Parker Pond Fund
Parker Pond Fund was created to send Ella Parker of London to the 1961 Worldcon, Seacon in Seattle.
It resulted from comment by Wally Weber in 1960. Ella originally wanted to save for the trip herself and confided that to only a few people, including Ron Bennett. Bennett created a hoax cover for Skyrack 29 with the headline "Ella Parker for Seacon." She wrote an angry letter to Bennett for breaking her trust, but her copy was only one with that cover. After realizing what had happened, she sent him a telegram: "BENNETT, YOU BASTARD!"
The fund became public at LXICON, the 1961 Eastercon. It was administered by Don Ford and Betty Kujawa in US and by Ted Forsyth in the UK. The fund was successful and Ella left for the US on August 22, 1961. She was seen off by group of male fans including Arthur Thomson, Her car bedecked with farewell slogans like "Gargarin, Titov, and now Parker." ATom told bewildered officials that "they were all Ella's husbands and had come to say good-bye to her, and also that she had a three week burlesque engagement in Nevada."
She wrote a trip report, Parker's Peregrinations (subtitled "The Harpy Stateside").
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