purplecthulhu

Yesterday we had the twenty-fifth birthday party for ICSF, the Science Fiction club I help to run while at college. It was an interesting affair. Because I've moved back to IC, I know most of the current active members, and since I was a student there from 83 to 90, I also know a lot of the more mature attendees, including the 'Guest of Honour', Dr John Finlay (or is he a Prof. by now?). As well as a birthday party, awards were presented to note the contributions of several people to the club over the years. The most notable of these was to John Finlay who, through deft manoevering by then club chairman Tom Yates, made it possible for the club to get a permanent room in which to store its books. This library now numbers over 5000 books and videos, and is a most impressive sight for those of us who remember the tatty cupboards and cardboard boxes that used to be its home.

The organizers had done quite an impressive job of getting antedeluvian members along. I was easy, since I'm a local again, but they'd also traced several people from earlier epochs of the society, as well as some long lost members from my own and later periods. ICSF provided food in the form of a buffet (Buffet the Vampire Slayer, according to the blurb), while the Union bar provided beer. The atmosphere was very friendly, and conversations flowed as freely as the beer. It was fun talking student politics to John Finlay's kids, one of whom is about to become student president at Brunel University, and I also compared notes with Anthony Brown, ICSF's 'media correspondent' while I was chair, and now a filthy pro as deputy editor of Starburst. Numerous LJers were there, including alexmc, bugshaw, major_clanger among others. In many ways the event had the feeling of a Con bar, without interruptions from the programme. Hopefully several of the people who were there will have their interest in fandom rekindled (in fact some seem to be convention regulars without my knowing it) and may turn up at Contexxt.

A grand day out indeed!