Tens Motorcycle Club


Recommended Posts

Sorry , I know as much about motorcycles as I do about trains , i.e. not much ! .... but just thought this picture in the Nottingham Guardian of August 1964 might be of interest to someone .

Doesn't seem to be any direct reference to the picture in the surrounding written text , apart from something about youth clubs but if anyone remembers the "Tens Motorcycle Club" or Messrs Mann ,Smith, Taylor , Lee and Meats....... jobs a good 'un !

8598123939_1b46290884_z.jpg

  • Upvote 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

not sure but the guy kneeling at the front could be a young chriss man ash will know better than me note the aces on his boots. nottingham aces wore them on theire boots and on the back of jackets.

piggy and i carnt recall tens mcc but the faces look familiar. ash dg britt and mudgie might be able to jog our memories as most people you only knew by first or nick names and never knew their surnames. david is it ok to take a copy of this for white hart and rockers reunionwe might get a few more ansers.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Help youself Babs, no problem . Its not really my image anyway and only posted it in case someone, someday googled Tens Motor Cycle Club.

Link to post
Share on other sites

That is definitely Chris Mann kneeling, the bike looks like a beige DA10 Golden Flash from around 1958-61. The early A7SS Shooting Star was light green, but IIRC the bulge for the drive sprocket on the primary chaincase was a slghtly different shape. Chris died a few years ago, he was a keen photographer, sadly missed.

Link to post
Share on other sites

thanks old ace i thought it was chriss mann dave was not sure. as i said to dave the aces on his boots were a bit of a give away other faces are familiar but all were quite young on this photo,so a bit dificult without first names

  • Upvote 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

was in whitehart today some of the old bikers about dave asked about tens mcc no one had heard of it so would be interested in more information if anyone on here knows anything

Link to post
Share on other sites

THANKS MICK AFTER ASKING AROUND A FEW OLD BIKERS NO ONE SEEMS TO HAVE HEARD OF TENS MCCAS I SAID IN OTHER POST GUY IN THE FRONT KNEELING DEFINITLY A VERY YOUNG CHRIS MANN. AS FOR THE OTHERS NOT SURE GOT SOMETHING IN THE BACK OF MY HEAD A MICK MEATS BUT THIS COULD BE SOMETHING TO DO WITH NETHERFIELD AS WE HAD A SUSAN MEATS IN OUR CLASS AND I THINK HER ELDER BROTHER MIGHT HAVE BEEN MICKTHEY LIVED DUNSTON ST OR CURZON ST AREA.

Link to post
Share on other sites

HAVE ALSO PAST IT ON TO ROCKERS REUNIONTO BE PUT ON THERE SITE TOO.HAVE NOT CHECKED SO NOT SURE IF ITS ON YET

Link to post
Share on other sites

As there is no mention on the internet of Tens Motorcycle Club, this post has been given its own thread

Thanks Mick .

Because of you bumping this , I have just double checked the page that this was on , in an old Nottingham Guardian from 1964 and there is definitely no other mention of this group of lads on that page .

The photo though , is at the foot of a (looks like) regular feature called "Accent on Youth" and is trying to emphasise that not all teenagers are bad 'uns ! So they may have been connected to a youth club .

As they are motorcyclists I could have understood if it was Tons Motorcycle Club but "Tens" seems a bit of an odd name ? One day someone will explain .

Link to post
Share on other sites

quite a few motor cycle clubs had nunbers not names for some it was the number of the door were they met for others the mumber of members the club first had know that was what i was told about 41 club that was based on tremane rd in bilborogh it was originally two clubs one that met at the church hall asply lane area and one that met at the pelican pub in bilborough . there were orriginaly 41 members so it became 41 club. although i knew chriss mann a bit later than this photo probly met him 66/67ish i dont know any thing about this club. other clubs with numbers i remember are 77 club 52 club 59 club

tens could have ment there were orriginally 10 motorbikes at the first meet.

many bikers had there own meeting places but were never a formal club.they usually met in cafes and pubs around town and would often go to other biker cafes to meet up , as i said in other threads i used to go to a small cafe near the catholic church on carlton hill carlton, but used to ride pillion to other places such as sheds ,jacks, robins, cafe all in beeston.41 club, a small cafe side of the river gunthorpe, royal oak and gay cafe burton rd carlton white post olerton ect. later became a member of 41 club who met on a munday and weds eve at the old grange we had our own room in what i seem to remember was one of the old stables not ver sulubrious but it surficeda few old chairs and setees dotted about to sit on loads of old bike bits all over the place and coffee tea making facilitys you had to go across the yard to the loos big court yard out side for all the bikes and of course the electric metter on the wall we had to put 2s in to get lights in the inter parafin heaters to keep us warm, across the yard was a small bar that ive had the keys for and used to open it up for us sometimes to buy bottles of pop or beer. there times we would all go of to a local pub the pelican or the gondola or roebuck were the one we used more but sometimes the broad oak at strelly or a bit further a field if the weather was good manof trent and the fairham at clifton to meet up with clifton bike club.

  • Upvote 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for that Babs.

Were there any groups of 'Hells Angels' in Notts? I believe there may have been one at Mansfield?

Link to post
Share on other sites

east mids or the mofos chapters covered covered this area some used to come down the heart regularly in the later years lots came from ilkeston at the time and ilkeston still has a few angles about. the first one i ever met was friarwho was from sleaford met him and his mate mac in skeggy 1967/68 ish they claimed to be the first angles in england at the time dont know how tru this was though.they came to live in nottingham shortly after that friar and i think mac works on the building of carlton square.

Link to post
Share on other sites

There were several of the 'patch' clubs, 'MC' clubs, or 'Outlaw' clubs around the White Hart in the 60's and 70's,although none of the early ones were 'chartered' to the original yank clubs. In the 60's there were the Notts Outlaws, the East Mids Hells Angels, the Ratae (Leicester Hells Angels). The Northants Hells Angels from Kettering were regulars, and there were occassional visits from others including Wolverhampton Hells Angels and Birmingham Hells Angels.

In the 70's the clubs tended to be chartered, The Manchester Coffin Cheaters were regulars in the early 70's, as were Choppers Incorporated from Long Eaton. The Ashfield MOFOS were there there, they are now the Ashfield Hells Angels.

It's really is surprising that there was not really all that much aggro at the Hart, but then we all respected the landlord Tom, and John Allen and his wife who managed the upstairs disco.

Link to post
Share on other sites

never had a lot to do with the angels when they came down the hart but i always got on with mac but could never get on with friar.

as for tom and jonny allen will always respect them for giving us the chance to show that it would not all be trouble and as you say old ace never much trouble a few minor scuffles now and again usually lads fighting over some girl or other or whoes pint it was but that usually over in a few mins. the only two bad fights i remember were when the mods came down.

what always amazed me was when the police came in to check things out always came about a dozen or so at a time look round lights whould go on and they would come looking round the room they would always come and ask me how old was i was 18 for at least 3 years what i was drinking i always had a glass of lime and lemon in front of me although i used to drink rum and black at the timebut used to put that further on the table when they came in . if they asked what it was id say i dont know if they asked whoes it was i did not know one of the lads i think. .

was really upset when jonny allen passed away last yearaged 86 like so many realy had a lot of respect for john , and in later years we would often talk with him his daughter roz and young john his son who stated collecting glasses upstairs at 16 and later worked on the bar .young john was 60 a few weeks ago and we went to his party. when ever we saw old john he would talk about his memories of the beginings of the upstairs disco and the regular people he remembered really well who used to go.as he said in the very early days it would be 20 to 30 by the time it had been running for a year it was 200 to 300 in the pub as well as the locals,some objected to the disco and the bikers at firstbut soon got used to us all,and as long as we did not bother them we were ok.

  • Upvote 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

been to a funeral this morning of another one of the old lads pete keeling some of the old bikers about asked around but still no one knows anything about this club ill get to the bottom of it yet

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 1 year later...

Hiya. I've just been reading all your posts and I starting going down White Hart in 1966, every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.....I was 13 then. Starting hanging around with EastvMids HA at Ilkeston, but we often used to come to White Hart plus Plough Inn at Hucknall.....The good old days 😄

Link to post
Share on other sites

Welcome Prue, I'm sure you'll find some good topics and interesting folk on here.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 1 month later...

Hi, was the lad on the right Tony Meats? he lived in radford had a vincent shadow, also any one remember Jonnie Knowles, his dad had motorbike spares shop on Alfreton road ?

Link to post
Share on other sites

i missed prues postings i remember her and sometimes hear other people talking about herif you read this prue get yourself down white heart one thursday nightand go in the back baryou might even find yourself on some of the photoes

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...