"So there we were, twenty-odd brave veterans of the 1964 Peterborough convention and our wives, gathered together at last with a couple of 'observers' in the form of youthful Mark Plummer (born that very year) and Claire, a mere babe in arms. Back again at 'The Bull', scene of such innocent, early revelry, a hotel which had changed beyond all recognition in the interim, and so had some of the fans.

"During set-up on Friday afternoon for example, I was approached by a lean, bespectacled chap with a grey goatee who looked at me expectantly. It might almost have been my old pal Geoff Winterman, except that he's living peacefully with his camera in remotest Wales. 'It's no good,' I confessed. 'Who ARE you?'"

A few people missed the first night; Dicky Howett and wife Margaret checked-in early next morning but he soon became star of the show with his 'long-lost' fan-film. This showed footage of the young Chris Priest and Charles Platt in stunning clarity, along with scenes from Ella Parker's last gathering in the Penitentiary and Rog Peyton's party the following night in Birmingham, documenting their journey up the newly-built and eerily-empty M1 as it was in late 1963.

Ron Bennett finally arrived on Saturday afternoon after an exhausting five-hour train journey, and long-time absentee Alan Rispin was even later, driving 200 miles to walk in with perfect timing to take long-distance greetings from his old pal Bruce Burn in New Zealand. Back in the early 1960s, Alan, Bruce, Jim and Marion were neighbours in the Kingdon Road slan-shack, and during dinner we were privileged to hear a few stories of those great days when the BSFA was young and Michael Moorcock still talked to science fiction fans. After that, Rog Peyton and I sat up to 1.00 a.m. at the feet of Keith and Bill, both trying to convince us how easy it really was to set up a web-site.

Was the Reunion worth the trouble? We all thought so, and several attendees were galvanised into renewed interest in fandom -- expect a few more members soon in a news-group near you. Peter Mabey loaned me some of his historic slides (which will show up on eFanzines.com any time now), Dick Howett took orders for copies of his film (likely to win 'Best Dramatic Performance' at Interaction), and Claire enjoyed being the youngest person in the room. We all plan to do it again in another forty years!

by Peter Weston for Trufen.net