Convention Memories

by David Stimpson  

My first convention was in 1989 (I joined 6o1 in 1986) and I remember being quite nervous because I didn’t know anyone from Six of One except from Max Hora whom I had met the year before. At first I found it difficult to get to know members but getting involved with events and drinking in the Town Hall are two good ways to break the ice with people. One thing I do remember thinking at the time was how kind and friendly the society members were. I was amazed.

Well, I joined in the election parade and stood as a pawn on the chess board and I watched and listened to the main characters played by various members of the society. One thing kept going through my mind, I can do better than them. The main actors were actually reading from their scripts and simply saying their lines with no kind of feeling whatsoever! The next year I volunteered my services as an actor in any of the re-enactments and I was overwhelmed when five scripts were sent to me and I had been given the role of Number Six in several of the scenes during Max’s Village Tour. I was however to get a role (quite unexpectedly) in the election parade as 113, the Tally Ho reporter. I then had to wait until Sunday before I could get my teeth into the role of Number Six for the very first time and that was in a scene from ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’. Steve Dix played the role of Number Two. It was the scene where Number Six is watching Number Eight down on the beach and he is joined by Number Two. I also had the role of Number Six in three other scenes in Max’s Village Tour, all from ‘Dance of The Dead’ with Vivienne Ahmed as Number Two and Isobel Smith as Bo Peep.

I enjoyed acting in Max’s Village Tour in 1990 so the next year I put myself forward again, however my offer of help was not taken up! Nor was it the next year or the year after that for that matter. This made me feel rather bitter because I knew I was good and I wanted to do more and was never given a chance! That was to change however in 1994 when I was approached by convention organiser Rick Booth (whatever happened to him?) and Steven Ricks to play the role of Number Six in both the election parade and the chess match. I couldn’t believe it. I was so proud to have been asked and my chance had at long last arrived.

By this time I had married my wife Morag who has acted with me in many re-enactments since 1994. Morag helped me learn my lines for the election parade and we helped each other for the chess match which we organised for a record five years, so much was our success. But in the election parade as Number Six I was far from word perfect. To be quite honest, I was very nervous! At one point I dried up. My mouth was dry and, thinking I could do with a drink, I completely forgot my lines! Also in this year, I spiced up the re-enactments somewhat because I had often thought how actionless they had been in the past. So, I introduced the fencing scene from The Schizoid Man. It was a dangerous re-enactment as Steve Ward and I were using real fencing foils! As far as I recall, the scene was very well received by the conventioneers. In 1995 Morag and I organised the chess match for a second year and a brand new re-enactment, the boxing scene from The Girl Who Was Death. I remember it was boiling hot weather and there I was in full costume and make up as Mr. X. Could anyone be so stupid?

In 1996 a re-enactment was organised from Many Happy Returns. It took place by the stone boat which had to double for the gun runners boat! Replica guns and smoke effects were used to great effect, another all action re-enactment.

In 1997 another brand new re-enactment was brought to the fore, this time a scene from It’s Your Funeral where we had the ceremony with the seal of office. The re-enactment had two pieces of action happening at the same time. It was difficult to achieve but in the end it all went very smoothly and was well received by members and day visitors alike because, when I organised re-enactments, I did so 40% for Six of One (because not every member watched the re-enactments) and 60% for the day visitors. Now, I have not noted all the re-enactments simply to say “Ooh, look what I’ve done”. On the contrary, producing and acting in them has given me a great deal of pleasure and fun into the bargain.

 Another very personal happy memory of recent PortmeiriCons is how many times I was actually taken for Patrick McGoohan. This really did give me a buzz. One further memory is the fact that when I was not involved in re-enactments, time at the convention would go slowly. The convention would seem to last an age, but then the more I got involved, the faster time went and conventions were over in the twinkle of an eye!

Other memories are of chatting with Prisoner guests away from all of the ‘official’ events. In 1998 I along with Morag, Simon and Andrew (my two stepsons) were quietly chatting with Frank Maher outside the Town Hall. Frank was enjoying himself and a ‘flavour of the day’ ice cream, then Six of One ‘officialdom’ stuck its face in. Steven Ricks wanted Frank to go into the Town Hall to attend the Six of One raffle. Frank said that he was chatting to us but Steven insisted. The look on Frank Maher’s face (as he went into the Town Hall, led by Steven Ricks) said, “I don’t want to do this!”. Later in the Town Hall during the raffle, I saw Frank sitting down and he looked bored out of his skull. Why should guests have to put up with having to sit through a long, drawn out boring raffle? There, that’s a happy memory of Frank Maher and our talk together but of me feeling sorry for him... taken away from something he was enjoying, to something he wasn’t!

But to end on a happy note. Frank Maher at the 1998 convention showed Simon (my youngest stepson) how to throw a punch and gave him a fencing lesson. That’s how guests should get involved at a convention.