Midvention 1

The Midvention was a small convention held in Leicester, UK on April 23–26 1943. The committee was R. Rowland Johnson, Donald Houston, Arthur Williams, A. W. Gardner, Ralph E. Orme, J. Michael Rosenblum, Tom Hughes and Arthur Busby. It was the first British convention since May 1939 and it may have been the first British convention to charge an attendance fee and issue progress reports.

Preparation

Futurian War Digest #24 (October 1942) carried an announcement that Johnson was 'working on the idea of a Midland Convention' and he seemingly issued some kind of flyer as a rider with #24 in November 1942. This was followed by a 'Report no.1' in January 1943 announcing that the gathering would be held in Birmingham with a likely fee of 5/- (five shillings) per attendee payable later. Two subsequent reports were seemingly issued alongside Futurian War Digest #26 and #27. It's unclear whether the 5/- fee was in fact charged.

Venue

Busby and Hughes, described in the programme book as 'Sub-committee (Birmingham)' and with a brief to find a venue suitable for 50, had been trying to locate somewhere suitable but were unsuccessful and so the convention was relocated at the last moment to Leicester, Johnson's home city.

According to attendee Bert Lewis 'The 'con' was to be held in a small room in the local school, courtesy of a friend of the organiser.' Most of the out of town visitors stayed in the Belmont Hotel.

Attendees

The organisers were clearly hoping for more but the wartime circumstances were likely against them. There seem to have been between 14 and 20 attendees, the slight numerical fuzziness being because Johnson's account refers to 'fourteen visitors' which may exclude locals such as himself. Lewis said '15 to 20'. Known attendees based on Johnson's report were:

• Arthur Busby
• B. H. Edwards
• George Ellis
• A. W. Gardner
• Ron Holmes
• Donald Houston
• Tom Hughes
• R. Rowland Johnson
• Ron Lane
• Peter Knott
• Bert Lewis
• Terry Overton
• Arthur Williams

Despite being listed as committee, J. Michael Rosenblum was unable to attend. It's unclear if Ralph Orme was present; he isn't mentioned in Johnson's account. Overton had travelled overnight by train from Cardiff.

The convention

Only Edwards and Williams arrived on Friday and there were no formal events. On Saturday 'We decided to depart somewhat from the programme' and after opening speeches and lunch the highlight was the auction conducted by Holmes. 'It consisted mainly of books and American Science Fiction Magazines. In spite of the low attendance these were quickly snapped up', with Knott bidding extensively. In the evening there was a musical performance and a debate on the question 'there should be no precise line of demarcation between s-f and Fantasy' proposed by Lewis and opposed by Overton.

Sunday featured a further auction and a science-fictional Brains Trust in which 'Terry Overton ... shone, possessing as he does an almost fantastically, ridiculously detailed knowledge of back-numbers of mags. Monday was again informal.

Johnson said of Midvention:

I don't know whether to call the convention a success or not. There were only about fourteen visitors, and that naturally seriously hampered our activities. The programme wasn't strictly adhered to either. Moreover, several of the visitors could only stay a short time. But everyone seemed to have an enjoyable time; all had the pleasure of meeting others of their ilk, too, and for this alone, the convention was worth-while for whatever 'Radcliffe' may say, fans are darned good fellows, and meeting them is a very great pleasure.

Publications

Johnson issued a flyer and then three numbered pre-convention 'Reports' as riders to Futurian War Digest between November 1942 and March 1943. These are effectively progress reports, the first such produced by a British convention. Williams produced a 16-page convention booklet and Johnson produced a four-page post-convention report in the spring.

Johnson was promoting the idea of a second Midvention in a rider to Futurian War Digest #36 in August 1944.

• 1943 Programme.
• first report, January 1943

From Fancyclopedia 1, ca. 1944

Midvention – The Midlands Science-Fiction Convention of 1943.

See Early Conventions.

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first	Midvention	Midventionette
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