Monday 11th April

BILL BURNS:

Pat [Picton] was a long-haired fan from Malvern who hung around with Graham Hall and Dick Richardson [at the previous year's BRUMCON], and I can't say I cared for him very much. He absconded from the hotel on the Monday morning without paying his bill. Chairman Dave Barber was not happy about this and despatched Phil Rogers and other strong men to likely hiding places in search of the miscreant. Pat Picton was found skulking around the railway station and was dragged back to the hotel, where I remember sitting quietly in a corner in the lounge and listening in awe to Dave's Righteous Anger, as he demanded an apology to the landlord and a solemn promise to make good on the debt. I don't know if it frightened Pat Picton, but it certainly impressed me! Whether or not he ever paid up is conjectural (I doubt it), but this incident, among others, depressed Dave and it was one of the factors that caused him to gafiate soon afterwards.

This appears to be incorrect. Dave eventually took over from Charlie Winstone as BSFA Treasurer, not resigning that post until 1968.


Dave Barber (dk)

PETER WESTON:

The atmosphere in the car was strained and difficult. We tried to draw Charlie out of his misery but he wouldn't speak, not even to Darroll, normally the most sympathetic of listeners. On the way back we stopped at Wisbech and took a few photographs outside Ken Slater's little shop-window in Norfolk Street, but that didn't lift the mood. It was a long, horrible journey back to Birmingham. Within a week or two of the convention, Rog Peyton put out one final VECTOR. It contained my second "Behind the Scenes" column as Malcolm Edwards. Naturally, throughout the whole weekend not a single person even mentioned the new "mystery" columnist in VECTOR!


Eric and Margaret Jones depart. Sadly this was Eric's final convention. He passed away on 8th January 1967. (dk)

SOURCE NOTES & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Below is a listing of the original reports used in compiling this composite report, with links.

NB. The bits about Charles Platt in the letter from Brian Aldiss actually took place at the 1965 Eastercon.

There may also have been a report in German in one of the issues of MUNICH ROUND UP currently missing from the archive of same at fanac.org.

.....Rob Hansen

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