North East Science Fiction Society

The North East Science Fiction Society (NESFS and sometimes referred to as NezFez while Archie Mercer called them The Gestalters) was a club in Newcastle, UK. It was founded in 1954 by Don Allen and Ted Mason and its clubzines were first Satellite (clubzine) and then Gestalt.

A letter from Allen to Authentic Science Fiction in October 1953 put him in touch with Mason. They obtained contact information for other fans in the area from Vin¢ Clarke and Ken Slater and a first meeting was held on March 26, 1954, at the Lampton Arms in Chester-le-Street. Fourteen fans attended. Satellite first appeared in May by which time the club had grown to 26 and had a clubroom.

Allen would later turn Satellite into his own fanzine so Alan Burns launched Gestalt in 1955. After he fell out with the group in 1958 the title was taken on by first Con Turner and then Jim Marshall.

A significant contingent of NESFS members and possible members appeared on the membership list for Cytricon in 1955. It is however not known if they attended.

According to Allen, in a letter to Rob Hansen quoted in Then, the majority of the group were sf readers not especially interested in fandom and after a while the group effectively split into two, the serious and the fannish.

At some point the group became dormant although some of its former members continued to meet socially in the the Lampton Arms. The NESFS had had a 'Publicity Sub-Committee' to attract new members and those who drank in the Lampton Arms named themselves the 'Sublicity Pub Committee'.

There was a degree of revival in the mid-1960s sparked by Philip Harbottle and Marshall produced an eighth issue of Gestalt. It was also to be the last.

Checkpoint #49 (May 1974) carried a letter from Allen saying he planned to reform the NESFS but the idea seemingly came to nothing.

Members

• Don Allen
• Alan Burns
• W. Carr
• Jim Cawthorn
• Peter Emery
• Fred Fairless
• Bernard High
• Hal Kennedy
• George Lye
• Jim Marshall
• Ted Mason
• Con Turner

Possible members, by virtue of chronology and geography, include:

• Ken Skelton

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Club

1954—1960s

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!