Brumcon

Eastercon 10, Brumcon, was held in Birmingham, UK over Easter, March 27–30, 1959. The GoH was Kenneth F. Slater. The committee was Terry Jeeves, Bob Richardson, Ron Bennett, and Norman Shorrock.

Brumcon was the first Eastercon held under the auspices of the BSFA following the Association's creation the previous year.

Ron Bennett wrote in Skyrack #1:

I think it only fair to mention that while I contested the Association’s implication that British fandom needed such an organisation in order to survive, I do congratulate the BSFA on the way it has gone about achieving its aims. There were several new faces present at the BrumCon, all of whom have been brought into fandom by the BSFA. Nor were these newcomers, as might have been expected, stuffy. They fitted in well and wore most interesting to talk to.

Preparations

The BSFA was formed at Cytricon IV in 1958 and at the same time it was decided that the Association would be responsible for the annual convention. They also concluded that the 1959 event should be 'at the seaside' over Whitsun. The convention is not mentioned in the first issue of Vector but the second, in Autumn 1958, said the convention would again be over Easter weekend and invited members to indicate preferences for programme items. Vector #3 (Winter 1958) makes reference to an enclosed leaflet 'giving details of the annual get-together' and as of 2024 now copies have been traced. The issue itself does however confirm the venue as the The Imperial Hotel in the decidedly non-coast-adjacent Birmingham.

Venue

The Imperial Hotel was on Temple Street in Birmingham. It later went through a few names changes – becoming the Imperial Centre Hotel, in which guise it hosted the first four Novacons in 1971–4, and The New Imperial Hotel – before being converted into offices.

Attendees

There was again no published membership list. In Vector #4 (Spring 1959), Eric Bentcliffe said 'The total membership at the Convention was 60, and 56 people actually attended the con.'The convention balance sheet in the same issue shows 40 paying 5/- and 18 paying 12/6 (twelve shillings and six pence)for a total of 58. The assumption is that the former were BSFA members and the latter were not. There's a difference of two between Bentcliffe's total membership and the balance sheet. Ken Slater presumably didn't pay and so he accounts for one of them. Joyce Slater may have been the other although there is no evidence she was there.

The names below are all known attendees based on convention reports.

This is a work in progress. Name below are being checked to see if they're here under variants.

1. Ron Bennett
2. Eric Bentcliffe
3. Brian Burgess
4. Alan Burns
5. Bob Champion
6. Ken Cheslin
7. Les Childs
8. Dave Cohen
9. Geoff Collins
10. Peter Davies
11. Keith Freeman
12. Barry Hall
13. Sandra Hall
14. Peter Hammerton
15. Paul Hammett
16. Joan Hammett
17. David Hardy
18. Bill Harrison
19. Frank Herbert
20. Terry Jeeves
21. Eddie Jones
22. Eric Jones
23. Brian Jordan
24. Mike Kilvert
25. Ethel Lindsay
26. Jim Linwood
27. George Locke
28. Ivor Mayne
29. Ken McIntyre
30. Archie Mercer
31. Stan Nuttall
32. Ella Parker
33. Nancy Pooley
34. Ken Potter
35. Bob Richardson
36. Alan Rispin
37. Phil Rogers
38. John Roles
39. Norman Shorrock
40. Ina Shorrock
41. Ken Slater
42. Phil Sless
43. Pete Taylor
44. Norman Wansborough
45. Norman Weedall
46. Arthur "Doc" Weir
47. Peter West
48. Bobbie Wild
49. Jack Wilson

Future conventions

• Report in Skyrack #1.
• Rob Hansen's page on the convention, including known attendees and links to publications and photos.

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Cytricon IV	Eastercon	London
first	Brumcon	last
Website	1959

This is a convention page. Please extend it by adding information about the convention, including dates, GoHs, convention chairman, locale, sponsoring organization, external links to convention pages, awards given, the program, notable events, anecdotes, pictures, scans of publications, pictures of T-shirts, con reports, etc.