Hayes Science Fiction Club

The Hayes Science Fiction Club was a fan group in Hayes, to the west of London in the early thirties. It was the third UK fan group and the first with ‘science fiction’ in its name.

Secretary Patrick Enever had a letter in Wonder Stories, August 1932, claiming ‘nearly a score of members, all of whom read this magazine’ and a ‘busy’ information bureau.

In a later letter to the magazine (May 1932) he claimed the group was formed in 1927 ‘before any science-fiction had reached England, other than Wells, Verne and a few contemporary “dreamers”.’ This would make it the UK’s first club by several years, but Enever later admitted (letter to Vin¢ Clarke, 20 March 1952, quoted in Then) that it was a fabrication. The club was formed in 1932 after Enever discovered that a workmate was also a reader of Amazing Stories. The club consisted only of him, the workmate John R. Elliott and Leonard Tookey.

Rob Hansen writing in Then said of Enever's claims that they 'can now be reasonably regarded as constituting British fandom’s earliest hoax.'

In late-1933 the group changed their name to the British Science Fiction Association. They were unrelated to the later Association formed in 1958. They also affiliated with the ISA. in 1935 Forry Ackerman invited the group to become the first foreign chapter of the SFL but nothing came of it.

According to Enever, the group fizzled out in 1935 when he moved to Manchester.

The Association planned a journal to be called Fantasia and seem to have at least typed some of it.

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Club

1932—1935

This is a club page. Please extend it by adding information about when and where the club met, when and by whom it was founded, how long it was active, notable accomplishments, well-known members, clubzines, any conventions it ran, external links to the club's website, other club pages, etc. When there's a floreat (Fl.), this indicates the time or times for which we have found evidence that the club existed. This is probably not going to represent the club's full lifetime, so please update it if you can!