| from the heydays of The Rockers and 59 Club held by Father Graham Hullet - the heart and soul of The 59 Club. Above and beyond all, Graham Hullett was a biker and earned his respect from the young rockers through giving it and walking his talk. Graham ran The 59 Club on a daily basis from 1962 to 1970 looking after the Rockers at the club nights, and was responsible for all the specialist sections such as sub-aqua and football team. He went with the lads on runs to the notorious mid-winter Elephant Rally in Germany 6 times, the Dragon Rally in Wales and summertime Isle of Man TT Races - all of which are documented here. The opinions and recollections within are commonly held by many of the original Rockers who were regulars to The 59 Club and are independently reported here in all earnestness. They do not reflect the " official " version of The 59 Club's history, neither Graham's nor any of the largely unattributed photographers. More below ...
When Graham left, on a matter of principle, The Club pretty much died. The Rock'n'Roll music that was so key to Rocker lifestyle stopped, The Lads left, without his encouragement The Sections dried up and The 59 Club became the shell of what it once was - as it is now. It is remarkable to notice, when you look at the pictures now, that where ever Graham was - and you can see he was hands on at all times - there seemed to smiles, laughs and hugs. The heart and soul had been taken out of it. He was a man of the people that achieved what he set out to do; to give a good example to the tearaways, by example and not words, to share a sense of fraternal love and create an atmosphere in which they could lead, express themselves, take responsibilities, learn through that and grow. The " 9 ", as it was known, did a lot to counter the media's desire to sell their publications on the basis of the demonisation of the motorcyclist. It is worth remembering just how " anti " the establishment, even the motorcycling establishment, was to the young Rockers. Graham got into motorcyles whilst serving in the British Army in Germany where luck had it his regiment was garrisoned in a large country house with an obscene amount of decent automative power from motorbikes to trucks. He took to riding service Matchlesses and continued to do so on his return to civvy street, riding what where then the superbikes of the day, BSA 650s and Norton 750s. Asked what is was he had learnt from it all and what contributed the most to the success of The 59 Club, at 70 odd still sitting in his Levis and leather waistcoat, Graham replied " Have no rules. If you are going to run a club, don't have any rules. Those clubs that did always collapsed soonest". A true free spirit ... Equally, Graham never tried to stuff religion down anyone's throats. That was not what he was about. You see him in the " Aviakit " Lewis Leathers he still owns today, always in thick of things, sharing in the good times, and always on his bike. After the Army, he trained as a teacher, later being ordaned as a
priest, and was called in 1962 to help run Reverend John Oates's 59 Club by Bill
Shergold. Above are links to index pages of thumbnails and individual thumbnail images that link to full sized images. You have choice over how you wish to navigate through the gallery. Either pick a page and go see what it on it, or click on a thumbnail to enlarge it and follow the chain from there. Start at the first one and work your way through. Each full-sized image links to the next and previous full-sized image and so you can navigate your way through them without having to return to the index pages. Please excuse the " work in progress " nature of this gallery. It will get better as it grows! To the Father Graham Hullett Tribute page, click here |
