Cytricon I

Cytricon was the 1955 Eastercon, held April 8-10, 1955 (Easter weekend) at the George Hotel in Kettering, UK. There was no guest of honour. The committee was Bill Panter (chair), Denny Cowen (secretary), Joe Ayres (treasurer), and Al Lee (publicity).

It is regarded as the sixth convention in the Eastercon sequence although most of its predecessors had been held at Whitsun. Thereafter Easter became the traditional date for the Eastercon, something that shouldn't really need stating. It was also the first of four consecutive Cytricons.

The traditional fan view has been that the name was derived from an earlier Roman settlement and that may be what fans believed at at the time. However, it now seems more likely that it comes from a later Anglo-Saxon settlement variously spelled Cytringan, Kyteringas and Keteiringan. This in turn implies that the name should more properly be pronounced with a hard C, Kitricon, rather than the soft C, Sitricon, that's invariably used.

While six members of the Kettering Astronautics Society had been members of the Supermancon in 1954 it's unknown if they attended. During the business session, Ted Tubb called for nominations for the 1955 site and hearing none unilaterally decided it would be in London, However, at some later point Denny Cowen and the Kettering group volunteered to run the convention.

Again, if progress reports were issued they've not been traced. Vin¢ Clarke, writing as 'Inquisitor' in Vargo Statten Science Fiction Magazine #10 (February 1955), reported the Cytricon as 'news' and said that Cowen:

... openly revolted against the constant siting of the Convention in the big cities — London, Manchester, etc^[1]. Why, asked Denny, shouldn’t one of the smaller towns have a go? Kettering was mid-way between the largest English centres of fan-activity, and its choice would resolve the problem of jealousy which occasionally arises amongst those who have never had the doubtful pleasure of holding a Convention.

There was a sort of concerted sigh of relief from London, and Kettering was handed the baby with a speed that surprised them. But two active London fans are acting in an advisory capacity on the Kettering Con Committee, and no doubt the newcomers will be relying heavily on the experiences gained in other cities too.

Clarke also credited the convention with two firsts, 'the first time a whole hotel has been booked for a British s-f Con, and the first time arrangements have been made to accommodate guests for three whole days.' Membership of the Society was 2/6 with an additional 6d for the daily sessions on Saturday and Sunday. 'Wives' were offered a reduced rate of 4d. Rooms were 20/6d per day.

Venue[edit]

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. Sadly it closed permanently in 2016 and has been turned into flats.

Attendees[edit]

There are 112 members of the registered members listed 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 70 known attendees based on mentions in convention reports or appearances in photos.

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 many 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.

The membership list includes the six known or likely members of the Kettering Astronautics Society but only Denny Cowen is explicitly mentioned as being inn attendance. There is also a significant contingent of known or likely members of the North East Science Fiction Society although in most cases we don't know if they attended.

The convention[edit]

The Liverpool Group presented their tapera The March of Slime and the convention saw several fans wearing propeller beanies and, according to Rob Hansen, 'the first real appearance of costuming at a British convention'. The convention gave awards to Ted Tubb as author of the year and Eye as best fanzine, the latter accepted by Vin¢ Clarke.

Publications[edit]

The Cytricon Combozine was produced for the convention. It lists 113 members and includes special issues of Alpha, Brennschluss, Fission, Femizine, Hyphen and Satellite as well as trail for the forthcoming Nadir which seemingly never happened.

Future conventions[edit]

Links

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↑ Only two years earlier, Manchester fans were openly revolting against the constant siting of the Convention in London.
↑ The membership list includes 'R. P. Everett' and there was a known attendee called 'Pat Everest'. Both were from Leicester so the assumption is that the former is a typo for the latter.
↑ Mosher was the founder of Project Fan Club and Denny Cowen of the Kettering group was its UK representative so Mosher's membership was likely an act of solidarity.
↑ This could be K. E. Smith. He was from Liverpool and Ken Smith is from Manchester and they're relatively close. However, Smith is a very common name.
↑ The assumption here is that this is a joke allusion to Vargo Statten. Archie Mercer also quotes 'Margo' in Archive #13 (Autumn 1957), presumably in a similar vein. The address was given as Huddersfield. The only person with a Huddersfield address in Ron Bennett's Directory of Science Fiction Fandom for 1955 is Irene Boothroyd who is listed here separately.

first	Cytricon	Cytricon II
Supermancon	Eastercon	Cytricon II
	1955

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] Only two years earlier, Manchester fans were openly revolting against the constant siting of the Convention in London.

[2] The membership list includes 'R. P. Everett' and there was a known attendee called 'Pat Everest'. Both were from Leicester so the assumption is that the former is a typo for the latter.

[3] Mosher was the founder of Project Fan Club and Denny Cowen of the Kettering group was its UK representative so Mosher's membership was likely an act of solidarity.

[4] This could be K. E. Smith. He was from Liverpool and Ken Smith is from Manchester and they're relatively close. However, Smith is a very common name.

[5] The assumption here is that this is a joke allusion to Vargo Statten. Archie Mercer also quotes 'Margo' in Archive #13 (Autumn 1957), presumably in a similar vein. The address was given as Huddersfield. The only person with a Huddersfield address in Ron Bennett's Directory of Science Fiction Fandom for 1955 is Irene Boothroyd who is listed here separately.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

Cytricon I

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Preparations[edit]

Venue[edit]

Attendees[edit]

The convention[edit]

Publications[edit]

Future conventions[edit]

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