Pontefract SC

Based in the historic town of Pontefract, West Yorkshire, Pontefract Scooter Club is the focus of this month club feature…

Castle walls

Pontefract SC was established in 2009 by Mick Flint. There are around 50 riding members and their HQ is the Hope & Anchor public house. The Hope & Anchor is less than 100m outside the walls of Pontefract Castle and is close to the liquorice fields, which formed the foundation for the town’s confectionery industry. The Hope & Anchor is also run by Dave Halloways, owner of the fantastic custom scooter ‘Aces High’.

Hopefest

In July, Pontefract SC hosted ‘Hopefest’, a charity event in support of The Prince of Wales Hospice. The day’s entertainment started with event goers being treated to live bands from the afternoon and into the evening. To keep revellers fully refreshed there was a full bar, can bar and hot food van available. The headline band Skapones played a fantastic set of 2-Tone and Ska music. The evening was an outstanding success and raised more than £300 for the hospice.

Multimeet

In August the club hosted their annual Multimeet event, which was also held at the Hope & Anchor. I arrived on the night and scooters were already parked two and three deep outside the pub and stretched down to All Saints’ Church. The hosts had organised a complementary snack bar, which was busy serving free burgers and sausage butties to all. Ride-ins were turning up at regular intervals and the atmosphere made for a great evening. Among the clubs at the event were riders from Acomb Retro Scooter Enthusiasts (ARSE), Doncaster Hunters, Dirty Mills, Dearne Valley, King’s (Horbury), Selby Moving Targets, Featherstone Spartans and Tadcaster Stax.

During the evening, awards were given out by Dave Halloways for various categories. Furthest travelled went to Peter Reid from Harrogate, best turned out club went to Featherstone Spartans, and best custom scooter went to Brian Varey’s fantastic Lambretta chopper ‘Dream Warrior’.

Dave Halloways explained: “The Multimeet has always been run by the club but it’s exploded over the last couple of years. Last year we had 134 riders and this year we were just short of 200!” I asked Dave what the secret to the club’s successes could be. He said: “We’re a forward-thinking club and we love to do new things and develop new ideas.”

Nonstop

With the Multimeet brought to a close the team had no time to spare, as they needed to prepare for the eagerly awaited Pont’ Dance, which was held in partnership with Michelle Grainger of Michelle’s Flowers the following Friday and Saturday nights in Pontefract Town Hall. The event was again in support of The Prince of Wales Hospice and had originally been organised for Friday night only; but, with all four hundred tickets selling out within two weeks of going on sale, Saturday night was added. Pont’ Dance saw resident DJ Mick Flint (and founder member) supported by Phil Beddows and guest DJs treating attendees to an outstanding mix of Mod, ska, 2-Tone and northern soul classics. Michelle Grainger said: “The total raised over the two nights for the hospice was £5460.47. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone involved who made it an outstanding success!”

Air ambulance charity ride out

On September 10, the club hosted a charity ride-out event starting at the Castleford Xscape complex in support of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. Another terrific event for a good cause, which saw around one hundred riders take part. Starting at the Xscape complex we set off to make our way through the sweeping roads of North Yorkshire to Squires Café, Sherburn. After refreshments at Squires we returned to close the day at the Hope & Anchor. The event raised £1145.37 for the Air Ambulance and Tracey Gregory of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance Charity said: “Pontefract Scooter Club are a fantastic bunch. Prior to this they’d already raised over £3000 for the charity!”

Pontefract Scooter Club is made up of a cracking set of people who all share common interests: riding scooters, raising money for good causes and having a great time! If you’re passing the Hope & Anchor, you must drop by and have a chat with Dave and the team.

Words & Photographs: Stu Smith