The History of The 59 Club®
1972 to the present
A Personal view by Dick Bennett
Forward
Hi to all you 59ers both young and old, my name is Dick Bennett and some of you may know me and others not. I have been a member of The 59 Club since 1969 and involved in helping to run the club since the early 70’s.
I have been at the club for some of the great rock and roll dances in the late 60’s where I used to turn up on my BSA 650 Super Rocket and race to Chelsea Bridge! I am still involved now, when most people have modern superbikes and some also have classic bikes for those special occasions, so feel able to put my personal view of how the club has evolved over the years in this potted history.
The Club History is well documented in regard to the 60’s when Father Bill Shergold fired things up but little has been written down about the club from the 70’s to the present day. This is all the more incredible when you realise that it has done many things, has moved to new locations and has added another 12,000 members. And I am proud that it is true to say I still sit down on club nights with the same mates I was drinking coffee with 35 years ago. Not just one or two either but many of the guys and girls who still attend the club who were there in the 60’s and 70’s and have never stopped coming down, with all the newer members eager to listen to some of the old war stories from these guys. We are the people that kept the club open when it was not fashionable and when people knock the club (rare but it does happen) remember without people like us the 59 Club would be but a distant memory.
59 Club at Yorkton Street, Hackney 1974-93
Some of the traditional things from Paddington disappeared at this time. The old caravan in the bike park that acted as the office for the 59 Club Marshall’s was left behind. And with a greatly reduced bike park at the new Club HQ in Hackney there was no longer any real need for Marshall’s and no new ones were appointed. When we were at Paddington the Marshall’s did a great job of making sure the bike park ran smoothly and this was mainly due to the efficiency of Ray Wallis who was such a regular and well known figure that he almost appeared as part of the fixtures and fittings on the annual stocktaking sheets. Ray was ably assisted by Paul Bishop and his friend Derek as well as many others.
They (the developers) decided to knock down Paddington so we had to move to the new clubhouse in Hackney. Both Bill Shergold and Graham Hullett had worked hard on getting the funds for the new club. One fund raising scheme was a new metal lapel badge showing a white arrow on a blue background which was symbolic of the move from W2 to E2 (West London to East London). These were sold to members for £1 each and the money raised helped towards the moving costs. The badges were a great success and we ordered a few of them. In fact we ordered so many badges, by mistake, that we are still selling them now!
The building in Hackney was in an awful state, had not been used for years and required a complete refurbishment. Luckily we had lots of members who were tradesmen such as builders, plumbers, electricians and carpenters, and we all spent many months almost every night and weekend working on the club. It was a little sad that many of the diehard rocker regular members of Paddington did not make the move with us but we had a nucleus of old members and were joined by many of the newer members that had joined Paddington just before the move that gave Hackney the start it needed. Mike Cook of course was by this time heading up the club as Father Graham had decided to leave for personal reasons. I remember we presented Father Graham with a state-of-the-art, full face Bell Helmet ( a rarity in those days) as a farewell gift in recognition of all the work he had done for the Club. We were sad to see him go, as he, like John Oates, Bill Shergold and Mike Cook, ‘Cooky’ or ‘Cowboy’ as he was fondly known, are part of the history of the 59.
Father Bill remained Chairman albeit from a distance as he had moved to Dover and started the 69 Motorcycle Club. The 59 Club had really changed with the move as the Rocker era in all its glory had died away and we set about building on a different motorcycling scene. The club as always was church based and was devoted to helping young people in motorcycling. We kept a breakdown service running for all the members and Mike spent many happy hours running members here, there and everywhere. The 59 Club owned its own van purely for the use of members and this was replaced from time to time as the older one wore out.
It must be remembered that in those days organisations like the AA and the RAC did not offer a service to motorcyclists who were left pretty much to themselves. Nowadays the AA, the RAC, Green Flag, SOS Recovery and others offer a great, national service and the Club no longer needs its own vehicle.
The club went from strength to strength and we built the membership back up to a point where the club was opening 4 nights a week and buzzing. This was all done with Mike as the only full time, paid helper with the rest being done by the club leaders on a voluntary basis. We had some great rock and roll dances and even held film shows in the hall. The run to Chelsea Bridge had been replaced by a run to Whipps Cross in north London where the ‘Burgers were better. Many members of the ‘Chelsea Bridge Gang’ might not agree here but at least the steak and kidney pies at ‘The Bridge’ were better than Whipps Cross.
We had overnight accommodation at the Hackney Club as we had back in the old vicarage and so could put up visiting members. The Yorkton Street club had a lot of facilities for members including a ‘quiet’ reading room, TV lounge, weight training room, full-sized and half-sized snooker tables, jukebox, pintables, table-tennis and a workshop where people including me worked till the early hours. And of course a hot and cold food snackbar.
Mike took the van over to the Isle of Man TT every year for breakdown recovery for member’s ‘bikes and for the annual 59 Club TT BBQ. The BBQ is another tradition we still keep going to this day, although now minus the van.
The 70’s and 80’s were the era of coloured leathers, flares and disco. The hardcore of us still attended rock and roll events but we all had to evolve to keep the club going, so tried to organise events that would appeal to the younger ‘bikers of the day. The bond that held all this together was a common interest in ‘bikes, so as always, it did not matter what creed or background you came from. We were happy that as in the original aims of the club ALL ‘bikers had a place to go and just chill out with no dress codes and very few rules.
The Bombshell
Up until the early 90’s the club had been funded by council grants so it meant all costs such as insurance, heating, lighting, maintenance and including Mike’s pay had been financed by Hackney.
Two things were about to happen to the club that almost shut us down in the early 90’s
Firstly all grants were withdrawn to the majority of organizations like ourselves and secondly our lease was about to expire on the Yorkton Street premises.
The result of this was that we could no longer pay Mike, so like some other major contributors to the club in the past, sadly we had to see him go. Mike still sits on the Council of Management to this day and he currently still attends club events.
The lack of cash to keep the club going was now becoming critical as the current premises cost a huge amount to insure and heat and on just these two items of expenditure, the incomings were falling short of out goings by several hundred pounds a week, and we were in serious financial difficulties. This, tied to the fact that our lease was about to expire, made us act quickly.
The then Council of Management, which were basically the Board of Directors of the 59 Club had decided that the club had really had its day and with all the problems looming should consider winding up. However, they had reckoned without the hard-core 59ers. We had a meeting amongst ourselves following which the other leaders and members sent Gary and I to speak to Father Bill and convince him that we would and could carry on even if some changes would have to be made.
We had been lucky enough to have had Yorkton Street for a peppercorn rent for 20 years. In return we stopped the church, which was attached to the Club building, from being vandalised and kept the building in good order. Unfortunately whoever had originally signed the lease on behalf of the club had agreed on vacating the premises leaving it in its original condition although luckily they did not invoke this. Due to the costs of running this huge building though, even if the lease had been extended we could not have stayed.
The structure of the Council of Management then changed to include an increased number of club leaders.
The Search
The club leaders now started looking for new premises. We looked at many old church buildings which were either unsuitable or derelict and became despondent as it was looking more and more as if we would have to give up. Then out of the blue one of our long-standing members, Micky Hammond, mentioned that his mum was church warden at the Memorial Baptist church in Plaistow and said they may have somewhere suitable.
Well, as a church based club I suppose it is ok to get the occasional miracle and this was it, the top floor of the Church was to be our new home. Nothing would ever match Hackney but with the more reasonable rent we had to pay for this new premises, the club could survive well into the foreseeable future.
59 Plaistow through the Nineties and beyond
The 59 Club at Plaistow was, and still is, manned entirely by unpaid volunteers, a bit of a change from the old days, when one way or another it formed part of the day jobs of some of the leaders and committee people.
This was now a case of survive (also change) or cease to be. A lot of the old school members of the 59 ceased to be around even more so than after the move from Paddington to Hackney and apart from the hard-core of people who ran the club such as myself, Gary, Sandra, Pete, Geoff and some others most of the membership were new to the club.
We changed the way the club worked and started to attend the places where ‘bikers liked to go. We became regulars at the BMF rally in Peterborough, the Hop Farm in Kent and Beaulieu as well other events with a sort of mobile Road Show, where we supplied tea and coffee (not to mention Sandra’s famous bread pudding) to all our members from our new Hospitality Tent. This tent also gives members and guests somewhere to chill out and leave their belongings. This took the club out to people who would not know us and we gained many members both from home and abroad. Although we were Rockers at heart and attended the Rockers Reunion events at Reading. the people who went were older guys and whilst it was great to see all of our mates, the club could not at that time survive on nostalgia ( although thank goodness, for some recent years there has been a massive revival in the Rockers movement).
The club also became more family orientated and has seen whole families and generations grow up with the club with member’s sons and daughters becoming our new young members. Yvonne (who used to help at the club and also look after the club accounts for many years) and I were married by Father Bill. Later, our daughter Harriet was Christened by him, and she now has her own bike and attends the club on a regular basis!
It is interesting to note that although the 59 Club was almost revered by the Rockers at places like the Rockers Reunion at Battersea, sadly we never saw them attend the Plaistow premises.
The membership now went from strength to strength and with the Reverend Scott Anderson on board as our new Chairman our link to the church remained as strong as always. Father Bill became our President, Mike Cook and Sean Hayes are still on the Council of Management and so we never forget our roots.
We still hold Rock and Roll dances at the club to this day with live music and disco with a special Christmas Tinsel & Turkey buffet/dance around February each year which is always well attended.
Overseas
The overseas membership has just grown over the years and we have branches in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, USA, Australia and Japan. And individual members in many other places around the Globe. I have many friends amongst them and every one is a member of the One and Only Original 59 Club in Plaistow, pulling together the Spirit of the Rockers and helping to keep a club going that you can pop into after not attending for some years and still feel welcome and a part of straight away.
Highs and lows
The club has gone through its fair share of highs and lows here. A few years back we had an electrical fire that threatened to shut all of the Plaistow premises. The stories of the people that have kept the club running show the commitment to the club and would fill a book on their own.
Roll of Honour
The 59 Club People who have kept things going for many years
Pete Ellis
Thanks to Pete Ellis who joined in the mid 60’s on his Triumph and also for most of that time has attended and helped to run the club (his picture is featured elsewhere on this site showing him when he was a tad younger). He gave up many weeks of his time to completely rewire the 59 Club at Plaistow and the Swift Centre to enable the scouts and theatre groups to continue using this resource. I remember Pete grinding the centre stand away on his Trident on the IOM, also forcing some chap almost off the road to offer him a babies dummy as an award for his poor driving (all of course in his younger days! ). This is the same guy who opens the club on time twice a week and without his help we would have difficulty surviving. I have known Pete for around 35 yrs and he probably knows as much about the club as anyone, he is one of the original Rockers.
Gary and Sandra
Like Pete, Gary and Sandra have been coming to the club since the 60’s and again have been helping to run it for all that time. Gary has given up many months of his time helping to maintain both Hackney and Plaistow using his skills as a master builder. On top of all this Gary is our ambassador and always welcomes new members when they arrive. In fact they are lucky if they can get away but most people who have visited the 59 always remember him and his warm welcomes. This again is the same guy I used to race from the 59 at Paddington to Chelsea Bridge when he had a much coveted Norton factory production racer with the original document from Norton to show it would do 130 mph, although Park Lane was probably not the best place to check its performance!
Sandra has looked after our memberships for several years now and can always be seen toiling away on club nights sending off memberships and regalia to the 4 corners of the globe. She also does the magazine on occasions and anyone who sees our road show will meet her. She is the organiser of our road shows and of course the Tinsel and Turkey party after Xmas. She has the (difficult and demanding) job of organising Gary who is amongst other things our road show driver. These two have given endless hours to running the club and it would be a poorer place without them. They are both on the Council of Management.
Derrick Rowe
Del looks after the club finances and ensures that our accounts are correct and available for Companies House which as a registered charity we are required to do. Every penny we get from you is accounted for. This is why we worry when people use the 59 Club name without consulting us or getting permission as a guise for raising funds no matter how worthy a cause they may be for. Del is another long standing helper at the 59 who has been around for years.
John Ryan (The Webmaster)
John is also a mid 60s member who with a few breaks has been coming down the club since then. He has been an invaluable asset with formulation and running of the website and also helps out at events when need be. John has been very busy with his new career as a college lecturer where he maintains his main love in life by teaching motorcycle engineering but still finds time to help us.
George and Chandra
George has been bringing us into the 21st Century by loading up all of the membership details onto computer and Chandra has spent many hours helping him. She also helps out with the memberships. These guys have even started to load on all of the 29,000 original membership forms we have on manual records! This all makes the mail shots etc. much easier.
Geoff Hurley
Geoff is always around to open when Pete is away on one of his long tours and has been coming to the club for years. A regular attendee who when needed is there to give a hand, Geoff is also a regular at High Beech where ‘bikers meet at the weekend.
Derek Hooper
Derek introduced me to the club I first went with him when I was just 15 on the back of his bike. He also took me down to Brighton in the sixties to meet our friends the Mods. He has helped the club with many things over the years such as providing a large generator when the wiring burnt out enabling us to open up the club whilst Pete was working. Derek is a 59er through and through and is always ready to defend the club against its detractors.
Brian Hepburn
Brian is our long suffering accountant who has been around as long as Father Bill
and still sits on the Council of Management, he keeps us on the straight and narrow.
Sandra Rowe
Sandra has not been around too much lately due to other commitments but for many years until recently was a great help to the club and is sorely missed.
Sean Hayes and Terry Batt
Sean has supplied the Disco and Terry the live music for as long as I can remember and they do it for the love of the club. Our events would be nowhere near as good without these guys and we really appreciate the way they have supported us for many years.
There have been many more people I have not mentioned who keep the club going and thanks to them for all their help.
The Ace Café and Rockers Reunion
The Ace Café
Over the years we have formed a strong relationship with Mark and Linda Wilsmore at the Ace and have always been happy to support the Ace. In return they have always supported us. It is just this sort of Camaraderie that keeps the spirit of both the 59 and the Ace going. It is very easy to criticise from the outside but it’s the hard work of a few that keeps this all alive. We look forward to strengthening our ongoing friendship with the Ace further.
Rockers Reunion
The same goes for the help that the Rockers Reunion have given us over the years and long may we continue with our good relationship.
Most thanks go to all our members both old and new, near and far, for your loyal support to the 59 Club and for keeping it alive.