59 Club
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| Founded | 1959 |
|---|---|
| Location | London, UK |
| Founder | John Oates |
| Key people | Reverend Bill Shergold Reverend Graham Hullett |
| Type | Charity |
| Region | Worldwide |
| Membership | 30,000 (600 annual renewals) |
| Website | www |
| Abbreviation | The 9 |
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 in Hackney Wick on 2 April 1959, in the East End of London, then an underprivileged area suffering post-war deprivations.
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 adoption by the British motorcycling subculture known as 'rockers', initially in the London area during the mid-1960s, its badge taking on an iconic value.
It was started by Curate John Oates, who went on to become the Canon of St. Brides in Fleet Street. Father William Shergold started the motorcycle section in 1962 after a visit to the Ace Cafe and was later run by Graham Hullet and Mike Cook. 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.
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