NECON

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(Did you mean the Providence convention?)

NECON, the North-East Science Fiction Convention, was a one-day convention held at Pat's Cafe, Dudley Hill Top in Bradford, UK on Sunday October 14, 1951 from noon to 10pm. The guests of honour were Joyce and Ken Slater although Joyce was unable to attend. It was organised by Mavis Pickles and Derek Pickles and was the first post-War convention in the UK outside of London.

Preparation[edit]

The Slaters planned to visit Pickles for a few days and the original idea was to provide an opportunity for them to meet local fandom. However the idea quickly snowballed with fans from various northern towns and cities promising to attend. Derek and Mavis sent out 150 leaflets to fans within a 100 mile radius. Membership of the convention society was 2/6 (two shillings and six pence) whether attending or not. Derek Pickles considered the turnout remarkable given the weather and the difficulty of travelling on a Sunday[1].

Venue[edit]

The convention was held in Pat's Cafe Bradford. It was later renamed The Tudor Cafe although on Saturday nights it functioned as a dance hall. This was the idea of Garth Cawood, one of the earliest ballroom DJs in the UK and member of The Elderberries and The Dingos but this is now getting dangerously off-topic for Fancyclopedia. Suffice to say the site likely no longer exists.

Attendees[edit]

The NECON was the first UK convention to have a published membership list and thus the first for which there is evidence of people joining the convention with no intention of attending. There were 62 members of the convention society, 13 of whom were known to have not attended. Pickles put the attendance at 48 which annoyingly doesn't quite balance. The obvious conclusion is that John C. Park of Perth in Western Australia was also non-attending but he appears in a photo and Pickles confirmed elsewhere that he was in the UK for a year and was present[2].

  1. Cyril Banks
  2. G. Barstow (N)
  3. Eric Bentcliffe
  4. H. Bourne (N)
  5. Pete Campbell (N)
  6. Vinc Clarke (N)
  7. Dave Cohen
  8. Lyell Crane (N)
  9. Leslie Cureton
  10. Mimi Dalton *
  11. Rick Dalton
  12. Alec Dicpetrist
  13. Arthur Duell
  14. Cyril Evans
  15. Frances Evans
  16. Fred Fairless
  17. Douglas Firth
  18. E. Furness (N)
  19. Arnold Gibson
  20. Marjorie E. Harper
  21. Phil Hetherington (N)
  22. Bert High
  23. Alan Hunter
  24. Mrs Joyce Hunter *
  25. E. R. James
  26. Terry Jeeves
  27. Bill Jesson
  28. Mr. Jesson[3] *
  29. D. Joyason (N)
  30. Paul Juneau (N)
  31. Max Leviten
  32. J. Mawson
  33. Donald McCormick
  34. Mr Mosley
  35. H. Newrick
  36. Mrs H. Newrick *
  37. John C. Park
  38. Derek Pickles
  39. Mavis Pickles
  40. Ken Potter
  41. Connie Prophet (N)
  42. Frank Richards
  43. W. Richards
  44. J. Michael Rosenblum
  45. Mr Scarr
  46. Ron Schubert
  47. Kenneth F. Slater
  48. Ken Smith (Newcastle) (N)
  49. Paul Sowerby
  50. Jack Sturgeon
  51. I. Tapping
  52. Donald Towers
  53. Norman Wansborough (N)
  54. Norman Weedall
  55. K. Wharton
  56. J. Wilkinson
  57. Mrs J. Wilkinson[4] *
  58. A. E. Williams
  59. Walter A. Willis (N)
  60. Peter Windle
  61. Dave Wood
  62. Ken Woodward

The convention[edit]

The convention was opened by Derek Pickles at 1pm. Messages from Eric Frank Russell, L. Sprague de Camp and Vin¢ Clarke were read out, along with a report of the Nolacon sent by Paul Juneau. Slater then gave a short talk on 'The Definition of Fantasy' followed by E. R. James on his experience with editors. Leslie Cureton gave a talk on Dianetics.

This was followed by a quiz and an auction, the latter raising £7. Many fans went to the Bradford Public Library which was hosting an exhibition of science fiction and fantasy literature, the first such in the UK according to Pickles. The evening rounded off with the almost inevitable screening of Metropolis.

Publications[edit]

There were two leaflets distributed in advance of the convention. An eight-page souvenir convention booklet was distributed after the convention.

Future conventions[edit]

The secretary's report in the souvenir book said that the net profit (£4) was earmarked for the next Bradford convention provisionally slated for September 1952. For whatever reason this didn't happen. Derek Pickles proposed Bradford as a venue for the 1953 Eastercon but the bid was unsuccessful.

The Bradford Science Fiction Association was formed in the aftermath of the convention.

Links

____

  1. ↑ Transcript of Derek Pickles's reminiscences in the souvenir book at fiawol.org.uk.
  2. ↑ Letter in The Mentor #86 (April 1995).
  3. ↑ The fact that his name is expressed as 'Mr Jesson' suggests he was Bill Jesson's father.
  4. ↑ The assumption is that J. Wilkinson was a local librarian who had supported the convention and then attended it, although we don't know whether that was in a professional capacity or as a fan. Piling assumptions on assumptions, we assume this was his wife.
Convention
1951
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