User:The 59 Club
The 59 Club, also written as The Fifty Nine Club and known as 'the 9', is a British motorcycle club with members distributed internationally started as a Church of England-based youth club founded in Hackney Wick on 2 April 1959.
In 1962 a motorcycle section was established, meeting once a week on Saturday evenings at Eton Mission where there was ample parking and a large hall with table tennis, billiards, a juke box and a coffee bar. Motor Cycle staff writer Mike Evans in 1963 reported: "Ably managed by the Rev. Bill Shergold, the club is affectionately known by London riders as 'The Vic's Caff'!".
It was notable for its connection to the British motorcycling subculture known as 'Rockers', who were born born from the Ton Up Boys of the late 1950's. Initially pulling riders in the London area during the mid-1960s, its badge took on an iconic value nationally.[5]
History
Father Bill Shergold and Father Graham Hullet, leaders of the 59 Club The youth club was started by Curate John Oates, who went on to become the Canon of St. Brides in Fleet Street. Yet it was famously Father William Shergold who started the motorcycle section in 1962 after a historic biker culture folk tale visit to the Ace Cafe, to spread the word of an all welcoming location for young motorcyclists. The club became well known, and attracted luminaries such as Sir Cliff Richard, Dame Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon to its opening night, and later many motorcycling sportsmen and musicians. Its trustees included Bishop Trevor Huddleston, the famous anti-apartheid campaigner. For British motorcyclists, it was famous for being one of the first places in the UK to preview the previously banned biker movie The Wild One, in 1968.[6]
From 1962 to the early 1980s, the club enjoyed fame as the top hang-out spot for London rockers and motorcyclists, and overall it created a positive archetype for the young members to follow, in the bad boys made good vein. At the time, some rockers were considered folk devils, due to their clashes with scooter-riding mods (see Mods and Rockers).
In May 1964 the club moved from Hackney Wick to a church property at Paddington Green when Rev. Shergold moved to a new parish of St Mary on Paddington Green Church St Mary's in Paddington in the West End of London.
In March 1965, AP news agency quoted the membership as "nearly 7,000, from almost every corner of Britain".[9] The club celebrated its third birthday at a function held at their two-storey church hall on 23 October, with a large iced cake weighing 84 lb (38 kg) created by Arthur Keen and decorated by 'Jiminy' as a facsimile of Brands Hatch motor racing circuit. The hall was packed with 1,200 members and friends attended with some sleeping overnight and near to 1,000 motorcycles parked outside. At that time, Motor Cycle magazine quoted the membership at 10,000, further confirming the previous year's membership with the comment: "That's well over 250 new members a month, if you care to work it out!". The celebrations were concluded the next day, Sunday, when Rev. Shergold held a service at his nearby church.[11]
The January 1966 issue of Motorcycle Mechanics magazine carried a letter submitted previously by a Charles Howe, on behalf of the 59 Club, successfully applying for a free motorcycle, a vintage 1939 Royal Enfield v-twin donated by Assistant Editor Ian Speller, when the membership was quoted at 9,500.[12]
The venue for the next function, the club's fourth birthday, was Alexandra Palace, allowing for 3,000 attendees on 10 December. The membership in September 1966 was quoted at 13,000, with a stand at the Earls Court motorcycle show to recruit further new members.[13]
During its 1960s heyday, the club may have been the largest motorcycle club in the world, with over 20,000 members, who had to sign up in person. Members came from all over the UK, and even Europe. The 59 Club attracted both male and female members and, according to Father Bill Shergold its success was based on its almost entire lack of rules.[14] Besides motorcycles and 1950s rock and roll, the club involved activities such as football and sub-aqua diving—which gave the youths, mainly from underprivileged backgrounds, an outlet for their energy. Each year, the club organised ride-outs to famous winter motorcycle rallies such as the Dragon Rally in Wales, the Elephant Rally at the Nürburgring in Germany, and to the Isle of Man TT races. The 59 Club Barbeque still occurs every year at TT in Laxey, on the Isle of Man coast.
From 1969 the club was run by Mike Cook ('69 -'92) & Graham Hullet ('69 - '72) in a period when Japanese motorcycles outnumbered the old British irons, but the legend of the 59 Club carried on with a handful of original members who were determined to keep the club alive as people moved away from motorcycles & the rocker fashion. The rocker subculture would not see a resurgence for almost a decade & with a new breed on rider looking for nostalgia which through the 1980s and was very popular at its headquarters in Hackney Yorkton St.
In the late 1980s, growing from a Rockers revival, a number of enthusiasts started a 'Classic Section' within the club, a sub-group of members dedicated to upholding the classic 1960s rockers subculture (the style, music, and motorcycles), this has recently taken on a new lease of life via Facebook & social media.
Through the dedication of it's leaders over the past decades, it has managed to protect it's roots (with rock and roll still on the Jukebox today at the club) & to adapt to modern influences & pressures on it's existence as one of the oldest continual motorcycle club in the UK.
The 59 logo badge & it's name still acts as a representation of an interest in motorcyling & of British sub culture, plus it has never stopped attracting a mixed motorcycling membership & being used by many brands, articles, books & films as a reference to the rebellious nature of it's early days.
Leaders
Father Bill Shergold - 1962 - 2009 died aged 89 in Wells, Somerset in May 2009
Father Hullett - 1969 - 1972 - died in a Lincoln hospital in 2012
Mike Cook - 1969 - 1992
Current leaders have been on the board since the 1970's & took over management in 1992
Present day
In 1993 The 59 Club moved from Yorkton Street in Hackney to Plaistow, up until that time all the club heads were paid either by the church or the GLC but since then the same group of members they have managed the club on a voluntary basis as they have since the early 1970's
The club maintains strong links with the revived Ace Cafe as part of it's history & legacy.
It has international sections in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Japan & the USA - Although with a simple proviso that all sections have up to date membership via the London club & take their ethos from the traditional history where all motorcyclists are welcome without a probationary period to join.
In 2017, the official 59 magazine from May 1965, the The Link, was revived as a traditional reference to the world of the club both past
& present.
The 59 Club West London 2018 In June 2018, the 59 Club will be opening a west London branch on the last Thursday of the month at All Saints Church in | Hanworth with the help of avid motorcyclist the Reverend Sergiy Diduk to create a hub for local riders. This church is significant to the history of the club as it was originally built by Father Shergold as it's first vicar, and prior to his move east was going to be the site for the first club.
This new location will be part of the forthcoming 60th celebration ride being planned by The 59 Club in 2019.