 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. (May 2018) |
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| Abbreviation | The 9 |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1959 |
| Founder | John Oates |
| Founded at | London, England |
| Type | Charity |
| Purpose | To help young motorcyclists [1] |
Region | Worldwide |
Membership | 30,000 (600 annual renewals) |
Key people | Reverend Bill Shergold Reverend Graham Hullett |
| Website | www |
The 59 Club, also written as The Fifty Nine Club and known as 'the 9', is a British motorcycle club with members distributed internationally.
The 59 Club started as a Church of England-based youth club founded at St Mary of Eton church in Hackney Wick by Reverend John Oates,[2] in the East End of London, then an underprivileged area suffering post-war deprivations. Unlike most church youth clubs at the time, the 59 Club allowed entry to all young people from the local community, whether they attended church or not. The motorcycle section was established in 1962 and became known in the mid-1960s for its adoption of the British motorcycling subculture known as 'Rockers', who were at that time seen as "folk devils" at the centre of a moral panic in society due to their clashes with scooter-riding mods (see Mods and Rockers).[3][4] Its badge has taken on an iconic value for them.[5] The club enjoyed fame into the early 1980s as the top hang-out spot for London Rockers and other motorcyclists, seen as creating a positive archetype for its young members to follow.
- ^ "Charity overview". charitycommission.gov.uk.
- ^ ‘The 59 Club’. ACE Cafe website. Online resource, accessed 4 April 2019
- ^ Rockers and bikers from the 1960s hold reunion in Hackney church East London Lines May 11, 2018
- ^ Folk devils and moral panics : the creation of the Mods and Rockers by Stanley Cohen. Routledge, London
- ^ Motor Cycle, 7 January 1965, p. 21 Emergency Vicar 59 by Mike Evans. "In the two short years since we published the news of the formation of the 59 Club motor-cycle section, Father Bill has won the hearts—and the respect—of thousands of motorcyclists from all over the country". Accessed and added 7 June 2014