Norcon II (UK)

(Did you mean Norcon II in New Zealand?)

Norcon II was a convention in Leeds in the UK running from December 29–31, 1944 held in the home of J. Michael Rosenblum, the prime mover, and at the Dick Sheppard Centre. It was to be the last convention in the UK before the Whitcon in 1948.

Preparation

Futurian War Digest #37 (October 1944) said that:

Plans are again being laid for a New Year Meet, somewhere in the North of England. An ad hoc committee has more or less appointed itself to explore the possibilities and create plans, consisting of Messrs R. R. Johnson, Lane and Ellis, Holmes and Art Williams, Ken Chadwick and JMR. As for place the three possibles are Leicester, Manchester or Leeds and tentative plans are being considered at each.

The next issue in December revealled:

This year's Norcon will be held at Leeds from Friday Dec 29th to Monday Jan 1st. If there is any chance of you coming write at once to J. M. Rosenblum, 4 Grange Terrace, Leeds 7. If you don't get in touch quickly there is little chance of booking hotel accommodation in a bloc. Gus Willmorth, Eric C. Hopkins, Allan Miles, Ron Lane, George Ellis, JMR, Ken Chadwick, John Millard are all almost certain to be present. Non-attendees can show interest by donating material to the auction, to be sent c/o JMR, which has already a number of items from Claude Degler including some original illustrations, a copy of the Wallace Smith portfolio donated by Gus, and the Lovecraft 'Weird Shadow Over Innsmouth' from Paul Searles. The programme has not been finally fixed yet so suggestions are still welcome. Business sessions will be held at the Dick Sheppard Centre, Leeds and receptions at 4 Grange Terrace.

Venue

On Friday the attendees gathered at the home of Rosenblum. Saturday included a visit to a cinema, and dinner at a hotel, perhaps where the out-of-town attendees were staying. Sunday was at the 'Dick Sheppard Centre'. There was also a Dick Sheppard Centre in Peckham in south London, named for the founder of the main national pacifist organisation, the Peace Pledge Union.

Attendees

As before, some of the people 'almost certain to be present' weren't and this was likely due to ongoing wartime uncertainties. There is more than the usual fuzziness about attendees. The 'Norcon Report' in the British Fantasy Society Bulletin #20 was based on information provided by attendee J. Michael Rosenblum and gives 14 names:

1. Ron Bradbury *
2. Ken Chadwick
3. George Ellis *
4. Joyce Fairbairn
5. Arthur Harris
6. Miriam Harris
7. Ron Holmes *
8. Rita James * (see below)
9. Brenda Gabrielle Lee
10. Edwin Macdonald
11. Roy Johnson*
12. Ron Lane *
13. J. Michael Rosenblum *
14. Gus Willmorth *

Everybody who'd been at the first Norcon was also at this one and their names are marked *. Rita James was Holmes's girlfriend and there is no evidence she was a fan per se. Rosenblum seems certain of the numbers, even noting that there were at most thirteen people at any one time with MacDonald only attending on Sunday and Fairbairn on Saturday.

However in Fanewscard #107 he gives fifteen attendees, adding Athole Carter, and in Fanewscard #101 he also gives the names Ralph E. Orme, A. W. Gardner, Donald Houston and Harold Gottliffe. So there may have been up to nineteen, meaning it could be the largest convention outside of London before the NECON of 1951.

James had been the first woman to attend a convention. Fairbairn, Harris and Lee thus get joint honours as the first female fans to do so, and Macdonald was the first Scottish convention attendee

The convention

As well as socialising, attendees went to see 'the world's largest block of flats' and then to the cinema to see Hoppity Goes to Town. There was a quiz in which Leeds (which for these purposes included Los Angeles in the person of Willmorth) beat the rest of the UK. Sunday was more of a business session, including a decision to establish a pool from convention auction surpluses which could be put towards either promoting a post-war convention or establishing a central library. Its auction on Sunday raised £3. 'Recent prozines, especially Amazing Stories, were something of a drug on the market, but considerable interest was shown in books' according to the Bulletin #20.

Publications

Rosenblum produced a two-page Norcon – Information for Attendees and that sounds like a pre-convention guide. There is no explicit reference to a post-convention booklet which may be because Rosenblum was suffering from fibrocitis and couldn't type.

Future conventions

In the final issue of Futurian War Digest, Rosenblum said, 'We hope to see you at the third Norcon next year!' Fanewscard #107 said in the succinct style imposed by its format, 'Plans 4 EASTERCON at Leicester, if possible.' The British Fantasy Society Bulletin #20 casts this as 'it was decided to advocate a Midvention for Easter'. Nothing came of any of these ideas and there would not be another UK convention until the Whitcon of 1948.

See Early Conventions.

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Norcon	Norcon	last
	1944

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