would not have chosen that particular time. The Ace is about 13 miles from Hackney Wick and I set out with several posters rolled up on the back of my bike, hoping that I might persuade the proprietors to put one up for me. Unsure of the kind of reception I should get, I wrapped a scarf around my neck covering up my dog collar.

Just past Staple's Corner about a dozen bikes ridden by sinister looking figures in black leathers roared past in the opposite direction. I felt almost sick with fear. By the time I had passed under the bridges at Stonebridge Park, I was in such a panic that I opened the throttle up and fled past the Ace as fast as I could. Then I realized that I was being a coward.

So at the next intersection I turned back. Again panic seized me and I went past. Then I turned back a second time and finally rode into the forecourt. By this time, the Ace was practically deserted. I ordered a cup of tea and sat drinking it, my face crimson with embarrassment. I left for home with out getting rid of a single poster. But I consoled myself with the fact that I had at least penetrated into the lions' den, even if the lions were in fact out on the prowl.

Several weeks elapsed before my next attempt to reach the boys at the Ace. In fact It was the night before the service was due to take place that I finally summoned enough courage to go there again. This time I made no attempt to conceal my collar and I went armed with a bundle of leaflets which said: "This is a personal invitation to YOU to come to church next Sunday for a special service for motorcyclists."

It must have been about eight o'clock on the Saturday evening when once again I entered the forecourt at the Ace. It was packed with bikes. Hundreds of boys were milling around, laughing and talking. "This is it, " I thought, "I shall almost certainly lose my trousers or land up in the canal."

I rode up to the nearest group and went straight to the point. "I want you all to come to church tomorrow." Looking back I am amazed at my own nerve- I, a middle-aged clergyman invading the stronghold of one of the toughest groups of youngsters in the country.

There was no joking, no mickey talking. Instead they came crowding round, bombarding me with questions: "What's it all about? Where is it? How do we get there?" Someone brought me a cup of tea. I never got inside the Ace at all- people kept coming to talk with me outside. All in all it was the most fantastic evening I have ever spent. At midnight I managed to get away to snatch some sleep before making final preparations for the services at three o'clock the next day.....

And what a service it was! Several days before I had issued a kind of press release, hoping that the papers would give us some advance publicity and so ensure we had a congregation. Only one paper mentioned it beforehand, but they turned up in force on the day itself-I suppose there must have been a dearth of murders and international crises that weekend.

In addition, BBC and ITV sent news teams and I think there was a newsreel team there as well. The theme of the service was that we should dedicate our bikes and ourselves to God's service, endeavoring to use the machines in a responsible sort of way. In my address I compared the present-day motorcyclist to the knights of old and suggested that we should try to uphold the same ideals of courage, courtesy and chivalry.

To drive home the idea we had arranged for a number of different bikes to be placed inside the church-symbolizing the offering of our machines to God. It was a strange assortment, ranging from a Tina scooter to a magnificent Manx Norton which had been raced the previous weekend. Looking back I suppose it was a bit of a gimmick to have the bikes in church. I never intended it that way.

People bring cabbages and marrows to church for the Harvest Festival and no one complains. It seemed to me perfectly natural for those who love motor bikes to bring them into God's house. I can't imagine how we got through the service at all. There were photographers and cameramen everywhere. The church looked like a film studio with all the lights and trailing wires. Yet despite all these distractions there was a wonderful atmosphere of devotion and reverence.

Next day the papers were full of what had happened at Hackney Wick. Here are some of the headlines: "The Knight Errants of 1962 - Ton-Up Kids in Church", "Ton Up Bikes Are Blessed", "Pictures of a 100-mph Gang that may Cause a Storm", "Blessings by the Ton", "A Vicar blesses the Ton-Uppers." One paper rang up the Bishop of London at midnight to ask him what he thought about it all!

On Tuesday several papers published cartoons, the most famous of which was by Giles in Daily Express. I wrote and told Giles how much I had liked his picture and to my delight he sent me the original drawing signed by himself. This is one of my most treasured possessions and occupies a place of honor in my study.

I was a bit overwhelmed by all this publicity. But for me it had one great advantage. I couldn't care less about having my pictures in the papers. What did please me was that almost overnight I had made friends with the boys at the Ace. Press cuttings and photographs poured in to the vicarage, so I took them up to the Ace and showed them around. The lads were delighted at receiving some good publicity for a change. In the past any mention of them in the press had been unfavorable.

I soon became a regular visitor at the Ace and got to know some of the lads quite well. One of them even invited me to his home to have lunch with his family. Others began to tell me about their mates in the hospital. At this time, also, I received considerable "fan" mail, some of it complimentary, some of it not so nice. One anonymous letter warned me of the dire consequences that would follow if I continued to associate with these "leather-hearted louts."

From these letters, but above all from the conversations with the boys themselves, I soon began to realize that they were virtually an outcast section of the community. Because of their dress, their noisy bikes and their tendency to move around in gangs, nobody wanted them. Dance halls refused them, bowling alleys told them to go home and change into ordinary clothes. Youth clubs were afraid of them. Even the transport cafe's didn't really welcome their custom.

After all, a motorcyclist consumes on average a cup of tea or Coke every two hours. A lorry driver or a coach tripper will spend five bob on a meal and be on his way within 30 minutes. I was becoming more and more convinced that what they really needed was a new kind of club which would combine the personal and friendly touch of a youth club with the free and easy atmosphere of a transport cafe or coffee bar.

My difficulty was that our premises at the Eton Mission were already being used almost to capacity. And in any case, Hackney Wick is such a difficult place to find in its maze of one way streets that I doubted very much if it would meet our requirements. Eventually I decided on an experiment. It so happened that the 20th anniversary of my ordination was approaching.

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Instead of having a party for my Parishioners I decided to throw a party for my new friends from the Ace. It was a tremendous success. About 80 turned up, thus proving that the situation of the Eton Mission was no obstacle.

At this point I was fortunate to come in contact with two existing motorcycle clubs, both of which showed real interest in my plans for a new club. I well remember being approached outside the Ace one day by Mick Ingarfield of the Friendly Club, who invited me to HQ at Hammersmith to meet their members. About this time, too, I met Garth Pettitt of the Sunbeam Club. Garth is an astonishing person - he holds some high position in the Civil Service but thinks nothing of arriving at a Mansion House reception on his SS Norton and changing out of his leathers in the gents.

There two clubs were tremendous and I can never adequately repay their kindness in supporting me in these early days. Eventually we decided to make use of Saturday nights - the only time when the halls were not being used - And to launch the new club in October, 1962. As a matter of fact it was never intended that it should be a club at all - as witness the affectionate title of the Vicar's Caff which it was soon given.

The question of finding a suitable personality of the motorcycling world to open the club was solved during one of my weekly visits to the Ace. I was sitting at a table drinking tea and showing photographs to a crowd of the lads when I noticed at the next table a gentleman of more than ample proportions. How he managed to fit himself into one of those funny swivel seats I have never discovered. He was obviously bursting with curiosity and in the end could contain himself no long. He introduced himself as "Harold Harvey" and asked if he might see the photographs.

It appeared that he was a photographer and often went to motorcycle race meetings to take action pictures. He said that he might be able to find us a suitable guest. As a result of this chance meeting we not only secured the services of Alf Hagon on the opening night but the Club acquired its first adult helper. I would like to pay tribute to all that Bob Harvey has done for the club since its inception.

In order to publicize our opening night as widely as possible we prepared some handbills which I took around to places like the Busy Bee, the Dug-Out, Woodlands, Johnsons and of course, the Ace. I never found it easy visiting a cafe for the first time but in the case of the Busy Bee I was lucky. A German TV company was making a documentary film about British youth and asked me to put them in touch with some young motorcyclists. Off I hurried to the Bee to find motorcyclists to take part in the filming.

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I needed no further introduction at the Bee. We spent hours making the film and the lads had a wonderful time. I shall never forget riding three-abreast down the Watford By-Pass at one o'clock in the morning with a TV camera filming from the back of a van and enormous arc lights blazing in our eyes.

We have to thank the Daily Mirror for another bit of useful publicity at this time. Among my many letters was one from a keen motorcyclist in America. He enclosed a type-written prayer which was widely used by members of his club. I trimmed it down and had it printed on cards, small enough to carry in a wallet. The problem was to distribute it. I have always shrunk away from using my friendship with the boys in the cafes to thrust religion at them.

So I hesitated to hand out the prayer cards myself. Instead I sent one to the Daily Mirror who were kind enough to give it quite a splash. I received applications from all over the country. The most amusing was from an MoT examiner who asked for 50 copies, explaining that he proposed to give one to every motorcyclist who came to him for his driving test.

The article in the Mirror was also occasion of another cartoon at my expense. This time I was provided with a wife - but not a very attractive one. She piloted a sidecar outfit while I perched precariously in a gothic-looking pulpit balanced on the chair. I was pictured with a megaphone, calling out to the passing motorcyclists. The caption read: "I'll say one thing for the vicar - he's determined to get through to us."

Well, the message certainly got through. At our opening that October evening we had an attendance of about 100. They were the first of thousands; and they were in at the humble beginning of what was soon to become the largest motorcycle club the world has ever known.
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MORE HISTORY ON THE 59 Club here:
http://dotheton.com/index.php?topic=2750.0
 
Heres a bit of name dropping.... when i was younger i used to work in sales for a comapny called "motad " that made exhausts for motor bikes. Part of my work was to staff and organise the stall at the bike shows. Alexander palace (Road and race show and trade show) and the NEC in birmingham ( national motorcylce show) And Alf Hagon was based in london not far from where i worked he aslo was friends with my boss Alan Baker ( used to work for paul Dunstall and race bike sin the 6o's) i used to catch the train to the shows with Alf Hagon some times as he lived near by and company was always nice on the trains.. I also got to meet Dave deegans from Dresda along with Trevor Nation ( nortan rotary, IOM) and Nik one of the founders of Read Titan. Thats my name dropping done.... ;D :D
 
Thanks for posting this Leon, good read. I am familular with the 59 club, and the Ace, having lived nearby for a short time back in the early 70s. Took my wife there for a visit this year while on holidays, still looks the same even though the north circular is not as I remember. How many on this board remember the Shadows, even though Sir Cliff should be forgotten. Miss ellie, name dropper, quite the group to rub shoulders with, on a train or not. John
 
kiwi said:
Thanks for posting this Leon, good read. I am familular with the 59 club, and the Ace, having lived nearby for a short time back in the early 70s. Took my wife there for a visit this year while on holidays, still looks the same even though the north circular is not as I remember. How many on this board remember the Shadows, even though Sir Cliff should be forgotten. Miss ellie, name dropper, quite the group to rub shoulders with, on a train or not. John

No prob John.
A few months ago, here in Toronto, there was this thing that happened and a lot of the street bikers here in Toronto were wondering what the "59" was all about. No one except people on this board, really understood the significance of those "colours".

I thougth considering that 59 Club is part of the Rocker/CafeRacer culture, what better place to post a reflective retrospect of the 59 Club origins direct from one of its founding members??!!..

Kinda like in 40yrs or so, some young punk will be posting a Reflective Retrospect on the Origins of the "DoTheTon" club, copied directly from the Pullizer Prize winning Memoirs of the respected author & former Telco Exec TinTin entitled: "The Bad Bad Men & Women Who Inspired it All - 40 years of Doing The Ton & Being Wild Hogs" .. BHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!.... ;D
 
Just some more pics from the 59 club

http://www.the59club.com/public_html/graham/Sites.html

Many pictures appear garbled, but there's good stuff here!
 
oldog said:
Just curious...how many dotheton members are59 members ???
i am, ive been a member since 1988, the club was in hackney in the east end of London, it's now in Plaistow, London, you used to be able to get a room when it was in the big church in hackney, me and my mate's used to ride from Birmingham to London to the club we would all have a room, there isnt a pub in the east end we havent been in, i mean the lot in a weekend, here is a pick of me and my mate dick after popping in the pub in the west end one week end, no fear as there was a 15 foot drop in to the river thames, man i was drunk, ;D, but growing up in the uk being a member of the 59 club was bloody great. trying to bring a bit of that to Bakersfield. being a rocker and doin the ton on british iron, what more can you ask for, ;)
 
Man, that's a great read. I've known about the 59 club for a long time now but have never read the story about it's early beginnings. Being a 'Rocker' and Motorcycle enthusiast for many years, means it's great to find out about this stuff. It's just a shame that the few guys I've 'briefly' met here in Melbourne that have a chapter of the 59 Club are either 'older' guys or they your average 'joe biker'......not really into the 59 concept. It would be good to have other like minded enthusiasts who are into the 'whole' thing, the lifestyle, the look of the bikes, the music, etc. Even though I'm riding a '78 Jap bike, I did actually start out riding a 1954 BSA C11G and, well.....at least my current bike is going for the look of the classic Brit 'Cafe Racer's. ;)

So, suffice to say.....I don't think I'll be joining the Melbourne chapter of the 59 Club. Might have to start my own club perhaps?

ROne
(Australia)
 
Thanks NOEL, now I know where the "59" patch came from on the back of my jacket. I hope that wasn't what costed you 30lbs, haha. I'm not gonna get raked off my bike by a real member if he sees me wearing that I hope?! ;D
 
I read about the Reverand in a book I picked up called "History of the Cafe Racer". It was very educating, knowing the history behind the style. Check it out, if you get a chance, the middle of the book has quite a few pictures with notes about the people in them.

Troy
 
locO leoN said:
I thought this was particularily interesting... ;D

By Rev. Bill Shergold.
Magazine of the Fifty Nine Club, November 1966.

For the next two or three years I used the bike for pottering around my parish, but the thought never entered my head that one day I would start a club for motorcyclists. Most of my time was taken up with the youth club, which had just been launched by the Revd. John Oates. Perhaps I ought to say a word about this club because it answers the question of why the club is called the 59.
Just read the exact same article last weekend @ THE ACE Cafe
jimmy O st catharines Ontario
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The club which we now know as the 59 Club started in 1962 as a section of the already flourishing 59 Club of the Eton Mission. This was the club we started in January 1959 with Cliff Richards as our guest star. We called it the 59 Club because we wanted to get away from the rather stuffy image of the traditional church youth fellowship. It was immensely successful from the start and many well-known recording stars came to visit us. The most fabulous evening of all was the night we were visited by Princess Margaret and her husband, together with Cliff Richard and the Shadows.

By this time the motorcycle disease had really taken hold of me. I traded in my C15 for 1959 Speed Twin and began to enjoy the thrills of a bike. I even bought a crash helmet(police-style with peak) and a leather jacket(three-quarter length, of course). Then one day I read in the daily papers that a special service for motorcyclists had been held in the newly opened cathedral at Guildford. This struck me as odd because cathedrals tend to be rather respectable. But it game me an idea.

If Guildford could do it, why couldn't Hackney Wick? Why couldn't we have a get-together at the Mission for the motorcyclists in north and east London? For the first time in my life I wrote a letter to a paper-to MotorCycle- asking if anyone would be interested in such a service. The editor, Harry Louis, published it and almost at once I got a letter from Bob Matthews, general secretary of the Triumph Owners Club, saying he thought it was a good idea and would like to help me organize the event. He was in the hospital at the time and I went to see him there to talk things over.

I caused a minor crisis at the hospital by riding my bike into a rainwater downpipe and smashing it. Bob sent me along to the North London branch of the Triumph Owners Club which in those days had its headquarters in a Quaker meeting house at Stoke Newington.

I shall always be grateful to the members of the TOMC for the way they welcomed me and backed up my ideas. Up to this moment I had been very much a lone motorcyclist. Now, through the Friday evening meetings at Stoke Newington, I found myself enjoying for the first time the fantastic comradeship of the motorcycle world.

Meanwhile plans were slowly taking shape for our big event which was now fixed for a Sunday in May, 1962. We had roped in the local road safety officer and we sent out dozens of circulars to all the motorcycle clubs in the area. Then something happened which was to have a profound effect on the whole future course of events.

One day, while I was talking about the service with some of the lads from the Triumph Owners Club, somebody said: "Of course the people you really ought to invite to your service are those young hooligans who go blasting along the North Circular Road."
"That's all very well, " I said, "but I don't' know any of them. How can I get in tough with them?"
"If you really want to meet them you should go along to the Ace Cafe."
"Okay," I said, "I will!"


Until know we had thought only of inviting members of highly respectable motorcycle clubs to our service. The other section of the motorcycling fraternity was completely unknown to me. I did recall, however, a magazine article I had read some years before whilst waiting to have my hair cut. It was the sort of article which appears from time to time in the American Press, describing the activities of the Hell's Angels. It was lavishly illustrated with pictures taken at the Ace. It certainly wasn't calculated to inspire confidence in anyone proposing to visit that cafe for the first time.

The more I thought about it the more alarmed I became. The time I chose my trip to the Ace was a Sunday afternoon. Had I known more about the habits of young motorcyclists I certainly would not have chosen that particular time. The Ace is about 13 miles from Hackney Wick and I set out with several posters rolled up on the back of my bike, hoping that I might persuade the proprietors to put one up for me. Unsure of the kind of reception I should get, I wrapped a scarf around my neck covering up my dog collar.

Just past Staple's Corner about a dozen bikes ridden by sinister looking figures in black leathers roared past in the opposite direction. I felt almost sick with fear. By the time I had passed under the bridges at Stonebridge Park, I was in such a panic that I opened the throttle up and fled past the Ace as fast as I could. Then I realized that I was being a coward.

So at the next intersection I turned back. Again panic seized me and I went past. Then I turned back a second time and finally rode into the forecourt. By this time, the Ace was practically deserted. I ordered a cup of tea and sat drinking it, my face crimson with embarrassment. I left for home with out getting rid of a single poster. But I consoled myself with the fact that I had at least penetrated into the lions' den, even if the lions were in fact out on the prowl.

Several weeks elapsed before my next attempt to reach the boys at the Ace. In fact It was the night before the service was due to take place that I finally summoned enough courage to go there again. This time I made no attempt to conceal my collar and I went armed with a bundle of leaflets which said: "This is a personal invitation to YOU to come to church next Sunday for a special service for motorcyclists."

It must have been about eight o'clock on the Saturday evening when once again I entered the forecourt at the Ace. It was packed with bikes. Hundreds of boys were milling around, laughing and talking. "This is it, " I thought, "I shall almost certainly lose my trousers or land up in the canal."

I rode up to the nearest group and went straight to the point. "I want you all to come to church tomorrow." Looking back I am amazed at my own nerve- I, a middle-aged clergyman invading the stronghold of one of the toughest groups of youngsters in the country.

There was no joking, no mickey talking. Instead they came crowding round, bombarding me with questions: "What's it all about? Where is it? How do we get there?" Someone brought me a cup of tea. I never got inside the Ace at all- people kept coming to talk with me outside. All in all it was the most fantastic evening I have ever spent. At midnight I managed to get away to snatch some sleep before making final preparations for the services at three o'clock the next day.....

And what a service it was! Several days before I had issued a kind of press release, hoping that the papers would give us some advance publicity and so ensure we had a congregation. Only one paper mentioned it beforehand, but they turned up in force on the day itself-I suppose there must have been a dearth of murders and international crises that weekend.

In addition, BBC and ITV sent news teams and I think there was a newsreel team there as well. The theme of the service was that we should dedicate our bikes and ourselves to God's service, endeavoring to use the machines in a responsible sort of way. In my address I compared the present-day motorcyclist to the knights of old and suggested that we should try to uphold the same ideals of courage, courtesy and chivalry.

To drive home the idea we had arranged for a number of different bikes to be placed inside the church-symbolizing the offering of our machines to God. It was a strange assortment, ranging from a Tina scooter to a magnificent Manx Norton which had been raced the previous weekend. Looking back I suppose it was a bit of a gimmick to have the bikes in church. I never intended it that way.

People bring cabbages and marrows to church for the Harvest Festival and no one complains. It seemed to me perfectly natural for those who love motor bikes to bring them into God's house. I can't imagine how we got through the service at all. There were photographers and cameramen everywhere. The church looked like a film studio with all the lights and trailing wires. Yet despite all these distractions there was a wonderful atmosphere of devotion and reverence.

Next day the papers were full of what had happened at Hackney Wick. Here are some of the headlines: "The Knight Errants of 1962 - Ton-Up Kids in Church", "Ton Up Bikes Are Blessed", "Pictures of a 100-mph Gang that may Cause a Storm", "Blessings by the Ton", "A Vicar blesses the Ton-Uppers." One paper rang up the Bishop of London at midnight to ask him what he thought about it all!

On Tuesday several papers published cartoons, the most famous of which was by Giles in Daily Express. I wrote and told Giles how much I had liked his picture and to my delight he sent me the original drawing signed by himself. This is one of my most treasured possessions and occupies a place of honor in my study.

I was a bit overwhelmed by all this publicity. But for me it had one great advantage. I couldn't care less about having my pictures in the papers. What did please me was that almost overnight I had made friends with the boys at the Ace. Press cuttings and photographs poured in to the vicarage, so I took them up to the Ace and showed them around. The lads were delighted at receiving some good publicity for a change. In the past any mention of them in the press had been unfavorable.

I soon became a regular visitor at the Ace and got to know some of the lads quite well. One of them even invited me to his home to have lunch with his family. Others began to tell me about their mates in the hospital. At this time, also, I received considerable "fan" mail, some of it complimentary, some of it not so nice. One anonymous letter warned me of the dire consequences that would follow if I continued to associate with these "leather-hearted louts."

From these letters, but above all from the conversations with the boys themselves, I soon began to realize that they were virtually an outcast section of the community. Because of their dress, their noisy bikes and their tendency to move around in gangs, nobody wanted them. Dance halls refused them, bowling alleys told them to go home and change into ordinary clothes. Youth clubs were afraid of them. Even the transport cafe's didn't really welcome their custom.

After all, a motorcyclist consumes on average a cup of tea or Coke every two hours. A lorry driver or a coach tripper will spend five bob on a meal and be on his way within 30 minutes. I was becoming more and more convinced that what they really needed was a new kind of club which would combine the personal and friendly touch of a youth club with the free and easy atmosphere of a transport cafe or coffee bar.

My difficulty was that our premises at the Eton Mission were already being used almost to capacity. And in any case, Hackney Wick is such a difficult place to find in its maze of one way streets that I doubted very much if it would meet our requirements. Eventually I decided on an experiment. It so happened that the 20th anniversary of my ordination was approaching.

59-2.jpg


Instead of having a party for my Parishioners I decided to throw a party for my new friends from the Ace. It was a tremendous success. About 80 turned up, thus proving that the situation of the Eton Mission was no obstacle.

At this point I was fortunate to come in contact with two existing motorcycle clubs, both of which showed real interest in my plans for a new club. I well remember being approached outside the Ace one day by Mick Ingarfield of the Friendly Club, who invited me to HQ at Hammersmith to meet their members. About this time, too, I met Garth Pettitt of the Sunbeam Club. Garth is an astonishing person - he holds some high position in the Civil Service but thinks nothing of arriving at a Mansion House reception on his SS Norton and changing out of his leathers in the gents.

There two clubs were tremendous and I can never adequately repay their kindness in supporting me in these early days. Eventually we decided to make use of Saturday nights - the only time when the halls were not being used - And to launch the new club in October, 1962. As a matter of fact it was never intended that it should be a club at all - as witness the affectionate title of the Vicar's Caff which it was soon given.

The question of finding a suitable personality of the motorcycling world to open the club was solved during one of my weekly visits to the Ace. I was sitting at a table drinking tea and showing photographs to a crowd of the lads when I noticed at the next table a gentleman of more than ample proportions. How he managed to fit himself into one of those funny swivel seats I have never discovered. He was obviously bursting with curiosity and in the end could contain himself no long. He introduced himself as "Harold Harvey" and asked if he might see the photographs.

It appeared that he was a photographer and often went to motorcycle race meetings to take action pictures. He said that he might be able to find us a suitable guest. As a result of this chance meeting we not only secured the services of Alf Hagon on the opening night but the Club acquired its first adult helper. I would like to pay tribute to all that Bob Harvey has done for the club since its inception.

In order to publicize our opening night as widely as possible we prepared some handbills which I took around to places like the Busy Bee, the Dug-Out, Woodlands, Johnsons and of course, the Ace. I never found it easy visiting a cafe for the first time but in the case of the Busy Bee I was lucky. A German TV company was making a documentary film about British youth and asked me to put them in touch with some young motorcyclists. Off I hurried to the Bee to find motorcyclists to take part in the filming.

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I needed no further introduction at the Bee. We spent hours making the film and the lads had a wonderful time. I shall never forget riding three-abreast down the Watford By-Pass at one o'clock in the morning with a TV camera filming from the back of a van and enormous arc lights blazing in our eyes.

We have to thank the Daily Mirror for another bit of useful publicity at this time. Among my many letters was one from a keen motorcyclist in America. He enclosed a type-written prayer which was widely used by members of his club. I trimmed it down and had it printed on cards, small enough to carry in a wallet. The problem was to distribute it. I have always shrunk away from using my friendship with the boys in the cafes to thrust religion at them.

So I hesitated to hand out the prayer cards myself. Instead I sent one to the Daily Mirror who were kind enough to give it quite a splash. I received applications from all over the country. The most amusing was from an MoT examiner who asked for 50 copies, explaining that he proposed to give one to every motorcyclist who came to him for his driving test.

The article in the Mirror was also occasion of another cartoon at my expense. This time I was provided with a wife - but not a very attractive one. She piloted a sidecar outfit while I perched precariously in a gothic-looking pulpit balanced on the chair. I was pictured with a megaphone, calling out to the passing motorcyclists. The caption read: "I'll say one thing for the vicar - he's determined to get through to us."

Well, the message certainly got through. At our opening that October evening we had an attendance of about 100. They were the first of thousands; and they were in at the humble beginning of what was soon to become the largest motorcycle club the world has ever known.
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MORE HISTORY ON THE 59 Club here:
http://dotheton.com/index.php?topic=2750.0
 
if you havent seen this (which im sure you have) its entertaining.

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I lived in East London before I moved out here, the 59 club was about 200 yards from my home and I used to pass it on my way to work, sadly the majority of people living in the area are ignorant of the 59 clubs historical importance. Incidentally the 59 club is recognised as the largest motorcycle club in the world.
 
Frog said:
sadly the majority of people living in the area are ignorant of the 59 clubs historical importance.

The 59 Club is not really historically important at all, in fact it is has had a negative influence on the real history of sporting motorcyclists in the U.K. by overshadowing what happened previous to it and what was going on in the background while it was parading in the press.

A stated in the article by Reverend Shergold the "59" club was not really formed until 1962, at which point there had already been Cafe Racers running around for THREE decades. The 59 Club and Reverend Shergold were actually what took the image and lore of the Cafe Racer and used it to make a publicity splash for themselves.

So the Johnny-come-lately 59 Club and Shergold actually was signaling the end of an era, the transforming of a genuine group of fringe outcasts into a popular social and fashion trend. 1962 was also when the British motorcycle industry died. The evil conglomerate and empire AMC shut down the old Norton works on Bracebridge Street and laid off all the employees. They kept the name and some of the tooling and used them to make motorcycles at their main factory in another city, but themselves went bankrupt in a few more years. In the meantime AMC axed the production of the famous Norton and Matchless racing bikes, BSA axed the production of the Goldstar, a motorcycle that was an icon amongst Cafe Racers of the classic era, and also BSA and Triumph both axed their pre-unit construction motorcycles for newer designs. Honda was poised to put the final nail in the coffin of the British industry by 1962 with wildly increasing sales of it's "consumer goods".

The Cafe Boutique businesses that still exist today did not arrive until very late in the game, until the mid-1960s, and they further contributed to the decline of the integrity of the Cafe Scene. Dunstall, Ticle, Ian Kennedy etc. turned the Cafe Bike into a ready-made, bolt-on image, where before the bikes were either genuine production racers or built up with a combination of genuine cast-off racing bikes and bits or what creative individuals could come up with on their own.

Before 1962 British motorcycles were labor-intensive works of art built up in small numbers by craftsmen. The Vincents, Goldstars, Norton featherbeds, Triumph pre-unit, Velocettes etc. were special rolling works of art. The riders of these limited-production machines were also rare individuals dedicated to their machines and riding first, style and fashion being a footnote.

All this changed in 1962 with the emergence of the 59 Club signaling the sanitizing of the Cafe Racer into a socially acceptable marketing commodity and fashion movement, and the death of the British motorcycle industry of old and it's replacement with Market and Corporate-controlled manufacture of consumer goods with profit alone the main soul-less target.
 
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