Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 53 — page 97: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

NEZFEZ—1 by ALAN BURNS The N.E.S.F.S. was born out of a letter by Don Allen to Authentic. A reply came from Ted Mason of Birtley, who volunteered to do some-secre- tarial work, and the Society was practically in business. When Fred Fairless, of Heb-- _ burn-on-Tyne (who has almost all the science fiction mags in the world), came to be librar- ian Our success was assured. We meet the second Sunday in each month in the Lambton Arms, Chester-le-Street, at 3.30 p.m. We have a perman- ent secretary, a treasurer and librarian combined, and Don Allen. Don is well worth an article to himself. He’s the baby of the club, and is silent only when asked to speak, but he more than makes up for it by his heroic flow of written words. He preduces Satellite, our fanzine, and has the shoulders of a Hercules from cranking a duplicator. Force of circumstances, the need to eat and sleep, has caused him to cut Satellite to a quarterly, but when we get bigger we'll undoubtedly try 96 to get Don a motor-driven machine. Democratically, the chairman is elected by the members at each meeting, and the meetifigs are quite orderly while the business is being dealt with. This must take all of three minutes. After that our librarian, having en- trenched himself behind a barricade of books, systematic- ally repels raiding parties who have not paid their shilling meeting fee and their shilling library fee. When the books borrowed have been returned and new ones issued, the meet- ing breaks up into little groups where science fiction is dis- cussed. Anyone talking about anything else is severely repri- manded by being asked to design a faster- than - light drive. On the whole the Society has a very active membership, though, alas, none of the gentle sex have so far ap- peared to grace its meetings. Members include the labora- tory director of a leading paint firm, a press photographer and an expert in elecironics. conmcoooks.conn