Stourbridge Circle
The Stourbridge Circle (also known as SADO, the Stourbridge And District SF Circle) was a club based in Stourbridge, a small town near Birmingham. It was active from either the the winter of 1957–58 or Easter 1959 –sources differ – to 1962. Les Spinge started as a clubzine and later took life of its own as a fine general interest fanzine.
In a letter to Prolapse #7 (June 2007), Mike Kilvert said the group was formed during the winter of 1957–58 although he, Ken Cheslin and Peter Davies had known each other since 1947. Davies, however, said the group was formed in the immediate aftermath of Brumcon in 1959. Cheslin was chairman, Davies treasurer and Kilvert secretary[1]. Cheslin was in contact with wider fandom through Ken Slater, leading to correspondence with the Cheltenham Group. The trio may have also attended Cytricon IV in 1958; Kilvert certainly said they did in that same letter. However, some details of his account don't coincide with known aspects of the convention and so it's possible that in writing 50-odd years after the event he was mixing up conventions. They certainly attended Brumcon in 1959.
In 1959 the group advertised in a local newspaper. This only attracted one response, from Tony Hill. They also recruited Jack Raybould, a near neighbour of Davies. Kilvert joined the army in February 1960, while Dave Hale and Darroll Pardoe joined that same month. Kilvert didn't resume contact with the group after he ended his military service and Davies left the group in the early 1960s after a falling out with Cheslin.
Pardoe wrote in a letter to Relapse #20 (Autumn 2012) that Hale was banned from meetings at Hill's house ('I think it may have been over dropping peanut shells all over Tony's sofa') after which Pardoe 'felt it politic not to go again'. Remaining members continued to meet socially, sometimes in a pub run by Hill, but without any science fiction connection.
Members[edit]
In Les Spinge #2 (April 1960), Cheslin mentioned three short-term female members identified only as Pat, Gillian and Ann.
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- ↑ Les Spinge #1 (Autumn 1959).
| Club | 1957—1962 |
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