Surviving the ’79 Mod Revival
As seen through the eyes of Stephen Entwistle.
From being a young Mod during the ’79 Revival era, the natural progression for me was to become a Scooter Boy. The Rossendale Aliens SC already existed so I joined up with them and went on my first scooter rallies at 16 years old, either in the back-up van or on the back of mates’ scooters.
When I finally got my own scooter in 1987, four of us started the Spear of Destiny SC (we were following the band of that same name all over the UK). However, in 1988 we were still great mates with the Aliens, so we decided to merge with them to form the (Rossendale) Valley Scooter Club (a club that is still going to this day).
Due to family commitments, I left the scooterist scene for a while and after getting married and moving to Salford, I eventually joined the Salford Knights SC. I am now a Skinhead who is into Trojan and Ska music and I now ride the scooter I couldn’t ever afford when I was 18 years old – an AF Rayspeed TS1 225 DTC Replica.
The earlier photos were taken while I was still with the Rossendale Aliens SC on the various rallies that we attended, In one of them I have a ‘Vorsprung Durch Technik’ T-shirt on (wish I still had it)! It got wet on a rally and went mouldy in my rucksack. The others are more recent photos (the black and white ones were taken by Rik Bardsley).
There have been many nostalgic memories made during my history as a scooterist. I have some fond musical memories, especially of groups like Spear of Destiny, Psychobilly King Kurt and the Meteors and the Macc Lads.