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WALLY WEBER'S TAFF TRIP
1: Friday Night at Ella's
Wally Weber never wrote a full TAFF report, only the synopsis to be found
here. However, I've recently come into photos he took then - negatives, no less! - and so can now provide an illustrated
version of the pre-Eastercon part:
"Hang on readers; we're about to do a four week tour in two pages. The non-stop flight from Seattle to London (or from March
18, 1964 to March 19, 1964, if you want to look at it from the fourth dimension) was pleasant and quick. London's Heathrow
Airport looked freshly built for the occasion and, like most of the new construction I was to find in England, looked like
any newly built fantastically expensive Stateside building. Realizing that Ella Parker would be at work on Thursday until
late afternoon, I loitered for some time at the airport, then spent the rest of the day sightseeing in London. Around
7 o'clock I finally called Ella and was informed, as only Ella can inform, that she had skipped work that day to be on hand
when I arrived.
To rectify this, the first mistake I've ever made in my whole life, I arranged to meet her for lunch on Friday. I shrewdly
arrived an hour early and, discovering she was not there, naturally assumed I had been too late. At least I was spacing my
blunders one day apart.
Friday night I witnessed one of Ella's weekly fan gatherings. She has the fans trained for neatness. For example, when
Langdon Jones saw tea about to be spilled, he immediately threw himself under the falling drops to protect Ella's rug.
Fans visiting Ella seem to have a fierce desire to survive."
Wally attended two Friday night gatherings at Ella's - this one on 20th March and another on 10th April. I'm taking the
presence of Lang Jones to indicate these were taken on the former, but don't know for sure. If evidence is supplied indicating
it's the latter, I will rejig this section accordingly.
unknown1, unknown2, George Locke, Dick Ellingsworth
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unknown1, unknown2, George Locke, Mike Moorcock, unknown3
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Lang Jones, Dave Busby, Dicky Howett, Ted Forsyth, Pat Kearney, Ella.
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Ella, Marion Lansdale (who became Marion Linwood on 27th March), Dick Ellingsworth,
unknown4
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ATom, unknown4, Diane Goulding, Ted Ball
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Lang Jones, Arthur Thomson
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Dicky Howett, Dave Busby
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