Nor'west Science Fantasy Club

Nor'west Science Fantasy Club was a UK club based in Manchester and abbreviated as NSFC.

Eric Bentcliffe was seeking like-minded individuals and contacted Dave Cohen via Operation Fantast. Cohen was already in touch with Frank Richards and A. E. “Taffy” Williams and the four met up in January 1951. Cohen suggested the Waterloo Hotel in Cheetham Hill as an ongoing meeting place and a newspaper advertisement drew in more people, leading to the birth of the Nor'west Science Fantasy Club.

Members attended the Mancon in 1952 and sponsored Supermancon in 1954. Club membership peaked at 60 or so, including Brian Varley and Sandy Sanderson, both in the army and stationed in the area. Frances Evans was an early recruit, the first and for most of its history only female member. However, Sanderson claimed that the active membership in 1952 was only about six people (Femizine #9, May 1956).

The NSFC clubzine was Space Times edited by Bentcliffe with for some issues Eric Jones, and Bentcliffe produced Checklist of British SF And Fantasy Magazines for the club in spring 1952.

John Russell Fearn was the group's patron.

The club disintegrated in early 1954 before the Supermancon.

Members described it in TNFF Vol. 10, #4 (August 1951, p. 25).

Members

This list is a work in progress

The NSFC achieved a worldwide membership of 60 or more. A partial list of members was included in Space Times #1 but as of 2024 a copy of that hasn't been traced and it may be lost to the ages. The list was continued in #2, and new members were announced in subsequent issues. The number following the name in the list below is the issue of Space Times in which the membership was confirmed. Known founder or otherwise early members are marked (1?) as it's assumed they were noted in the likely lost first issue.

Names marked * lived outside – sometimes considerably outside – the north-west area.

1. Peter Baillie* (5)
2. Sgt Barstow* (6)
3. Eric Bentcliffe (1?)
4. Phil Best (2)
5. Jack Bowman (9)
6. Ron Burrows (2)
7. Dave Cohen (1?)
8. Tony Cooper* (2)
9. Lyell Crane* (7)
10. Edith Crowther (2)
11. Ken Crowther (2)
12. Ray Daniels (6)
13. Frank Dodd* (3)
14. George Ellis (?)
15. Cyril Evans
16. Frances Evans
17. John Russell Fearn (patron)
18. Eva Firestone* (2)
19. Donald B. Gooch (9)
20. Johnny Gott (10)
21. J. Greenberg (9)
22. Bill Hague (2)
23. James Harper* (4)
24. C. H. Hasted* (5)
25. Frank Hayes (6)
26. Eric Hubeand (7)
27. Wilf Jennings (2)
28. Bill Jesson (2)
29. Eric Jones
30. Sid Klepper (1?)
31. John Koestner* (2)
32. Bernard Lee (2)
33. Pat Lee (2)
34. Brian Lewis* (7)
35. Geoff Lewis (2)
36. Frank Leyland (2)
37. S. Marshall (5)
38. Donald McCormick (2)
39. Mr McDermott (7)
40. Orville W. Mosher* (7)
41. D. Peter Ogden (2)
42. H. B. Pedavitz (2)
43. Ray E. Pate* (5)
44. Tom Piper* (9)
45. Frank Richards (1?)
46. George Richards (7)
47. Fred Robinson* (7)
48. D. Rosenberg (9)
49. Mike Rosenblum* (5)
50. Sandy Sanderson (4)
51. Charles Saunders (6)
52. Phil Schless (2)
53. Robin Silburn (2)
54. Dag Siggerud* (2)
55. Frank Simpson (1?)
56. Ken Slater* (5)
57. Dale R. Smith* (1?)
58. D. R. Smith* (2)
59. K. E. Smith
60. Paul Sowerby (2)
61. Elmer D. Standish* (9)
62. Bob Swartz (2)
63. Tony Thorne* (4)
64. Brian Varley (4)
65. Thomas N. Watt* (7)
66. A. E. 'Taffy' Williams (1?)
67. Walter A. Willis* (3)
68. John Wright (7)
69. Margaret Wroe (7)
70. Ken Woodward (2)

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Club

1951—1954

This is a club page. Please extend it by adding information about when and where the club met, when and by whom it was founded, how long it was active, notable accomplishments, well-known members, clubzines, any conventions it ran, external links to the club's website, other club pages, etc. When there's a floreat (Fl.), this indicates the time or times for which we have found evidence that the club existed. This is probably not going to represent the club's full lifetime, so please update it if you can!