Memorabilia

Those who know me well are aware that, beyond being a passionate archivist devoted to the world of motorcycle touring, I am also an incurable collector of memorabilia — more specifically, badges and embroidered patches connected to motorcycle rallies, road racing events, and British motorcycle clubs from the 1950s through to 1985.

The people behind the collection

Over the years, I have had the privilege of assembling a collection of more than 2,000 pieces, all acquired in Great Britain. Such an achievement would never have been possible without the invaluable help, generosity, and friendship of many English enthusiasts whom I am proud to count among my closest friends.

Among them was my dear friend Heather MacGregor. During her lifetime, we regularly carried out transactions together, trading and exchanging duplicate pieces from our respective collections.

Her tragic passing sadly brought an end to those wonderfully enjoyable exchanges, always filled with enthusiasm, and genuine camaraderie.

Heather MacGregor — a dear friend whose passion, generosity, and camaraderie greatly enriched this collection.

Ton-Up memories & cult Collectibles

Another friend who has played a tremendous role in helping me track down missing treasures for my collection is David Spelling. David was also acquainted with Heather MacGregor, as the two of them frequently bought and sold badges on eBay UK. Over the years, what began as a simple connection born through our mutual passion for badges gradually evolved into a loyal and enduring friendship.

David’s own passion focuses primarily on memorabilia connected to British motorcycle clubs of the 1960s, particularly items produced by the legendary 59 Club and Birmingham’s Double Zero Club. And, as a devoted fan of the cult classic film The Rocky Horror Picture Show, he also makes a point of acquiring every badge visible on the leather jacket worn by Frank-N-Furter, one of the film’s iconic main characters.

The holy grails of the 59 Club

As far as memorabilia connected to the legendary 59 Club is concerned, the easiest original period piece to find among everything ever produced by the club is undoubtedly the small black-and-silver club badge. This emblem was already being proudly worn by members of the newly founded club as early as the late 1950s, following its creation in 1959 by Reverend John Oates at St Mary of Eton Church in London’s East End.

Interestingly, during the club’s early years, the two sections coexisted side by side for nearly two years: the motorcycle section gathered on Saturday evenings, while the other group — composed mainly of young scooter riders — met every Wednesday night.

Now, if you were to ask me which piece of memorabilia produced by the legendary 59 Club is the most difficult for a collector to find, I would, without hesitation, say that at least four items immediately come to mind.

At the very top of that list are the black-and-white triangular pennants originally intended for scooter owners, who could mount them on the long flexible aerials attached to their machines.

Later on, some young riders from the motorcycle section also began purchasing them, either to display on their bikes — more specifically on crash bars, as Father Bill famously did on his own machine — or, even more stylishly, on the front of a sidecar.

As a curious footnote, many of these pennants were unfortunately cut up over the years and transformed into unique and fashionable sleeve patches.

Today, finding one of these original pennants is nothing short of a miracle. For more than twenty-five years, I have checked eBay UK several times a day, every single day, searching for pieces that might enrich my collection.

In all that time, I have seen only one of these pennants come up for sale — and unsurprisingly, it sold for an extraordinarily high price for what was, after all, merely an old triangular piece of fabric measuring 20.5 cm long by 12.5 cm wide.

Although it has no connection whatsoever with motorcycling itself — only with the legendary 59 Club — the cloth badge of the club’s diving section has also become something of a Holy Grail among collectors who dream of owning one.

To this day, there is no truly high-quality photograph available online showing the badge in all its details. And unsurprisingly, in all the years I have spent searching, I have never once seen a single example offered for sale on eBay UK.

The two other pieces that any serious collector longs to add to their collection are the two badges produced for the club’s sidecar section.

The first is a triangular metal badge: a beautifully enamelled piece in deep blue, framed by a silver metallic border. At its centre appears the famous number “59”, with the initials “SS” beneath it, standing for “Sidecar Section”.

The second is the cloth badge of the section, made of canvas fabric. Rectangular in shape with serrated edges, it features the very same emblem as the metal badge at its centre.

In more than twenty-five years of relentlessly searching eBay UK, I have seen the metal sidecar section badge appear for sale once — and only once.

I would have regretted it for the rest of my life had I not acquired it. It cost me a small fortune, but to me its sentimental value is beyond price; after all, we only live once. Some opportunities never come twice.

As for the canvas cloth badge of the sidecar section, not a single example has appeared for sale on eBay UK in the past twenty-five years. Had one ever surfaced, regardless of the asking price, some collector somewhere would undoubtedly have acquired it immediately.

In fact, we do not even possess a truly decent-quality photograph of this exceptionally rare piece. The only known image comes from a rather poor photograph showing part of a display case inside the Fifty Nine Club Badges Museum.

As I now find myself in the final stretch of my life, I neither have the desire nor the luxury of waiting another twenty-five years in the faint hope that one might eventually surface on eBay UK. A few months ago, I therefore made the decision to bring the long-lost sidecar section cloth badge back to life.

For many years, I have produced metal badges, plaques, cloth patches, and belt buckles for old friends, both in France and in England, creating pieces for their clubs and rallies. This new project was therefore born purely out of personal passion: to recreate, in only a very limited number of examples, a reproduction as faithful as possible to the original.

The original dimensions, colours, and emblem would all be meticulously respected. The only unavoidable difference is that the specific canvas fabric once used for authentic 59 Club cloth badges is no longer available today, and would therefore have to be replaced with the more traditional embroidery fabric used nowadays.

Left: the original 1960s piece. Right: the long-lost badge, finally rediscovered.

After informing my good friend David Spelling about the project, we decided that the production run would be strictly limited to only forty examples.

I would keep ten of them, both for my personal collection and for a few close friends, while the remaining thirty would go to David.

David is close to one of the executive members of the legendary 59 Club and, for several years now, has made regular donations to the club each year.

The idea was therefore to offer these faithful reproductions of the sidecar section cloth badge for sale on eBay UK at a very reasonable price. Each badge sold would help recover the costs of this very limited production run, while any profits generated would ultimately be donated back to the 59 Club itself.

A Tribute to the Founding Fathers

Once this project had been completed, I shared with David another idea of mine — one that had first taken shape eight years earlier and had remained ever since among the countless projects constantly occupying my mind. My mother was a painter for almost her entire life, and I must have inherited some of her artistic genes, because for me, creating is both a need and a necessity.

Back in 2018, I produced a commemorative sticker celebrating both the 50th anniversary of our club, the MC Dragons, and serving as an in memoriam tribute to the man who founded it: our unforgettable leader, Christian “Kiki” Blanchot. The sticker was entirely designed and financed out of my own pocket, then distributed free of charge to fellow rally-goers within the French motorcycle touring scene.

While creating the artwork for that sticker, I remember thinking that the legendary 59 Club should long ago have produced something similar in honour of its own founding fathers — whether in the form of a badge or a sticker.

Of course, I fully understand that the club’s Executive Committee already has countless responsibilities and projects to manage, and can hardly do more than it already does.

That idea resurfaced a little over a month ago. Since I was completely satisfied with the quality of the sidecar section cloth badge reproduction, I felt it was time to strike while the iron was still hot.

I already had a clear vision of the design in my mind. All that remained was to create it and bring to life this tribute cloth badge dedicated to the three founding fathers of one of the greatest motorcycle clubs in the world — a club that remains deeply cherished in our hearts.

It is perhaps worth reminding readers who may not be deeply familiar with the legendary 59 Club that the men mentioned above were among the key figures whose dedication, passion, and selfless commitment helped build the club into the world-famous institution it remains today:

John Oates founded the Church of England youth club on April 2nd, 1959, at St Mary of Eton Church in Hackney Wick, a deprived district in London’s East End. Remarkably, he even persuaded Cliff Richard to perform on the club’s opening night in 1959, helping to make the venture an immediate success.

Throughout his life, John Oates devoted himself with remarkable dedication to youth support and church ministry, earning the respect and affection of generations of young people and motorcyclists alike. He passed away in June 2023 at the age of 93.

William Shergold — better known as Father Bill Shergold — joined John Oates in 1962. An Anglican priest and passionate motorcyclist, he became famously known as the “Biker Priest” and the “Ton-Up Vicar.”

Although the legendary 59 Club had originally been founded in 1959 by Reverend John Oates as a traditional church youth club, it was Father Bill’s motorcycle section that truly revitalized and transformed it. Under his leadership, the club evolved into a huge community hub that bridged social and cultural divides, eventually becoming the largest motorcycle club in the world.

In 1969, Father Bill moved to Dover, where he helped local motorcyclists establish the 69 Club, continuing the same spirit of fellowship and outreach that had defined the success of the 59 Club.

He passed away on May 17th, 2009, at the age of 89.

Graham Hullett was one of the most iconic figures of the legendary 59 Club during its golden era in the 1960s. Unlike most clergymen of his generation, Father Graham fully embraced motorcycle culture, riding British classics such as BSA and Norton machines while proudly wearing the same leather gear as the Rockers he guided.

Alongside Father Bill Shergold, he helped transform the 59 Club from a modest church youth group into the world’s largest and most famous motorcycle club, with more than 20,000 members at its peak.

A passionate long-distance rider, Father Graham regularly attended legendary events such as the Elefantentreffen and the Dragon Rally. He also left behind an invaluable photographic archive documenting British Rocker culture throughout the 1960s. He passed away on December 5th, 2012, at the age of 80.

And now, the time has finally come to unveil the cloth badge created in tribute to these remarkable men, whose legacy and dedication helped shape the legendary 59 Club into what it is today.

Here it is below, revealed in all its splendour.

Three names forever linked to the 59 Club

Just like the Sidecar Section badge, this production was never intended as a commercial venture, but was created purely out of passion — for those who love the legendary 59 Club, for members wishing to proudly wear it on their jackets, and for collectors eager to enrich their collections. For that reason, the edition was once again strictly limited to only forty examples.

I personally kept ten pieces for my own collection and for a few close friends, while the remaining thirty are now in the hands of my friend David Spelling.

In the end, beyond the badges themselves, this story is above all one of passion, friendship, memory, and transmission. Every piece collected, every rare emblem rediscovered, and every tribute recreated helps preserve a small part of the soul and history of the legendary 59 Club and of the remarkable men who dedicated their lives to it.

These limited cloth badges were never conceived as business ventures or mere collectibles, but rather as heartfelt tributes to a unique brotherhood and to a vanished era whose spirit still lives on in the hearts of enthusiasts, Rockers, rallymen, and collectors alike.

They were created simply for the pleasure of bringing something meaningful back to life, and of sharing that passion with those who cherish the club as deeply as I do.

If these badges can bring a little joy to those who wear them on their jackets, display them proudly in their collections, or simply appreciate the history and spirit behind them, then that alone is more than enough of a reward.

Text & Illustrations: Jean-Francois Helias