Nor'west Science Fantasy Club

The Nor'west Science Fantasy Club (NSFC) was a UK club based in Manchester from 1951 to 1954.

Eric Bentcliffe was seeking like-minded individuals and contacted Dave Cohen via Operation Fantast. Cohen was already in touch with Frank Richards and A. E. 'Taffy' Williams and the four met up in January 1951. Cohen suggested the Waterloo Hotel in Cheetham Hill as an ongoing meeting place and a newspaper advertisement drew in more people, leading to the birth of the Nor'west Science Fantasy Club.

Members attended the Mancon in 1952 and sponsored Supermancon in 1954. Frances Evans was an early recruit, the first and for most of its history only active female member. Despite a roster of about 100 people, about half of whom were in what might be termed the north west area, Sandy Sanderson claimed that the active membership in 1952 was only about six people (Femizine #9, May 1956).

The NSFC clubzine was Space Times edited by Bentcliffe with for some issues Eric Jones, and Bentcliffe produced Checklist of British SF And Fantasy Magazines for the club in spring 1952.

John Russell Fearn was the group's patron.

The club disintegrated in early 1954 before the Supermancon.

Members

The total membership of the NSFC was about 100 of whom about half were outside the area that might be described as the north west. A partial list of members was included in Space Times #1 but as of 2024 a copy of that hasn't been traced and it may be lost to the ages. The list was continued in #2, and new members were announced in subsequent issues. The number following the name in the list below is the issue of Space Times in which the membership was confirmed. Known founder or otherwise early members are marked (1?) as it's assumed they were noted in the likely lost first issue.

Local members

1. Eric Bentcliffe (1?)
2. Phil Best (2)
3. Jack Bowman (9)
4. Ron Burrows (2)
5. Dave Cohen (1?)
6. Edith Crowther (2)
7. Ken Crowther (2)
8. Ray Daniels (6)
9. George Ellis (1?)
10. Cyril Evans (1?)
11. Frances Evans (1?)
12. John Russell Fearn (patron)
13. Tony Glynn (18)
14. Donald B. Gooch (9)
15. Johnny Gott (10)
16. J. Greenberg (9)
17. Bill Hague (2)
18. Frank Hayes (6)
19. Alf Hind (17)
20. Tommy Hindley (11)
21. Eric Hubeand (7)
22. Wilf Jennings (2)
23. Bill Jesson (2)
24. Sid Klepper (1?)
25. Bernard Lee (2)
26. Pat Lee (2)
27. Geoff Lewis (2)
28. Frank Leyland (2)
29. S. Marshall (5)
30. Donald McCormick (2)
31. Mr McDermott (7)
32. D. Peter Ogden (2)
33. H. B. Pedavitz (2)
34. Terry Peers (18)
35. Frank Richards (1?)
36. George Richards (7)
37. D. Rosenberg (9)
38. Sandy Sanderson (4)
39. Charles Saunders (6)
40. Phil Schless (2)
41. Robin Silburn (2)
42. Frank Simpson (1?)
43. K. E. Smith
44. Paul Sowerby (2)
45. Brian Varley (4)
46. Jim Walker (18)
47. Clifford Whalley (18)
48. A. E. 'Taffy' Williams (1?)
49. John Wright (7)
50. Margaret Wroe (7)
51. Ken Woodward (2)

The following were members of the NSFC but lived outside the area that might be termed the north-west, often significantly so. Up to Space Times #10 they were still described as 'members' but the #11 included 'new members & subscribers to ST' and by #18 they are only 'subscribers' and as such they are not shown here. Membership of the NSFC was 7/6 including a subscription to Space Times while a subscription only was 6/-.

Names marked * lived outside the UK:

1. Peter Adamson (12)
2. Frank Arnold (18)
3. Peter Baillie (5)
4. Sgt Barstow (6)
5. Fay Bright (11)
6. Ted Carnell (11)
7. Joan W. Carr (17)
8. Tony Cooper (2)
9. Lyell Crane* (7)
10. Frank Dodd* (3)
11. Eva Firestone* (2)
12. Jesse Floyd* (11)
13. Wally Gillings (18)
14. Joy Goodwin (17)
15. Peter Hamilton (11)
16. James Harper (4)
17. Chuck Harris (18)
18. C. H. Hasted (5)
19. Eric Jones (1?)
20. John E. Koestner* (2)
21. Brian Lewis (7)
22. Ethel Lindsay (12)
23. Stuart Mackenzie (11)
24. Alan Mackie (12)
25. Bea Mahaffey (11)
26. Bill Morse (11)
27. Orville W. Mosher* (7)
28. Ray E. Pate* (5)
29. Tom Piper* (9)
30. Dorothy Ratigan (11)
31. Fred Robinson (7)
32. Mike Rosenblum (5)
33. Dag Siggerud* (2)
34. Ken Slater (5)
35. Dale R. Smith* (1?)
36. D. R. Smith (2)
37. G. R. N. Smith (17)
38. Elmer D. Standish* (9)
39. Bob Swartz* (2)
40. Mike Tealby (11)
41. Bill Thailing* (11)
42. Tony Thorne (4)
43. Thomas N. Watt* (7)
44. Walter A. Willis (3)

____

---

Club

1951—1954

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!