West Country Science Fiction Group
The West Country Science Fiction Group was founded in Autumn 1952 by George Whiting of Stroud and Trevor Davies of Gloucester, both in Gloucestershire, UK. According to Eric Jones in Vector 3, 'Members of the Group were spread over the counties of the West [of England], but only about five or six of them lived in the vicinity of Gloucester'. The group published seven issues of a newsletter, Progress, between September 1952 and March 1953.
Jones moved to nearby Cheltenham in November 1952 and attended the first in-person meeting of the group at Davies's house in January 1953. Whiting moved to Greece later in 1953 or early in 1954 (it was his wife's homeland) and handed the club over to Jones and the remaining members. There was a second meeting in a pub in Gloucester where it was concluded that the club needed its own premises. There was nothing suitable in Gloucester itself but a basement room was located in Cheltenham. The Gloucester-based members were unwilling to travel the nine miles and so 'the life of the Group [drew] to a close'. Jones would later form the Cheltenham Group.
In 1958 Doc Weir saw an address for the group in an old issue of Authentic Science Fiction. He wrote to them and while the address was out of date and the group had long since ceased the letter reached Jones who in turn introduced Weir to the Cheltenham Group.
Members[edit]
| Club | 1952—1954 |
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