THE NECON

On Sunday, Oct 14th together with several fellow members of the Nor'west S-F Club, I sailed forth to Bradford, Yorkshire, home of the brave and Pickles. We expected to have difficulty finding the 'vention as none of us had been in Bradford before but on espying a groove in the sidewalk* followed it and found ourselves at Pat's Cafe wherein the Necon was held. The first person we met there was Bradford's most solid citizen, Derek Pickles. At first we thought he was the hall in which we were to meet August fandom, but when he moved we realized who it was. From behind Derek's person there appeared another person, medium height, dark studious looking with Operation Fantast tatooed in pale puce on his forehead. Could it be? It was. Ken Slater. In the ensuing conversation I found out how Ken can afford to publish OF. He's in the Royal Army Pay Corps.

Somewhere around one o'clock Necon commenced. Derek as organizer opened proceedings, by reading letters and best wishes from fans who couldn't be there. He then introduced Ken Slater: everyone burst into cheers: if only the Harp had been there it would have brought tears to his tired old eyes. Next introduced was Mike Rosenblum, the only collector in Britain who still has money. Dave Cohen's turn came, followed by me. I stood up. Someone clapped. I stood up again. Then discovered that it was only Terry Jeeves trying to flag me some picture postcards. I sat down. Round the room Derek went ntroducing everyone. Bert High was there in his flying boots. Rick Dalton, Arthur Duell, and a host of other northern fans. Also present was John Park of Perth, Western Australia. Introductions over, Ken Slater took over and gave a talk on Definitions of Fantasy. A budding author, E.R. James spoke next on the subject of getting his stories published. Derek took over again to read a report on the Nolacon which sounded pretty hectic. After Derek had finished we found to our surprise that we had a Dianetics fan in our midst. He repeated some of Hubbard's claims.

Next item, and an excellent one, was timely SF questions. Teams of four took turns in having a go. Something queer came over me and when my turn came I actually got three out of three and won the latest Galaxy.

After adjourning for tea, we went to the Bradford Public Library where Derek and Mike Rosenblum had arranged an exhibition of sf and fantasy, a most amazing exhibition dating, believe it or not, from AD 300. Returning to the convention hall. we saw Metropolis.

A good time was had by all and we all hope to see one another again next year.

*Derek weighs some 17 1/2 stone.