Salford Knights were formed in 1982 and were the brainchild of Windy, better known as Keith MIller. At the time of the club getting off the ground there were several personality clashes which meant the Knights almost didn't make it.
In fact it was a miracle that it did, Windy's main task was to get all the Salford lads round the table for a meeting but with all the lads not being able to be close to each other without knocking seven bells out of themselves it was proving difficult to say the least. After a few 'phone calls to various people, we finally got together at the King Billy in Broughton. We managed to start getting people to see sense that one club in Salford was better than two, Salford Knights had about 10 members and Salford Scooter Club had about 25.But the Knights had back patches (which I think) were the first club in England to have them done, also T-shirts, over the years the club changed the lettering round due to someone buying the copyright.
The Salford Knights were now getting quite a large membership and after trying various meeting places around Salford, we moved to Manchester. Mister Chesters with the Speakeasy underneath the pub, this was situated at the bottom of Deansgate and Victoria bus station was the ideal venue. We had a Marks & Spencer facing it and the Old Shambles pub was relocated next door to Mister Chesters after the I.R.A blew Manchester to bits.
We had our meetings every Thursday night and put a disco on in the Speakeasy which was decked out in 1920's style with toy machine guns on the walls, which we would get down and shoot each other with, it seemed like good fun at the time. The pub upstairs was always packed and downstairs in the Speakeasy you could dance or just listen to the tunes being played. Clubs would come from all over Manchester for a night out, it was quite a sight looking at about 60 -70 scooters parked outside the pub. The usual problems arose with bits being stolen, floormats, mirrors etc, we used to hire a coach or double-decker bus to take us to Stockport’s Do at Mumps Bridge in Oldham, Sykes used to collect the fares off everyone and always moaned that someone had not paid.
We also used to organise a five-a-side competition at Peel Moat in Stockport, 16 teams from all over England would enter, Crawley, Mansfield Monsters, Morecambe plus LCGB and local clubs would play the beautiful game, hung over most, of whom we took into Manchester the night before. We once ordered 25 taxis from the Duchy, they would not believe us until the first taxi had seen how many of us there were.We all ended up at the Cyprus Tavern (now known as the Granby) after that is was back to my flat for more fun and games, we continued to do this for three more years, but scootering was changing and not for the better.
We continued to attend rallies, such as Torquay, IOW, Loch Lomond, Clacton, Weston, Exmouth, Yarmouth and all the old favourites. We had now found a new home, The Duchy in Salford, where we stayed for seven years. The meeting night was Tuesday and we still had a good turnout, I'm sure everyone who came down to see us will not forget the running street battles with the Precinct boys on Langworthy Road, this went on for a few weeks, with one idiot getting stabbed twice in the same week.
Membership started to drop off due to people getting married or just fed up with the scooter scene. Scooters could be bought for as little as £15.00 and I know of a case where a GP125 and GP150 going for £15.00. £7.50 each, both running and with tax and MOT what price today!!!.
Salford Knights and scootering suffered after the IOW riots and Great Yarmouth when the NF attended the rally and CS gassed a pub also spraying Desmond Dekker whilst he was on stage. The feeling was that we were not going to rallies hundreds of miles away to have the same moron tell us his views when we were very capable of farming our own. We were present at the IOW and at the time thought it was a laugh to watch this going on, how wrong we were, none of the club went to a rally again for the rest of the year, people left the club and scootering in general.
The club itself was plodding along, Dave Dyson took over as club chairman with the club attending rallies again and the numbers started to pick up. Membership cards came compulsory to get into any rallies, I took back seat in the club and just attended now and again. Billy Broadhurst and Andy Bartly took over from Dave Dyson who stepped down due to work commitments.
The club once again picked up, Andy was into racing and took it up, Andy and Billy also opened their own scooter shop in Manchester (Manchester Scooter Services) they did ok at first but scootering itself was on its last legs although still going but not like it was. Membership in the club dropped and at one stage had only one member Steve Gartside better known as Gatz.
During the years there have been some characters in the club and some right dodgy ones as well. The rallies, set to's and good times were what was it was all about many of the club members went on to be very good friends and would ring each other all the time. After one such phone call I went to a BBQ at Billy’s and when everyone had gone Andy and Billy asked me to go down to the Dutton on Thursday night, I agreed and we carried on drinking until the early hours. Thursday night came around and off we went, on entering the pub there must have been 5 people in for the club night meeting, I was asked to get the club of the ground again. I'd been doing my own thing for 9 years and was shocked by what I saw, if it was not for the fact I had seen Gatz I would not have bothered.
First thing was to ring around old members and place an advert in Scootering, it took a while but we were getting interest again. After a few months the scooters began to arrive, people who'd left years ago were ringing to see if any old faces were there, people now had more time on their hands and by the Christmas we had enough members to think about putting on a "Funday" later in the year.The club members wanted T-shirts but we had no funds, membership was up to about 25, so Dave (Dicey) lent the club money to get the T-shirts. After this we introduced subs to enable us to pay for the “Funday”, all the time we were getting more members and by the time the end of season rally at Morecambe we had 35 members attending and it was a great weekend.
Membership once again picked up due to Salford Knights attending rallies and other scooter clubs functions, we were also getting other clubs visiting us on a Thursday night, most of the club attended the IOW 2000, we also won furthest travelled club to Camber Sands (Still waiting for the trophy guys). We put on another "Funday" and the weather was awful attendance on the day was not too bad considering, we also put our first night do on for many years and had a great night.
On some rallies the club has had BBQ's mainly when we've camped, Run to the Hills, Shires, Bridlington etc. we have also got together for a night out at Christmas mostly getting drunk in Manchester.
The beginning of the rally season has to be Gingers Easter Egg run. And in 2000 the crowning glory was getting "Best Turned Out Club", considering we went down to One member we were all made up when we won the prize. People who know us know all the hard work that went into it. During the season we were getting 20 members on most rallies and everything seemed to be going fine.
But, as with any large group of people you will always have a difference of opinion and after a couple of months the club got tired of it and the disgruntled member went on to pastures new.
The club once again had T-shirts made, the same as our original white shirts which we first had made 21 years ago. Also back patches and stickers, the Salford Knights now boasts 73 members though getting everyone together at the same time is a job in itself. There are more stories to tell and memories to recall, I'm sure old members can help with this. Give us a call and who knows your story could be part of Salford Knights 21 colourful years.
Till next time
Steve McCarthy.
In fact it was a miracle that it did, Windy's main task was to get all the Salford lads round the table for a meeting but with all the lads not being able to be close to each other without knocking seven bells out of themselves it was proving difficult to say the least. After a few 'phone calls to various people, we finally got together at the King Billy in Broughton. We managed to start getting people to see sense that one club in Salford was better than two, Salford Knights had about 10 members and Salford Scooter Club had about 25.But the Knights had back patches (which I think) were the first club in England to have them done, also T-shirts, over the years the club changed the lettering round due to someone buying the copyright.
The Salford Knights were now getting quite a large membership and after trying various meeting places around Salford, we moved to Manchester. Mister Chesters with the Speakeasy underneath the pub, this was situated at the bottom of Deansgate and Victoria bus station was the ideal venue. We had a Marks & Spencer facing it and the Old Shambles pub was relocated next door to Mister Chesters after the I.R.A blew Manchester to bits.
We had our meetings every Thursday night and put a disco on in the Speakeasy which was decked out in 1920's style with toy machine guns on the walls, which we would get down and shoot each other with, it seemed like good fun at the time. The pub upstairs was always packed and downstairs in the Speakeasy you could dance or just listen to the tunes being played. Clubs would come from all over Manchester for a night out, it was quite a sight looking at about 60 -70 scooters parked outside the pub. The usual problems arose with bits being stolen, floormats, mirrors etc, we used to hire a coach or double-decker bus to take us to Stockport’s Do at Mumps Bridge in Oldham, Sykes used to collect the fares off everyone and always moaned that someone had not paid.
We also used to organise a five-a-side competition at Peel Moat in Stockport, 16 teams from all over England would enter, Crawley, Mansfield Monsters, Morecambe plus LCGB and local clubs would play the beautiful game, hung over most, of whom we took into Manchester the night before. We once ordered 25 taxis from the Duchy, they would not believe us until the first taxi had seen how many of us there were.We all ended up at the Cyprus Tavern (now known as the Granby) after that is was back to my flat for more fun and games, we continued to do this for three more years, but scootering was changing and not for the better.
We continued to attend rallies, such as Torquay, IOW, Loch Lomond, Clacton, Weston, Exmouth, Yarmouth and all the old favourites. We had now found a new home, The Duchy in Salford, where we stayed for seven years. The meeting night was Tuesday and we still had a good turnout, I'm sure everyone who came down to see us will not forget the running street battles with the Precinct boys on Langworthy Road, this went on for a few weeks, with one idiot getting stabbed twice in the same week.
Membership started to drop off due to people getting married or just fed up with the scooter scene. Scooters could be bought for as little as £15.00 and I know of a case where a GP125 and GP150 going for £15.00. £7.50 each, both running and with tax and MOT what price today!!!.
Salford Knights and scootering suffered after the IOW riots and Great Yarmouth when the NF attended the rally and CS gassed a pub also spraying Desmond Dekker whilst he was on stage. The feeling was that we were not going to rallies hundreds of miles away to have the same moron tell us his views when we were very capable of farming our own. We were present at the IOW and at the time thought it was a laugh to watch this going on, how wrong we were, none of the club went to a rally again for the rest of the year, people left the club and scootering in general.
The club itself was plodding along, Dave Dyson took over as club chairman with the club attending rallies again and the numbers started to pick up. Membership cards came compulsory to get into any rallies, I took back seat in the club and just attended now and again. Billy Broadhurst and Andy Bartly took over from Dave Dyson who stepped down due to work commitments.
The club once again picked up, Andy was into racing and took it up, Andy and Billy also opened their own scooter shop in Manchester (Manchester Scooter Services) they did ok at first but scootering itself was on its last legs although still going but not like it was. Membership in the club dropped and at one stage had only one member Steve Gartside better known as Gatz.
During the years there have been some characters in the club and some right dodgy ones as well. The rallies, set to's and good times were what was it was all about many of the club members went on to be very good friends and would ring each other all the time. After one such phone call I went to a BBQ at Billy’s and when everyone had gone Andy and Billy asked me to go down to the Dutton on Thursday night, I agreed and we carried on drinking until the early hours. Thursday night came around and off we went, on entering the pub there must have been 5 people in for the club night meeting, I was asked to get the club of the ground again. I'd been doing my own thing for 9 years and was shocked by what I saw, if it was not for the fact I had seen Gatz I would not have bothered.
First thing was to ring around old members and place an advert in Scootering, it took a while but we were getting interest again. After a few months the scooters began to arrive, people who'd left years ago were ringing to see if any old faces were there, people now had more time on their hands and by the Christmas we had enough members to think about putting on a "Funday" later in the year.The club members wanted T-shirts but we had no funds, membership was up to about 25, so Dave (Dicey) lent the club money to get the T-shirts. After this we introduced subs to enable us to pay for the “Funday”, all the time we were getting more members and by the time the end of season rally at Morecambe we had 35 members attending and it was a great weekend.
Membership once again picked up due to Salford Knights attending rallies and other scooter clubs functions, we were also getting other clubs visiting us on a Thursday night, most of the club attended the IOW 2000, we also won furthest travelled club to Camber Sands (Still waiting for the trophy guys). We put on another "Funday" and the weather was awful attendance on the day was not too bad considering, we also put our first night do on for many years and had a great night.
On some rallies the club has had BBQ's mainly when we've camped, Run to the Hills, Shires, Bridlington etc. we have also got together for a night out at Christmas mostly getting drunk in Manchester.
The beginning of the rally season has to be Gingers Easter Egg run. And in 2000 the crowning glory was getting "Best Turned Out Club", considering we went down to One member we were all made up when we won the prize. People who know us know all the hard work that went into it. During the season we were getting 20 members on most rallies and everything seemed to be going fine.
But, as with any large group of people you will always have a difference of opinion and after a couple of months the club got tired of it and the disgruntled member went on to pastures new.
The club once again had T-shirts made, the same as our original white shirts which we first had made 21 years ago. Also back patches and stickers, the Salford Knights now boasts 73 members though getting everyone together at the same time is a job in itself. There are more stories to tell and memories to recall, I'm sure old members can help with this. Give us a call and who knows your story could be part of Salford Knights 21 colourful years.
Till next time
Steve McCarthy.