Name of Website: Armed Forces Scooter Club

URL: http://surf.to/The-Armed-Forces-Scooter-Club

Web Author: Simon Cuerden

There are several technical faults with this site which immediately become apparent. Every time I moved from one page to another I was given a 'scripting error' message. When asked if I wished to continue I selected 'yes' whereupon it would load up without any further problem.

The homepage is bookmarked to the image of a youth riding a scooter inside a 'mod' symbol of a blue circle. If I am not mistaken the character is Jimmy from the film 'Quadrophenia'. The page is laid out on an attractive cream background and begins with a short introduction followed by the E-mail address of AFSC and an invitation to sign the guestbook. Beneath this is a logo of a German Flag shaking hands with a Union Jack proving that Simon does indeed have a sense of humour. A club logo and scrolling Marquee reminds browsers that they are accessing the AFSC website. The philosophy of Simon's site is clearly stated, "No Politics, no egos, no bull, just Italian style scooters and rare soul". Other pages are accessed by clicking on scooter images which act as hyperlinks.

There is much on this site which has nothing whatsoever to do with soul. His 'Newsletter' for example is full of tips for repairing scooters and also on conditions for joining the club. Members must have a love of scooters and either be army or ex army (I wonder if my days as a St John's Ambulance Cadet might count?). There is a page of member's mugshots which act as hyperlinks to their personal details whilst still more pictures can be found in the 'photo album'. At the bottom of the homepage is an image of a skull which links to Robbotix technology site to whom Simon expresses his gratitude. He leaves us at a loss however as to what, exactly; they have done to deserve it. Unusually the home page ends with a picture of a poppy, an image of World War one soldiers going 'over the top', a poem of tribute to war heroes and the caption "For fellow men and women of all nations lest we forget".

Simon's links page includes a mixture of scooter and soul related sites. His 'guestbook' also has a mixture of comments from both scooterists and soulies. Visitors to the guestbook are asked to fill in a short questionnaire about themselves before leaving a message. His final question is the rather bizarre 'Marmite yes or no?' For me this is a definite no, but I don't feel strongly enough about it to throw off some scantily clad babe who's trying to push her tongue down my throat.

There are two sections of this site which are entirely soul related. The first and by far the biggest is presented as one vast scrolling sheet of information. For me Simon would do far better to subdivide it into separate articles and give access to each of them via a menu. It begins with some scanned images of flyers advertising soul events. The surfer is invited to click on these images to access details of the events. Those included are the German Weekender in Nurnberg, 'Vault of Soul' nights in Sheffield and details of the Solent Soul Club. Simon gives his site a personal touch by including a photo of himself, entitled 'my ugly mush' (wouldn't argue with you there Simon) and an item about his first introduction to the scene. It was quite a humorous piece involving first love and Blackpool Pleasure Beach that quite brought a tear to my eye.

As most readers of 'Manifesto' will know Simon is a fellow contributor and the articles he has written are also to be found on his 'soul' page. For those of you who with short memories these include 'The Vault of Soul' and 'Welfen'. Probably his most informative piece is the 'Cameo Parkway Story' and although short is well worth reading. His article "My ramblings, ooh a bit political" is a chance for Simon to get on his soapbox and lecture us on supporting our local nights. I hadn't a clue what 'A message from a Soul Flat' was about as it was written in German but his section "What is Northern Soul" is crystal clear and gives a brief overview of the scene. This page also includes a list of UK events.

For some reason Simon has chosen to give 'Manifesto' a section of its own which can be accessed from his home page. As I read through it, I thought 'this is a bit familiar' until I realised that it should be. This was because I had written it. The bugger has copied it wholesale from my Website and pasted it onto his own. If he weren't such a decent bloke I'd sue him for breech of copyright. In fairness he does acknowledge his source and includes a link to my site, so I suppose I'd better forgive him.

If I were to summarise this site I would describe it as the 'sweet and sour pork' of Cyberspace. It is a strange blend of ingredients that logically shouldn't go together, but when mixed are surprisingly pleasing. I am not just talking about the soul/scooter mix, but also the heavy military flavour as well. I confess to having no interest in either scooters or military affairs so that when I was asked to review this site I wasn't particularly excited. I was pleasantly surprised however how well the mixture works. The site is by no means perfect, indeed it suffers from many technical problems, not only the scripting errors, but also a hit counter that doesn't load and some occasional links which don't work either but it also has much to commend it. It is very well presented and includes some good moments of humour. It is not really a site for the soul anorak as it is more social than informative but it has immense value in bringing new blood into the fold. The fact that its content is mixed could provide a fine mechanism for introducing both scooterists and military types to Northern Soul for the first time. Well done Simon, you're doing a fine job in spreading the faith.

Soulfully Yours

John Ponomarenko