North East Science Fiction Society
The North East Science Fiction Society (NESFS and sometimes referred to as NezFez or 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 and then Gestalt.
A letter from Allen to Authentic Science Fiction in October 1953 put him in touch with Mason[1]. 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. Fred Fairless was treasurer/librarian and Mason was secretary, replaced after a few months by Alan Burns.
Authentic Science Fiction (January 1955) includes an article "NEZFEZ", part 1 by Burns and part 2 by Allen, setting out the club's genesis and operation:
The club meets on the second Sunday of every month in the smoking room of the Lambton Arms, Chester-le-Street, from 3.30 p.m. to 7.00 p.m. For the first half of the meeting the secretary, librarian, etc., give their reports. These, which are supposed to be formal, are always greeted with wise-cracks, and whoever holds the position of chairman usually goes crazy trying to restore order. At 5.00 p.m. everybody goes out to a local cafe for tea, and this is claimed to be the best part of the whole session – much to the sad plight of the cafe owner, of course. Afterwards the mob returns to the meeting room, full of fun and just itching for an opening to slip in a wise-crack. Any person can give a lecture at any time, and points for discussion are very much welcomed – likewise so are subscribers to Satellite. New members are always welcome, and they can write to the secretary for details or come along to a meeting.
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
Possible members, by virtue of chronology and geography, include:
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| Club | 1954—1960s |
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