Shore Leave (Scottish convention)

You may be looking for the U.S. convention Shore Leave.

Star Trek Convention
Name:	Shore Leave
Dates:	April 2-4, 1982
Frequency:
Location:	Ingram Hotel, Glasgow, Scotland
Type:	fan con
Focus:	Star Trek
Organization:	Sgian Dubh
Founder:	Gordon Cowden, Lesley McCartney
Founding Date:
URL:
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Shore Leave was a Star Trek: TOS convention that was held in Scotland in 1982.

This con is related to the zine, Sgian Dubh.

Britain's First NON-STOP Star Trek Convention. A triple program, including episodes relayed continuously to each bedroom. 79 Star Trek episodes, plus 23 films, many featuring your favourite actors, and other Science Fiction. Also, a Fancy Dress Disco, Auction, Sales Room, Babel Conference, and others.

Con Reports

While in Scotland I attended Shoreleave Con, a perfectly delightful small con which featured two TV channels in every hotel room, running continuous Trek episodes, movies, and other tidbits, like filksinging. It was seldom necessary to ever leave the rooms to do a lot of unnecessary circulating—unless you felt like it.

I would like to thank the Shore Leave committee for a very enjoyable and well-run con. The videos were excellent.

from the mentioned zine auction

Shore Leave was a restful con. Not, of course for the organisers, who worked themselves into the usual state of exhaustion but for the attendees, for whom this was a different kind of con. Although there were the usual discos and entertainments, attention centred on the video showing of all 79 episodes and a number of films on three channels.

Being the proud possessor of a video, I was not so desperately in need of injections of Trek as some who were there (yes it is a drug, who has not felt withdrawal symptoms?). Still it was very relaxing to watch the episodes with friends and to have the luxury of so many to choose from. The actual running of the equipment was extremely well done, and I commend the technical team for their good work.

The Ingram Hotel is pleasant and well situated and as far as accommodation was concerned, had only one defect; no lounge (there was bar seating but no totally separate space). This meant that the weekend passed as a series of room parties and little the worse for that; it was good to relax and really talk to people. Somehow larger cons seem to flash past in brief, unsatisfactory snatches of conversations. The sales room was rather quiet but this stemmed from the fact that many of the attendees were either new to Trek or not zine readers, rather than from lack of interest by established fans. The same is true of the zine auction, where prices seemed lower than usual (see list attached). However, the event was much enlivened by the techniques of the joint auctioneers (whose names I regret I did not discover). Undoubtedly the best way to up the price of a [Gayle F] poster is to unwrap it during the bidding...slowly!

Altogether, Shore Leave was a very pleasant experience. The atmosphere of a mini con is less frenetic than that of a full blown affair and makes an interesting change. Don't mistake me, please, I love big cons...any cons but diversity, surely is what it's all about?

Scottish fans also offered something new in conventions when the Sgian Dubh group mounted "Shore Leave" in Glasgow. A 24 hour video programme was provided, linked to the bedrooms through the hotel's video channel. So professionally was it done, that a mundane non-Star Trek guest staying in the hotel didn't realise that it was a private showing. Having caught a glimpse of the programme he complained to the hotel manager that he couldn't get the programme on the set in his room! (I believe that the Committee took pity on him and had his set tuned in.)

Although "Shore Leave" did not attempt to compete with the main conventions, it was well attended, and there were visitors from America and Europe. It was very much enjoyed, to the point that some of the hotel staff booked empty rooms so that they could join in.