Cytricon II

Eastercon 7, Cytricon II, was held in Kettering over Easter, March 31–April 1, 1956 (though April 2 was listed as being for "farewells"). There was no GoH. The committee was Vin¢ Clarke and Joy Clarke.

The convention was notable for attracting several overseas fans, including Larry Shaw, Lee Hoffman Shaw, Ellis Mills, Dave Kyle and Richard Wilson (All United States)), Jan Jansen from Belgium and Anne Steul from Germany. The membership list gives 87 names.

Eric Jones, writing in Sidereal 3.1, claimed that none of the Kettering fans attended Cytricon II and this is borne out by the membership list in the combozine. Denny Cowen, the chair of Cytricon appeared for a very short time on Sunday but he was obviously 'just passing thru'.

Preparations

The attendees at Cytricon in 1955 were focused first on the London in '56 Worldcon bid with the idea of a second Kettering convention in 1956 very much a fallback position. However, at the Cleveland Worldcon, and in the face of overwhelming support for New York in 1956, the London bid was withdrawn without a vote. The bid would return as London in 1957 and at some point Cytricon II was arranged although this time in the hands of the London fans. Vin¢ Clarke wrote:

London fans have stepped into the breach again and are booking the George Hotel, Kettering, Northants, scene of 1955's extraordinarily successful 'do', for the '56 Convention. It will be attempted to run it as an International Convention, for many visiting fans are expected from other countries, and the experience gained is going to be very, very useful for the 1957 Convention, which will call for a concerted effort from fan groups all over the country.

Venue

The George Hotel in Kettering was an old coaching inn dating back to 1639. It would host all four Cytricon Eastercons from 1955 to 1958 and the Kettering Minicon of 1960, as well as Cytricon V, a fiftieth anniversary gathering in 2008. It was later renamed the Naseby Hotel but sadly it closed permanently in 2016 and has been turned into flats.

Attendees

There are 86 people listed as registered members in the combozine. Some of these didn't attend and in a few cases presumably never had any intention of doing so. There are about 82 known attendees based on mentions in convention reports, appearances in photos or who signed a copy of the combozine.

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 may have attended. In a few cases that's the limit of our knowledge about them and where this is the case there won't be a page for them until and unless we find out some more. Names to which this applies are in italics. Additionally names marked * are family members of attendees who likely weren't fans per se.

This list is a work in progress. Names are being checked to see if they're here under variants.

1. A. Armstrong
2. John Ashcroft (A)
3. Mal Ashworth (A)
4. Ron Bennett (A)
5. Eric Bentcliffe (A)
6. John Brunner (A)
7. Daphne Buckmaster (A)
8. Ron Buckmaster (A)
9. Ken Bulmer (AN)
10. Pam Bulmer (AN)
11. Brian Burgess (A)
12. Alan Burns (A)
13. Ted Carnell (A)
14. W. Carr (A)
15. Meredith Chatterton (A)
16. Gerry Clarke
17. Joy Clarke (A)
18. Vin¢ Clarke (A)
19. Dave Cohen (A)
20. Pat Doolan (AN)
21. Philip Duerr (AN)
22. Peter Emery (A)
23. Paul Enever (A)
24. Frances Evans (AN)
25. Dave Gardner (AN)
26. Irene Gore (AN)
27. John Greengrass (A)
28. Peter Hamilton (A)
29. Joan Hammett (A)
30. Paul Hammett (A)
31. Chuck Harris (A)
32. Bill Harrison (A)
33. Bill Harry (A)
34. E Hedges
35. Arthur F. Hillman
36. Jan Jansen (A)
37. Terry Jeeves (A)
38. ? JeffersonT
39. ? Johnson
40. Eric Jones (A)
41. Margaret Jones (A)
42. Hal Kennedy
43. Bruce Kidd (A)
44. John Kippax
45. Tony Klein (AN)
46. Dave Kyle (A)
47. Ethel Lindsay (AN)
48. Don MacKay (A)
49. Lil MacKay (A)
50. Renee MacKay (A)
51. Michael Mansfield
52. Shirley Marriott (A)
53. Jim Marshall (A)
54. Ken McIntyre (A)
55. Archie Mercer (A)
56. Jill Micklethwaite
57. Ellis Mills (A)
58. Frank Milnes (A)
59. Dan Morgan (A)
60. Eric Needham (A)
61. Dave Newman (A)
62. Stan Nuttall (A)
63. Sheila O'Donnell (A)
64. John Owen (A)
65. D. Page
66. M. Page
67. Ken Potter (A)
68. G. Powell
69. Harry Powers (AN)
70. Dorothy Ratigan (A)
71. Jim Ratigan (A)
72. Peter Reaney (A)
73. Peter Rigby (A)
74. John Roles (A)
75. Sandy Sanderson (A)
76. Laurence Sandfield (A)
77. Larry Shaw (A)
78. Lee Shaw (A)
79. Ina Shorrock (A)
80. Norman Shorrock (A)
81. Ken Slater (A)
82. Anne Steul (A)
83. Pete Taylor (AN)
84. Arthur Thomson (AN)
85. David Thurlby
86. I. Thurlby *
87. Ted Tubb (A)
88. Brian Varley (AN)
89. Mike Wallace (A)
90. Norman Wansborough (A)
91. Norman Weedall
92. Peter West (A)
93. Cyril Whitaker
94. Bobbie Wild (A)
95. Walt Willis (A)
96. Dick Wilson (A)
97. Jack Wilson (A)
98. Geoff Wingrove (A)
99. P Wollan
100. Cathie Youden (AN)

Future conventions

History.

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Cytricon I	Cytricon	Cytricon III
Cytricon I	Eastercon	Cytricon III
	1956

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