Difference between revisions of "Brumcon"

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[[Eastercon]] 10, '''Brumcon''', was held in [[Birmingham, UK]] over Easter, March 27–30, 1959.  The [[GoH]] was [[Kenneth F. Slater]]. The [[committee]] was [[Terry Jeeves]], [[Bob Richardson]], [[Ron Bennett]], and [[Norman Shorrock]].  
+
'''Brumcon''' was the 1959 [[Eastercon]], held March 27–30, 1959 (Easter weekend) at the Imperial Hotel in [[Birmingham, UK]].  The [[GoH|guest of honour]] was [[Kenneth F. Slater]]. The [[committee]] was [[Ron Bennett]], [[Terry Jeeves]], [[Bob Richardson]] and [[Norman Shorrock]].  
  
−
Brumcon was the first Eastercon held under the auspices of the [[BSFA]] following the Association's creation the previous year.  
+
It was the tenth convention in the Eastercon sequence and the first of any kind in Birmingham, the second-largest city in the UK. Brumcon was the first Eastercon held under the auspices of the [[BSFA]] following the Association's creation the previous year. Membership was 60, an increase on the previous year's [[Cytricon IV]] but still well below typical membership in the first half of the 1950s.
  
−
[[Ron Bennett]] wrote in ''[[Skyrack]]'' #1:
+
Similar to [[Cytricon II]] and [[Cytricon II|III]] (1957 and 1958 respectively), the name Brumcon wasn't formally used by the convention itself. The [[programme book]] uses the term 'National Science-Fiction Convention'. However, [[Ron Bennett]] at least did label it 'Brumcon' in the first issue of ''[[Skyrack]]''.
  
−
I think it only fair to mention that while I contested the Association’s implication that British fandom needed such an organisation in order to survive, I do congratulate the BSFA on the way it has gone about achieving its aims. There were several new faces present at the BrumCon, all of whom have been brought into [[fandom]] by the BSFA. Nor were these newcomers, as might have been expected, stuffy. They fitted in well and wore most interesting to talk to.
+
== Preparations ==
  
−
== Preparations ==
+
The BSFA was formed after a meeting at [[Cytricon IV]] in 1958 and at the same time it was decided that the Association would be responsible for the annual convention. The meeting also concluded that the 1959 event should be 'at the seaside' over Whitsun. The convention is not mentioned in the first issue of ''[[Vector]]'' but the second, in Autumn 1958, said the convention would again be over Easter weekend and invited members to indicate preferences for programme items. ''Vector'' #3 (Winter 1958) makes reference to an enclosed leaflet 'giving details of the annual get-together' but as of 2024 no copies have been traced. The issue itself does however confirm the venue as the The Imperial Hotel in the decidedly non-coast-adjacent [[Birmingham, UK|Birmingham]].
 +
 
 +
Membership rates were 5/- (BSFA members) and 12/6 (non-members). Hotel rooms were 27/6 and 30/- per night including breakfast although it's unclear to what these two rates relate<ref>All figures from an advertisment for the convention quoted in ''[[Prolapse]]'' #4 (December 2006).</ref>.
  
 
== Venue ==
 
== Venue ==
 +
 +
The Imperial Hotel was on Temple Street in Birmingham. It later went through a few names changes – becoming the Imperial Centre Hotel, in which guise it hosted the first four [[Novacon]]s in 1971–4, and The New Imperial Hotel – before being converted into offices.
  
 
== Attendees ==
 
== Attendees ==
  
−
There was again no membership list. The convention balance sheet published in ''[[Vector]]'' #4 says there were 58 attendees, 40 paying 5/- and 18 paying 12/6 (twelve shillings and six pence). The assumption is that the former were BSFA members and the latter were not. The names below are all known attendees based on convention reports.  
+
A membership list in the [[programme book]] lists 43 members, with two more as 'stop press' inclusions. It includes all members up to March 20, 1959, one week before the convention. In ''[[Vector]]'' #4 (Spring 1959), [[Eric Bentcliffe]] said 'The total membership at the Convention was 60, and 56 people actually attended the con.' The convention balance sheet in the same issue shows 40 paying 5/- (BSFA members) and 18 paying 12/6 (non-members) for a total of 58. There's a difference of two between Bentcliffe's total membership and the balance sheet. Ken Slater presumably didn't pay and so he accounts for one of them. [[Joyce Slater]] may have been the other although there is no evidence she was there and Ken Slater is listed as a member in the programme book while she isn't.
  
−
'''This is a work in progress. Name below are being checked to see if they're here under variants.'''
+
In the table below names marked (A) are known attendees, names marked (AN) are known attendees who are not on the membership list, and names marked (N) are members who are known to have not been present. The remainder, 10 people, ''may'' have attended and based on Bentcliffe's numbers apparently at least five of them did. Maddeningly, the combination of known members and know attendees adds up to 59, one short of Bentcliffe total membership. It would though seem that if both Bentcliffe and the balance sheet are correct then there was one more non-paying member.
  
 
<div style="column-count:3;-moz-column-count:3;-webkit-column-count:3">
 
<div style="column-count:3;-moz-column-count:3;-webkit-column-count:3">
−
# [[Ron Bennett]]
+
# [[Jill Adams]]
−
# [[Eric Bentcliffe]]
+
# [[Barrington Bayley]]
−
# [[Brian Burgess]]
+
# [[Ron Bennett]] (A)
−
# [[Alan Burns]]
+
# [[Eric Bentcliffe]] (A)
−
# [[Bob Champion]]
+
# [[Brian Burgess]] (AN)
−
# [[Ken Cheslin]]
+
# [[Alan Burns]] (A)
−
# [[Les Childs]]
+
# [[Bob Champion]] (AN)
−
# [[Dave Cohen]]
+
# [[Ken Cheslin]] (A)
−
# [[Geoff Collins]]
+
# [[Les Childs]] (A)
−
# [[Peter Davies]]
+
# [[Dave Cohen]] (AN)
−
# [[Keith Freeman]]
+
# [[Geoff Collins]] (A)
−
# [[Barry Hall]]
+
# [[Peter Davies]] (A)
−
# [[Sandra Hall]]
+
# [[Karl Dollner]]
−
# [[Peter Hammerton]]
+
# [[Keith Freeman]] (A)
−
# [[Paul Hammett]]
+
# [[D. K. Fawcett]]
−
# [[Joan Hammett]]
+
# [[George Gorse]]
−
# [[David Hardy]]
+
# [[Barry Hall]] (AN)
−
# [[Bill Harrison]]
+
# [[Sandra Hall]] (A)
−
# [[Frank Herbert]]
+
# [[Peter Hammerton]] (AN)
−
# [[Terry Jeeves]]
+
# [[Paul Hammett]] (AN)
−
# [[Eddie Jones]]
+
# [[Joan Hammett]] (AN)
−
# [[Eric Jones]]
+
# [[David Hardy]] (AN)
−
# [[Brian Jordan]]
+
# [[Bill Harrison]] (AN)
−
# [[Mike Kilvert]]
+
# [[Frank Herbert]] (A)
−
# [[Ethel Lindsay]]
+
# [[Terry Jeeves]] (A)
−
# [[Jim Linwood]]
+
# [[Eddie Jones]] (A)
−
# [[George Locke]]
+
# [[Eric Jones]] (A)
−
# [[Ivor Mayne]]
+
# [[Margaret Jones]]
−
# [[Ken McIntyre]]
+
# [[Brian Jordan]] (A)
−
# [[Archie Mercer]]
+
# [[Mike Kilvert]] (A)
−
# [[Stan Nuttall]]
+
# [[Ethel Lindsay]] (AN)
−
# [[Ella Parker]]
+
# [[Jim Linwood]] (A)
−
# [[Nancy Pooley]]
+
# [[George Locke]] (AN)
−
# [[Ken Potter]]
+
# [[Ivor Mayne]] (A)
−
# [[Bob Richardson]]
+
# [[Ken McIntyre]] (A)
−
# [[Alan Rispin]]
+
# [[Archie Mercer]] (A)
−
# [[Phil Rogers]]
+
# [[Jill Micklethwaite]]
−
# [[John Roles]]
+
# [[Michael Moorcock]] (N)<ref>[[Jim Linwood]] said in ''[[Prolapse]]'' #4 (December 2006) that Moorcock wasn't there.</ref>
−
# [[Norman Shorrock]]
+
# [[Stan Nuttall]] (AN)
−
# [[Ina Shorrock]]
+
# [[Ella Parker]] (A)
−
# [[Ken Slater]]
+
# [[Nancy Pooley]] (A)
−
# [[Phil Sless]]
+
# [[Ken Potter]] (AN)
−
# [[Pete Taylor]]
+
# [[Bob Richardson]] (A)
−
# [[Norman Wansborough]]
+
# [[Alan Rispin]] (A)
−
# [[Norman Weedall]]
+
# [[Phil Rogers]] (A)
−
# [[Arthur(Doc) Weir]]
+
# [[John Roles]] (A)
−
# [[Peter West]]
+
# [[Laurence Sandfield]]
−
# [[Bobbie Wild]]
+
# [[Norman Shorrock]] (A)
−
# [[Jack Wilson]]
+
# [[Ina Shorrock]] (A)
 +
# [[Ken Slater]] (A)
 +
# [[Phil Sless]] (AN)
 +
# [[Pete Taylor]] (A)
 +
# [[Norman Wansborough]] (AN)
 +
# [[Norman Weedall]] (A)
 +
# [[Arthur "Doc" Weir]] (A)
 +
# [[Peter West]] (A)
 +
# [[Cyril Whitaker]]
 +
# [[Bobbie Wild]] (A)
 +
# [[Jack Wilson]] (A)
 
</div>
 
</div>
  
 +
[[Ken Slater]] commented in ''Vector'' #4 that 'the convention was markedly noteable for its total lack of "pros" connected with the publishing/writing world'.
 +
 +
Notable first-time convention attendees include [[Ken Cheslin]], [[Keith Freeman]], [[David Hardy]], [[Jim Linwood]] and [[George Locke]].
  
 
== The convention ==
 
== The convention ==
 +
 +
Fans began arriving on Friday and [[Ron Bennett]] reported that:
 +
 +
the first news that greeted me when I walked in the hotel in the company of [[Terry Jeeves]], [[Archie Mercer]] and [[Phil Rogers]], all of whom I had met on the train, was that there had been a mix-up in arrangements concerning the provision of alcoholic refreshments and that the bar closed at 9.30. To complete the dismal picture, the hotel itself seemed to be disappointing for a three star AA rating. Quite apart from the frayed stair carpets and dingy decorations, the service was of the standard normally associated with a hotel in the western backwoods at the turn of the century. This point alone, combined with the hotel's high prices, decided fans to eat out.''[[Aporrheta]]'' #10 (April 1959).
 +
 +
Saturday opened with an [[OMPA]] meeting and then an official welcome from Jeeves and an introduction of guest of honour, Ken Slater. The first item was an 'extremely ragged'<ref>Ibid, ''Aporrheta''.</ref> Science Fiction Twenty Questions with Jeeves as quizmaster. A tea-drinking competition was won by newcomer [[Peter Davies]], followed by – in an an odd and yet quintessentially British piece of scheduling – a tea break. This allowed fans to visit Slater's bookstall and see [[Ken McIntyre]]'s five-foot-by-three-foot 'Convention Cartoon' and other artworks.
 +
 +
Bennett delivered a slide show about his [[TAFF]] trip of the previous year with 'The slides ... projected in a most unfannish manner, i.e. right way up, and in the right order'<ref>[[Ivor Mayne]], ''[[Orion]]'' #22 (July 1959).</ref>. This was followed by a London group play, acclaimed 'hopeless' by [[Brian Jordan]]<ref>Ibid, ''Orion''.</ref>, and an auction conducted by [[Bob Richardson]]. Jeeves, [[Eddie Jones]], and Richardson were respectively awarded first, second and third prizes in the artwork competition<ref>''[[Vector]]'' #4 (Spring 1959) although Brian Jordan in ''Orion'' says this happened on Sunday.</ref>. Finally, a fancy dress competition was won by a vampiric [[Sandra Hall]]. The programme had told of a 'Russian Beer Drinking Contest ... which probably is not quite what you imagine it to be' but as it didn't happen the members remained in ignorance, as do we.
 +
 +
Sunday's programme began with the BSFA's first AGM. Officers gave reports and new officers were elected: Ken Slater (chairman); [[Arthur "Doc" Weir]] (secretary); [[Archie Mercer]] (treasurer); [[Roberta Wild]], assisted by Sandra Hall (publications). Curiously, Ron Bennett reported that:
 +
 +
''[[New Worlds]]'' was voted the best British SF magazine, ''[[Astounding]]'' the best US magazine, and ''[[Triode]]'' the best British [[fanzine]]. ''[[Aporrheta]]'' tied with ''[[Hyphen]]'' for 2nd place.<ref>Ibid, ''Aporrheta''.</ref>
 +
 +
It's unclear exactly what these awards were beyond a vote of the meeting.
 +
 +
After lunch, Doc Weir spoke on Atlantis, followed by the playing of tapes including the [[Liverpool Group]]'s '[[Last and First Fen]]. There was then a further auction, this time for TAFF, with a painting by [[Jack Wilson]] being sold six times<ref>Ibid, ''Aporrheta''.</ref>, and the screening of a number of fan films.
 +
 +
First-timer [[Brian Jordan]] said, 'The con was not exactly like I'd expected it to be. Some things were more so, some less. But, it levelled out at a wonderful time'<ref>Ibid, ''Orion''.</ref>. Another first-timer, [[Ivor Mayne]], enjoyed it too, but:
 +
 +
All the same I felt there was something lacking. I've just realised what it was: where were all the [[BNF]]'s? I know that fandom needs new blood, and you could have called this the Bloodcon since there were so many new faces there, but where were the BNF's apart from those who had to be there because of their positions on the concommittee or the BSFA?<ref>Ibid, ''Orion''.</ref>
 +
 +
One of those BNFs was [[Ron Bennett]] who wrote in ''[[Skyrack]]'' #1:
 +
 +
I think it only fair to mention that while I contested the Association's implication that British fandom needed such an organisation in order to survive, I do congratulate the BSFA on the way it has gone about achieving its aims. There were several new faces present at the BrumCon, all of whom have been brought into [[fandom]] by the BSFA. Nor were these newcomers, as might have been expected, stuffy. They fitted in well and were most interesting to talk to.
 +
 +
[[Peter Weston]], not then  active in fandom, offered a retrospective assessment in ''[[Prolapse]]'' #4 (December 2006). Weston noted the decline in convention attendance from during the [[Cytricon|Kettering]] years, something the creation of the BSFA was supposed to arrest. However
 +
 +
[The convention] was supposedly making an effort to cater for newcomers, but in practice the committee was continuing along the old track in which everyone knew everyone else ...  If the objective really was to run a convention about science fiction with the aim of attracting SF readers into fandom, then Brumcon has to be regarded as a failure.
 +
 +
Brumcon may have been an operational failure in Weston's eyes:
 +
 +
but total success in the only area that really mattered; being able to welcome new fans into the community. Brumcon was the first of the modern conventions and it set the scene for everything that would follow. It even made a profit; a surplus of £14.8s.4d on a total income of £41.18s.8d.
  
 
== Publications ==
 
== Publications ==
 +
 +
Some information was provided in ''Vector'' #2 and #3 with most of the details appearing in a leaflet enclosed with #3 that sadly hasn't been traced. A 36-page 'Con Programme' was published and post convention reports were published in ''Vector'' #4.
  
 
== Future conventions ==
 
== Future conventions ==
  
 +
There had been some discussion of the convention site for 1960 at the BSFA AGM with Ron Bennett suggesting that [[Harrogate]] could have a suitable hotel. However, 'The question was left open'<ref>Ibid, ''Orion''.</ref>. It would be picked up in the pages of ''Vector''.
  
−
* {{link | website=https://news.ansible.uk/pdf/sky.php?ish=1&go=BRUM#here|text=Report in ''Skyrack'' #1.}}
+
'''Links'''
−
* [https://www.fiawol.org.uk/fanstuff/THEN%20Archive/1959con/1959con.htm Rob Hansen's page on the convention, including known attendees and links to publications and photos.]
+
* [https://www.fiawol.org.uk/fanstuff/THEN%20Archive/1959con/1959con.htm Rob Hansen's page on the convention] at fiawol.org.uk.
 +
* [https://www.fiawol.org.uk/fanstuff/THEN%20Archive/1959con/ProgBk59.htm Programme Book] at fiawol.org.uk.
 +
* [https://fanac.org/fanzines/Vector/Vector04.pdf ''Vector'' #4] at fanac.org.
 +
* [https://efanzines.com/Prolapse/Prolapse04.pdf#page=5 Disappointment at Brumcon!] in ''[[Prolapse]] #4 at efanzines.com.
  
−
{{convention | series1=Brumcon | series=Eastercon | year=1959 | before=Cytricon IV | after=London (Eastercon) | website=http://www.fiawol.org.uk/FanStuff/THEN%20Archive/1959con/1959con.htm}}
+
{{convention | series=Eastercon | year=1959 | before=Cytricon IV | after=London (Eastercon) }}
 
[[Category:eastercon]]
 
[[Category:eastercon]]
 
[[Category:UK]]
 
[[Category:UK]]

Latest revision as of 10:44, 15 November 2024

Brumcon was the 1959 Eastercon, held March 27–30, 1959 (Easter weekend) at the Imperial Hotel in Birmingham, UK. The guest of honour was Kenneth F. Slater. The committee was Ron Bennett, Terry Jeeves, Bob Richardson and Norman Shorrock.

It was the tenth convention in the Eastercon sequence and the first of any kind in Birmingham, the second-largest city in the UK. Brumcon was the first Eastercon held under the auspices of the BSFA following the Association's creation the previous year. Membership was 60, an increase on the previous year's Cytricon IV but still well below typical membership in the first half of the 1950s.

Similar to Cytricon II and III (1957 and 1958 respectively), the name Brumcon wasn't formally used by the convention itself. The programme book uses the term 'National Science-Fiction Convention'. However, Ron Bennett at least did label it 'Brumcon' in the first issue of Skyrack.

Preparations[edit]

The BSFA was formed after a meeting at Cytricon IV in 1958 and at the same time it was decided that the Association would be responsible for the annual convention. The meeting also concluded that the 1959 event should be 'at the seaside' over Whitsun. The convention is not mentioned in the first issue of Vector but the second, in Autumn 1958, said the convention would again be over Easter weekend and invited members to indicate preferences for programme items. Vector #3 (Winter 1958) makes reference to an enclosed leaflet 'giving details of the annual get-together' but as of 2024 no copies have been traced. The issue itself does however confirm the venue as the The Imperial Hotel in the decidedly non-coast-adjacent Birmingham.

Membership rates were 5/- (BSFA members) and 12/6 (non-members). Hotel rooms were 27/6 and 30/- per night including breakfast although it's unclear to what these two rates relate[1].

Venue[edit]

The Imperial Hotel was on Temple Street in Birmingham. It later went through a few names changes – becoming the Imperial Centre Hotel, in which guise it hosted the first four Novacons in 1971–4, and The New Imperial Hotel – before being converted into offices.

Attendees[edit]

A membership list in the programme book lists 43 members, with two more as 'stop press' inclusions. It includes all members up to March 20, 1959, one week before the convention. In Vector #4 (Spring 1959), Eric Bentcliffe said 'The total membership at the Convention was 60, and 56 people actually attended the con.' The convention balance sheet in the same issue shows 40 paying 5/- (BSFA members) and 18 paying 12/6 (non-members) for a total of 58. There's a difference of two between Bentcliffe's total membership and the balance sheet. Ken Slater presumably didn't pay and so he accounts for one of them. Joyce Slater may have been the other although there is no evidence she was there and Ken Slater is listed as a member in the programme book while she isn't.

In the table below names marked (A) are known attendees, names marked (AN) are known attendees who are not on the membership list, and names marked (N) are members who are known to have not been present. The remainder, 10 people, may have attended and based on Bentcliffe's numbers apparently at least five of them did. Maddeningly, the combination of known members and know attendees adds up to 59, one short of Bentcliffe total membership. It would though seem that if both Bentcliffe and the balance sheet are correct then there was one more non-paying member.

  1. Jill Adams
  2. Barrington Bayley
  3. Ron Bennett (A)
  4. Eric Bentcliffe (A)
  5. Brian Burgess (AN)
  6. Alan Burns (A)
  7. Bob Champion (AN)
  8. Ken Cheslin (A)
  9. Les Childs (A)
  10. Dave Cohen (AN)
  11. Geoff Collins (A)
  12. Peter Davies (A)
  13. Karl Dollner
  14. Keith Freeman (A)
  15. D. K. Fawcett
  16. George Gorse
  17. Barry Hall (AN)
  18. Sandra Hall (A)
  19. Peter Hammerton (AN)
  20. Paul Hammett (AN)
  21. Joan Hammett (AN)
  22. David Hardy (AN)
  23. Bill Harrison (AN)
  24. Frank Herbert (A)
  25. Terry Jeeves (A)
  26. Eddie Jones (A)
  27. Eric Jones (A)
  28. Margaret Jones
  29. Brian Jordan (A)
  30. Mike Kilvert (A)
  31. Ethel Lindsay (AN)
  32. Jim Linwood (A)
  33. George Locke (AN)
  34. Ivor Mayne (A)
  35. Ken McIntyre (A)
  36. Archie Mercer (A)
  37. Jill Micklethwaite
  38. Michael Moorcock (N)[2]
  39. Stan Nuttall (AN)
  40. Ella Parker (A)
  41. Nancy Pooley (A)
  42. Ken Potter (AN)
  43. Bob Richardson (A)
  44. Alan Rispin (A)
  45. Phil Rogers (A)
  46. John Roles (A)
  47. Laurence Sandfield
  48. Norman Shorrock (A)
  49. Ina Shorrock (A)
  50. Ken Slater (A)
  51. Phil Sless (AN)
  52. Pete Taylor (A)
  53. Norman Wansborough (AN)
  54. Norman Weedall (A)
  55. Arthur "Doc" Weir (A)
  56. Peter West (A)
  57. Cyril Whitaker
  58. Bobbie Wild (A)
  59. Jack Wilson (A)

Ken Slater commented in Vector #4 that 'the convention was markedly noteable for its total lack of "pros" connected with the publishing/writing world'.

Notable first-time convention attendees include Ken Cheslin, Keith Freeman, David Hardy, Jim Linwood and George Locke.

The convention[edit]

Fans began arriving on Friday and Ron Bennett reported that: 

the first news that greeted me when I walked in the hotel in the company of Terry Jeeves, Archie Mercer and Phil Rogers, all of whom I had met on the train, was that there had been a mix-up in arrangements concerning the provision of alcoholic refreshments and that the bar closed at 9.30. To complete the dismal picture, the hotel itself seemed to be disappointing for a three star AA rating. Quite apart from the frayed stair carpets and dingy decorations, the service was of the standard normally associated with a hotel in the western backwoods at the turn of the century. This point alone, combined with the hotel's high prices, decided fans to eat out.Aporrheta #10 (April 1959).

Saturday opened with an OMPA meeting and then an official welcome from Jeeves and an introduction of guest of honour, Ken Slater. The first item was an 'extremely ragged'[3] Science Fiction Twenty Questions with Jeeves as quizmaster. A tea-drinking competition was won by newcomer Peter Davies, followed by – in an an odd and yet quintessentially British piece of scheduling – a tea break. This allowed fans to visit Slater's bookstall and see Ken McIntyre's five-foot-by-three-foot 'Convention Cartoon' and other artworks.

Bennett delivered a slide show about his TAFF trip of the previous year with 'The slides ... projected in a most unfannish manner, i.e. right way up, and in the right order'[4]. This was followed by a London group play, acclaimed 'hopeless' by Brian Jordan[5], and an auction conducted by Bob Richardson. Jeeves, Eddie Jones, and Richardson were respectively awarded first, second and third prizes in the artwork competition[6]. Finally, a fancy dress competition was won by a vampiric Sandra Hall. The programme had told of a 'Russian Beer Drinking Contest ... which probably is not quite what you imagine it to be' but as it didn't happen the members remained in ignorance, as do we.

Sunday's programme began with the BSFA's first AGM. Officers gave reports and new officers were elected: Ken Slater (chairman); Arthur "Doc" Weir (secretary); Archie Mercer (treasurer); Roberta Wild, assisted by Sandra Hall (publications). Curiously, Ron Bennett reported that: 

New Worlds was voted the best British SF magazine, Astounding the best US magazine, and Triode the best British fanzine. Aporrheta tied with Hyphen for 2nd place.[7]

It's unclear exactly what these awards were beyond a vote of the meeting.

After lunch, Doc Weir spoke on Atlantis, followed by the playing of tapes including the Liverpool Group's 'Last and First Fen. There was then a further auction, this time for TAFF, with a painting by Jack Wilson being sold six times[8], and the screening of a number of fan films.

First-timer Brian Jordan said, 'The con was not exactly like I'd expected it to be. Some things were more so, some less. But, it levelled out at a wonderful time'[9]. Another first-timer, Ivor Mayne, enjoyed it too, but: 

All the same I felt there was something lacking. I've just realised what it was: where were all the BNF's? I know that fandom needs new blood, and you could have called this the Bloodcon since there were so many new faces there, but where were the BNF's apart from those who had to be there because of their positions on the concommittee or the BSFA?[10]

One of those BNFs was Ron Bennett who wrote in Skyrack #1: 

I think it only fair to mention that while I contested the Association's implication that British fandom needed such an organisation in order to survive, I do congratulate the BSFA on the way it has gone about achieving its aims. There were several new faces present at the BrumCon, all of whom have been brought into fandom by the BSFA. Nor were these newcomers, as might have been expected, stuffy. They fitted in well and were most interesting to talk to.

Peter Weston, not then active in fandom, offered a retrospective assessment in Prolapse #4 (December 2006). Weston noted the decline in convention attendance from during the Kettering years, something the creation of the BSFA was supposed to arrest. However 

[The convention] was supposedly making an effort to cater for newcomers, but in practice the committee was continuing along the old track in which everyone knew everyone else ...  If the objective really was to run a convention about science fiction with the aim of attracting SF readers into fandom, then Brumcon has to be regarded as a failure.

Brumcon may have been an operational failure in Weston's eyes: 

but total success in the only area that really mattered; being able to welcome new fans into the community. Brumcon was the first of the modern conventions and it set the scene for everything that would follow. It even made a profit; a surplus of £14.8s.4d on a total income of £41.18s.8d.

Publications[edit]

Some information was provided in Vector #2 and #3 with most of the details appearing in a leaflet enclosed with #3 that sadly hasn't been traced. A 36-page 'Con Programme' was published and post convention reports were published in Vector #4.

Future conventions[edit]

There had been some discussion of the convention site for 1960 at the BSFA AGM with Ron Bennett suggesting that Harrogate could have a suitable hotel. However, 'The question was left open'[11]. It would be picked up in the pages of Vector.

Links

Cytricon IV Eastercon London
1959
This is a convention page. Please extend it by adding information about the convention, including dates, GoHs, convention chairman, locale, sponsoring organization, external links to convention pages, awards given, the program, notable events, anecdotes, pictures, scans of publications, pictures of T-shirts, con reports, etc.

  1. ↑ All figures from an advertisment for the convention quoted in Prolapse #4 (December 2006).
  2. ↑ Jim Linwood said in Prolapse #4 (December 2006) that Moorcock wasn't there.
  3. ↑ Ibid, Aporrheta.
  4. ↑ Ivor Mayne, Orion #22 (July 1959).
  5. ↑ Ibid, Orion.
  6. ↑ Vector #4 (Spring 1959) although Brian Jordan in Orion says this happened on Sunday.
  7. ↑ Ibid, Aporrheta.
  8. ↑ Ibid, Aporrheta.
  9. ↑ Ibid, Orion.
  10. ↑ Ibid, Orion.
  11. ↑ Ibid, Orion.
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