mods and rockers - were you there?

[bnfrnkln]

Hi all,

firstly mods - feel free to move this thread, i wasn't sure if there's a different place on NSC for desperate pleas for help.

basically i'm exiled up in Manchester working for ITV at the moment and thinking about putting a pitch together for a show about the Mods and Rockers as it's the 50th anniversary of the fights on Brighton beach in 2014. I just wondered if anyone on here was there, or knew anyone who was there during the fights in Brighton, Hastings etc? if you could drop me a PM that would be great if you've got any ideas.

as you were

 

[glasfryn]

we came in on the train after being at Arundel for the day and were ushered away by the police after a long conversation explaining we lived in Brighton we got out of Brighton station girls on the bus home and us down the seafront.
fights breaking out all over and most of Brightons deckchairs in the sea.
we had never seen so many policemen with helmets askew wandering around looking for blokes that all looked like either mods (parka's)or Rockers leather Quadraphenia (sp) was just about right

 

[pork pie]

I was too young to be involved, but my best mate's dad was one of the unlucky coppers. He left the force and became a builder.

I remember standing in Falmer Road Woodingdean, and seeing hundreds of scooters go by with mods, then hundreds of stinking rockers, then more mods etc. as old bill took them down to Blackrock and away from the town center one day. I just had to get a Lambretta as soon as I was old enough.

 

[Jam The Man]

My dad was there (was a rocker).. I can give you his email if you want an anecdote or two...

 

[skipper734]

I was there. Didn't see much of the violence, except in the Argus. I don't think any of the Brighton Boys were that involved in the violence, we preferred the later motto make love not war.
The only violence I witnessed was Tony ***** drop kick a rocker off his bike. The Brighton Scooter boys were too fond of their machines to put them in harms way.
Ask them on this site Update Your Browser | Facebook there might be a few London Boys who were there. Beware of the Northern Soul mob though who copied the London scene much later, but seem to think they invented it. As you're in Manchester I guess you're exposed to that all the time.

 

[hitony]

Hi all,

firstly mods - feel free to move this thread, i wasn't sure if there's a different place on NSC for desperate pleas for help.

basically i'm exiled up in Manchester working for ITV at the moment and thinking about putting a pitch together for a show about the Mods and Rockers as it's the 50th anniversary of the fights on Brighton beach in 2014. I just wondered if anyone on here was there, or knew anyone who was there during the fights in Brighton, Hastings etc? if you could drop me a PM that would be great if you've got any ideas.

as you were

WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS........WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS........WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS........WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS........WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS........WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS........WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS........WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS........WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS........WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS........WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS........WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS........WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS........WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS........WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS........WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS.......WE ARE THE MODS........WE ARE THE MODS.......


OH!!..............Sorry............

 

[Mackenzie]

Dad was a mod....he still loves his scooters

 

[Uncle C]

Dad was a mod....he still loves his scooters

Scooters are shit.

 

[severnside gull]

One of those memories that never quite leaves you - it was madness. We stood on the Palace Pier and watched the mods being pushed down the ramp towards the beach by mounted police. There were deckchairs flying everywhere and people falling over the railings onto the beach with rockers diving over afterwards to get at them - and bizzarely amongst all the mayhem there were families enjoying a "normal" day on the beach and kiddies paddling in the sea as if nothing was happening. Then there were a bunch of rockers as I recall it who ran onto the pier - throwing chairs over the side and I remember them laughing and yelling in real enjoyment. Then a bunch of mods came after them and there were scuffles and a fair bit of blood and some went over the side - can't recall if it was into the sea or onto the pebbles it was crazy - before they finally left towards the end of the pier and us kids were ushered to safety on to the prom and along towards the Hove seafront away from the trouble. There were bikes and scooters on their sides along Kings Road as I recall. We only heard about the fighting in the town itself and damage to property afterwards but that vision of people coming over the prom and being herded by police horses will stay with me forever.

 

[luppers]

I was there..firstly I had a Lambretta 175 slim style and then went up in the world and had a Vespa GS that was all chrome and had the engine bored out to be a 250cc, totally leathal machine especially with the extra mirrors and lights throwing the machine totally out of balance,however a lot of us Brighton mods were wimps (me included) and prefered to see out our mod days from the Wimpy in Western Road or from a coffee bar called the Cottage in the Lanes
Sometimes however we got it wrong and met up with the Rockers on the Seafront,or if you did not know betterin George St, Hove where the was a large rockers cafe.
Unlike the Who film we never met up in pubs!
I should add that I may have other memories but I have chosen not to recall them as my wife thinks I am a quiet and gentle person!
!

 

[HAILSHAM SEAGULL]

My elder brother, Woodingdean Gull was one of the original Brighton Mods, used to drop me off at school on his GT200.
PM him, he will have loads of names and tales i'm sure, he still has his reel to reel tape recorder with all his old music on it, though I dont think his parka fits now

 

[Mackenzie]

Scooters are shit.

Cheers, I'll let him know.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

... a coffee bar called the Cottage in the Lanes ...

ahhh ... memories of many a late night plate of spaghetti.

 

[shaolinpunk]

My dad was involved - he was apparently on the front page of a paper LUZZING a chair down some stairs at a bunch of mods or something

 

[pork pie]

Scooters are shit.

Is that why they have become iconic and worth a small fortune?

What were you some stinking greaser?

 

[Rugrat]

Had a black and yellow Lambretta SX175 (?) that I drove under a lorry at the end of South Road HH ... didn't think much of that so swapped it for a Norton and terrorised the town c1972

So I think I might have been a bit of each

 

[Uncle C]

Is that why they have become iconic and worth a small fortune?

Bit like this then:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Victorian-Rare-Embossed-early-1900s-Celeritas-Toilet-Bowl-L-Wolff-/271028919041?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f1a951b01

 

[pork pie]

Bit like this then:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Victorian-Rare-Embossed-early-1900s-Celeritas-Toilet-Bowl-L-Wolff-/271028919041?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f1a951b01

Says a guy with a f***ing Morgan wooden box as his avitar?

 

[severnside gull]

I was there..firstly I had a Lambretta 175 slim style and then went up in the world and had a Vespa GS that was all chrome and had the engine bored out to be a 250cc, totally leathal machine especially with the extra mirrors and lights throwing the machine totally out of balance,however a lot of us Brighton mods were wimps (me included) and prefered to see out our mod days from the Wimpy in Western Road or from a coffee bar called the Cottage in the Lanes
Sometimes however we got it wrong and met up with the Rockers on the Seafront,or if you did not know betterin George St, Hove where the was a large rockers cafe.
Unlike the Who film we never met up in pubs!
I should add that I may have other memories but I have chosen not to recall them as my wife thinks I am a quiet and gentle person!
!

Indeed - coffee bars were THE place to be and to be seen NOT pubs - milky coffee or hot chocolate served in glasses rather than cups was the in-thing

 

[moggy]

Off the subject a tad but "littledean jail" in the forest of dean near Gloucester, holds the largest collection of props, mopeds and wardrobe from the film quadrophenia, amongst other strange and weird stuff as well