Driffield Midnight Runners
Maroon/yellow helmets denote a compromise
between
old and new members
The history of scooter clubs can sometimes be sketchy – even though some of the original members are still riding scooters today. A well-known quote about the 60s was: “If you can remember it, you weren’t there.” Well, even though they weren’t around until the 70s, that analogy can also be applied to the Driffield Midnight Runners.
The club originally came into existence in the 70s according to Rob (Laz) Lowery and his mate Gez. In the early ‘pre-Quadrophenia’ days, there were always plenty of scooters kicking around Driffield and the club had around 30 members. Most of the scooters in club during this period were ‘modded-up’ as the saying goes, but that was beginning to die out by the end of the decade.
Laz recalls: “Visiting Brighton in those early days, there were London Mods turning up who didn’t have scooters, so we thought, well, they’re not exactly like us, not having scooters. As a result of that, the club eventually drifted back to wearing normal scooter attire as it entered the early 80s.
Although he was into scooters before he was old enough to ride, Gez didn’t join Laz and his mates on the road until about 1982. By this time, most of the Mod influence had disappeared completely and although the lads in the club didn’t class themselves as Skinheads, they did have the cropped haircuts. They were more into Ska and the Two-Tone revival, listening to groups like the Specials.
Club members had always had their helmets sprayed in a maroon colour, but that was about to change. In 1983, the new club recruits wanted to change the helmet colour to yellow, while old members wanted to stay with maroon. Eventually, a compromise was reached and the helmets became half maroon/half yellow.
Then and now: Club members pose with their scooters in different centuries
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• This is an edited article taken from the current edition of Classic Scooterist Scene magazine. To read the full article, and many more like it - please try a copy, or subscribe and save even more.
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