Cytricon IV

Cytricon IV was the 1958 Eastercon, held April 4-7, 1957 (Easter weekend) at the George Hotel in Kettering, UK. There was no guest of honour. The committee was Dave Newman and Norman Shorrock.

It was the ninth convention in the Eastercon sequence and the last of four consecutive conventions at the George hotel. There was no programme, no programme book or other publications, and probably no badges, although the convention is notable for being the birthplace of the BSFA. Membership seems to have been around 48, so higher than Cytricon III but still much smaller than Cytricon II.

Unlike Cytricons II and III where the names appear to be retrospective coinages, Cytricon IV was a term that was used at the time. Between 1971 and 1989, the convention was recorded on the canonical list of Eastercons as Cytricon III as the original Cytricon III had been omitted. This is despite it being clearly identified as Cytricon IV in the Science Fantasy News announcement.

Preparations

There were seemingly no discussion of, or public plans for, a 1958 convention at Cytricon III. In Science Fantasy News #15 (February 1958), Vin¢ Clarke described it as 'The word-of-mouth Con' and claimed to be bringing:

... the first public news of the progress of preparations for the 1958 S-F convention, one of the most closely kept secrets of modern fandom. Only 50 or so fans with personal contact with the Liverpool group know the Facts but SFN brings you the undercover story NOW...

Membership was 8/6d for the whole or part of the weekend to cover postal expenses and 'provide hooch for a Saturday night party in the basket lounge. Any surplus cash will go to TAFF.'

Hotel rooms were 25/- per head per day bed-and-breakfast. The main hall was not booked. As of February, there were 36 members and the hotel reportedly had capacity for about 14 more.

There seem to have been no formal progress reports.

Venue

The George Hotel in Kettering was an old coaching inn dating back to 1639. It would host all four Cytricon Eastercons from 1955 to 1958 and the Kettering Minicon of 1960, as well as Cytricon V, a fiftieth anniversary gathering in 2008. It was later renamed the Naseby Hotel but sadly it closed permanently in 2016 and has been turned into flats.

Attendees

As there were seemingly no publications we have no membership list. The names below are thus all known attendees based on the relatively small number of convention reports. Names marked * are family members of attendees who likely weren't fans per se.

1. Jill Adams
2. Ron Bennett
3. Eric Bentcliffe
4. Sid Birchby
5. Brian Burgess
6. Pete Chappell
7. Dave Cohen
8. Cyril Evans
9. Audrey Eversfield
10. Barry Hall
11. Sandra Hall
12. Joan Hammett
13. Paul Hammett
14. Chuck Harris
15. Bill Harrison
16. John Humphries
17. Terry Jeeves
18. Eddie Jones
19. Eric Jones
20. Margaret Jones
21. Ivor Mayne
22. Don MacKay
23. Renee MacKay
24. Ken McIntyre
25. Archie Mercer
26. Dave Newman
27. Stan Nuttall
28. John Owen
29. Ella Parker
30. Nancy Pooley
31. Bob Richardson
32. Phil Rogers
33. John Roles
34. Sandy Sandfield
35. Frank Simpson
36. Ina Shorrock
37. Norman Shorrock
38. Phil Sless
39. Ken Smith
40. Iris Tubb *
41. Ted Tubb
42. Jean Valis *
43. Norman G. Wansborough
44. Norman Weedall
45. Bryan Welham
46. Peter West
47. Bobbie Wild
48. Jack Wilson

Jean Valis was Dave Newman's girlfriend and not a fan per se.

In a letter to Prolapse #7 (June 2007), Mike Kilvert said that he, Ken Cheslin and Peter Davies had all attended Cytricon IV. However, they are not mentioned in reportage and don't appear in photos, and some details of Kilvert's account don't coincide with know aspects of the convention.

Despite its low key nature, there were 10 first-time convention attendees, notably Jill Adams, Ivor Mayne, Phil Rogers and Ella Parker. Loncon the previous summer may to have an extent been a recruiting channel.

The convention

IN common with the previous iteration, Cytricon IV had no programme as such. Barry Hall and Bryan Welham arrived on Thursday and at first finding nobody else began to suspect the convention had been cancelled. Others, however, arrived later that day and on Friday where the evening was given over to socialising.

On Saturday there were various excursions into the town followed by more socialising. Fans played music tapes and Sandy Sandfield played guitar, and there was a room party featuring 'poleaxe punch' courtesy of the Shorrocks. Sid Birchby reported 'only a dozen hard cases' still partying at 5am.

Sunday began with a camera shoot where several attendees are pictured wearing blazers with a Knights of St. Fantony crest following the first public appearance of the group the previous year, and an OMPA meeting where members listened to a tape from the absent Vin¢ Clarke.

On the Sunday there was a meeting to discuss the state of British fandom which last about two hours and 40 minutes. It had been prompted by an article in Zymic #6 (December 1957) in which 'Vince Clarke had railed against the prevailing apathy of British fandom and the falling numbers of both fanzines and fans'. Describing the meeting in Space Diversions #10, Dave Newman said:

It was universally agreed that what fandom needed was a return to its root source – science fiction – and what SF needed was more support from its fans. As a result of all this the British Science Fiction Association [BSFA] was born.

Barry Hall claimed there were only two dissenters, Brian Burgess and Norman Wansborough, both of whom were asleep.

The meeting appointed Dave Newman as chairman of the new organisation, Archie Mercer as Treasurer, Eric Bentcliffe and Terry Jeeves as joint secretaries, and Ted Tubb as editor of the official organ, Vector.

Exhausted by this seriousness, the fans partied until dawn.

Publications

No publications have been traced and there may not be any.

Future conventions

The Sunday meeting had decided that the new Association would be responsible for the annual convention, and concluded that the 1959 event should be 'at the seaside' over Whitsun. It proved to be neither of those things.

Links

• Rob Hansen's page on the convention at fiawol.org.uk.
• Transcripts of convention reports at gostak.org.uk.

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Cytricon III	Eastercon	Brumcon
Cytricon III	Cytricon	Cytricon V
	1958

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