Stourbridge Circle

From Fancyclopedia 3
Jump to navigation Jump to search

The Stourbridge Circle (also known as SADO, the Stourbridge And District SF Circle) was a club based in Stourbridge, a small town near Birmingham. It was active under that name from just after Easter 1959 to 1962 although the founder members had known each other for some years before. Les Spinge started as a clubzine and later took life of its own as a fine general interest fanzine.

There are two apparently contradictory creation stories. Mike Kilvert said the group was formed during the winter of 1957–58[1], although he, Ken Cheslin and Peter Davies had known each other since 1947. Davies, however, said the group was formed in the immediate aftermath of Brumcon in 1959. Cheslin was chairman, Davies treasurer and Kilvert secretary[2]. The two versions are not necessarily incompatible to the extent that Davies dates the named group to one week after Brumcon but it's also clear from his account that the trio were meeting before the convention even if they weren't named. And Cheslin's version says that he knew Kilvert since around 1944[3].

The trio may have attended Cytricon IV in 1958; Kilvert certainly said they did[4]. However, some details of his account don't coincide with known aspects of the convention and so it seems likely that in writing 50-odd years after the event he was mixing up conventions.

They certainly attended Brumcon in 1959 and later that year the group advertised in a local newspaper. This only attracted one response, from Tony Hill. They also recruited Jack Raybould, a near neighbour of Davies. Kilvert joined the army in February 1960, while Dave Hale and Darroll Pardoe joined that same month. Kilvert didn't resume contact with the group after he ended his military service and Davies left the group in the early 1960s after a falling out with Cheslin[5].

Pardoe wrote in a letter to Relapse #20 (Autumn 2012) that Hale was banned from meetings at Hill's house ('I think it may have been over dropping peanut shells all over Tony's sofa') after which Pardoe 'felt it politic not to go again'. Remaining members continued to meet socially, sometimes in a pub run by Hill, but without any science fiction connection.

Members[edit]

In Les Spinge #2 (April 1960), Cheslin mentioned three short-term female members identified only as Pat, Gillian and Ann. In YSFRG Newsletter #2 (March 1961), Hale mentioned somebody called Mike, a relative of Raybould's who wasn't Mike Kilvert.

____

  1. Letter to Prolapse #7 (June 2007).
  2. Les Spinge #1 (Autumn 1959).
  3. SADO and the 1960s Brum Group - a memoir at fiawol.org.uk.
  4. Ibid, Prolapse.
  5. Ibid, Prolapse.

Club 19591962
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!