New Lands SF Club
The New Lands SF Club, formed in 1952, was considered to be the first sf club in Scotland. It was based in the Newlands suburb to the south of Glasgow, and as such often referred to as the Newlands SF Club, including by its own members.
Matt Elder announced the club in Science Fantasy News #12 (June 1952), claiming five members and one honorary, ‘Roland Turner, the 'Scion Pub.' cover artist’ (clearly a typo for Ron(ald) Turner). Meetings were initially at his home and later alternated with that of David Page (their ‘collector’). Meetings were bi-weekly and later weekly.
There was a small ad for the club in the first issue of Nebula (Autumn 1952) as well as a brief letter from Elder, ‘From the first Scottish fan club, welcome to the first Scottish magazine.’ Ethel Lindsay responded to it and attended a meeting. Before doing so, she was alarmed to read an article on the group in a local newspaper, 'Spacemen Short of Cash', saying, 'Recent recruits include a number of women members, many of them housewives. One of the newest fans is Sister Ethel Lindsay of Glasgow Ophthalmic Institution.' She later said, 'Since that day I have carefully omitted the title and hospital from the address in my fan correspondence ... The first thing fandom nearly did to me was lose me my job. I only quit quaking 3 months later'[1]. Of the meeting she said:
I remember going home clutching a copy of Slant that they gave me. It was a good job I was then in my thirties or I might never have gone back because I found these four men pretty shy of me... and found myself having to do most of the talking. Fortunately I could think of plenty of questions to ask them[2].
Lindsay found her second meeting at the Page household more welcoming, in large part due to the presence of Margaret Page. There had been no other women, housewives or otherwise, at her first meeting; they were a creation of the reporter.
A listing in the Operation Fantast Handbook in early 1953 gave Elder as secretary and dues as 1/- per year.
The first issue of Haemogoblin was sponsored by the club in late 1953. According to Fred Smith, it was:
edited by me (or rather 'assembled' as Walt Willis put it) and entirely hand printed by Alan Mackie who swore off printing after the eight weeks of solid labour it cost him. The issue contained material by J T M'lntosh, Ken Slater, Bob Linden, Pete Hennessy, Matt Elder, Alan Mackie, Ethel Lindsay, and myself. Illos were linocuts by Brian Miller. The general tone of the mag was sercon (of course) as I was fired with the zeal to fill the gap left by S-F Review’s demise, a gap which I still think needs filling – by the right sort of fan. I quickly realised that I was not the type and since then my fancy has turned to the more highly personalised apa-type zine.
In 1955 Elder was hospitalised and Brian Miller became a host. Ethel Lindsay moved to Surrey later that year but profiled club members in Contact 8 (February 1957). The club was reported defunct by Smith in June 1957, although some of its members still saw each other occasionally.
Members[edit]
Margaret Page co-hosted meetings. Occasional visitors included Gavin Brown, Peter Baillie, Bill Gibb, and Eileen and Peter Hennessy.
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- ↑ Scottishe #2 (March 1955).
- ↑ Letter to Rob Hansen, quoted in Then.
| Club | 1952—1957 |
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