Mediacon

This article is for a specific con called Mediacon. For more general cons with this description, see Conventions.

Convention
Name:	Mediacon
Dates:	September 15, 1979
Frequency:	once
Location:	Surrey, England
Type:	fan-run minicon
Focus:	Star Trek: TOS and other science fiction media fandoms
Organization:	London Plus Group
Founder:
Founding Date:
URL:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Mediacon was a fan-run minicon held in England. It was organized by London Plus Group as a fundraiser for a needy fan named Doreen.

The con raised £365.33.

Con Reports

It is a tradition in Britain that ST and SF cons are non profit making ventures and that the proceeds go to cancer research or other similar organisations. Following this tradition, on Saturday 15th September the Surrey town of Richmond played host to a very special minicon, the London Plus Group's Mediacon '79. The proceeds of this con are going to help a handicapped LPG member and I was very happy to be able to attend and I thank [name redacted] for providing me with a 'flop' for the weekend. The con began at midday and straight away people began to investigate the dealers' tables which flanked the main hall, displaying a variety of goods including zines, photos, books, tribbles, sehlats, posters and teddies in Starfleet uniform. The first item on the programme vias a talk by Anne Page to gather with a collection of rare and quite ancient BBC slides from 'Out of the Unknown' and 'Dr. Who'. This was followed by·a slide show from Robin Hill which included many of his cartoon tribbles and some very unusual STAR TREK shots. Next came an unscheduled but extremely interesting talk about extraterristrial life, star ships, deep space exploration and colonisation, which, it seems, are no longer just fiction. All the items were separated by breaks for people to mingle, eat and purchase from the dealers' tables and in a side room there were video tapes of ST, SPACE 1999 and UFO shown throughout the afternoon. The auction and prize-giving ceremony finished up the first stage of the convention and the hall was cleared for the disco. All in all it was a very enjoyable day. I was pleased to see so many familiar faces and it was obvious that many people had travelled some distance to attend.

MediaCon 79 was a one day convention organised by the London Plus Group. The aim was to raise funds to aid one of the group's members (who is also a Star Trek fan) who is physically disabled by a severe spinal curvature. The convention was multi-media and was arranged for science fiction fans in general rather than one particular group.

MediaCon commenced at 12 noon with a brief opening ceremony (which we managed to miss, thanks to British Rail — again!). The first hour and a half was spent bumping into people you hadn't seen since the Leeds con at the beginning of the year, and grabbing new zines, etc. The programme for the con had been arranged to allow plenty of time for general chit-chat and, in my opinion, was well utilized by af!.

At 1:30 pm (or thereabouts) Ann Page gave a short talk before introducing some slides she had obtained from the BBC archives of some old BBC science-fiction shows. It was really interesting seeing some of the shots again, particularly as it brought back memories of things that had been stored away in dusty corners of minds.

Following yet more chit-chat, the next item on the agenda was a slide show put together by Robin Hill. Robin has an excellent sense of humour and the slide show was really great fun to watch. There was also a talk given by Gerry Webb of the British Interplanetary Society.

The afternoon was rounded off by the auction, presided by Rog Peyton (need more be said!) Throughout the afternoon a video recorder was in operation in a separate room, showing Star Trek episodes 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' and Amok Time'; a U.F.O. episode, plus various other items I can't remember.

Just before the end of the auction we unfortunately had to leave (connecting trains for home don't!!!), but after closing for tea MediaCon resumed at 7 pm with a disco, a spot for Chris Chivers to sing some of his space songs, and the fancy dress competition.

The following are the results of the various competitions, etc. taking place on the day, which attendees of MediaCon will be interested in. Thanks to Barbara Kitson for Jetting us know these results, and also many thanks to all those who made MediaCon possible.

1. The total raised - £365.33.

2. MediaCon Mastermind —

1st Sue Toher — 233 Points

2nd Keith Jones - 192 Points

3rd Carol Keogh - 162 Points

3. Fancy Dress:—

a) Best SF Avril Lansdell — 'Lady Rohana of Darkover'

b) Best TV Jay Felton and Sam Armitage — 'Carbon and Crystal'

c) Prettiest Girl Marion Allesbrook - 'What the well-dressed Enterprise crew-woman will be wearing next year'

d) Most Butch Paul Mark Tarns - 'Dan Dare - 2000AD'

e) Weirdest Sue Turner — 'Hairy Boots'