Eccles
Grammar School
TOWN AFTER DARK
A distant chiming clock
hails the hour of eleven. The few cinemagoers disperse quickly or seek shelter
from the rain until the last bus arrives. A flurry of wind scatters several
fish and chip papers across the near-deserted road, as the traffic lights stand
like sentinels, still repeating the crimson-amber-emerald code.
The early evening drizzle
has now progressed to steady-falling rain, and the leaves of the boulevard
trees are hung heavy with blobs of icy water; the cold, gushing spray of the
fountain gleams gold on reflection by the sodium lighting and seems to whisper
silence; a neon sign 'Undertakers: Night and Day Service,' flashes like
splintered steel, heralding the darkness of death.
Yet from amongst this chill
and desolation comes a certain warmth, accompanied by the gay chatter of young
people in a cafe whose doors are open until the early hours. This is a place
with character, where youths and their girl-friends sit idly at the small
tables sipping hot coffee and listening to a guitar-playing folk-singer.
The singer adds his own brand
of sincerity to the music. He asks whether war or persecution of the helpless
is necessary, or tells of the injustices of present day society.
Outside,
further down the street, large posters on the library wall are illuminated by
bright mercury lights.
"The
Army is the Career for You!"
"Christian
Aid Week."
More pitiful still is the picture of a starving child
who begs: "Give to Oxfam!"
The
dying strains of the cafe folk-singer inspires hope and drowns the melancholy
"We shall overcome some day."
S. Barlow, 6L.Sc.
C.E.M. CONFERENCE, 1966
Sixth formers from the
North-West arrived at the Free Trade Hall on July 12th at 10-30 a.m. for the
beginning of our conference, which was entitled "Who Cares?" Soon a
uniformed official bade us stand while the chairman of the conference, Rev.
Peter Hardman, the Lord Mayor of Manchester, and two of our three speakers,
Miss White and Ald. Lever, M.P. entered. The third speaker, Rev. Don Van
Voorhis had been seized with a violent attack of migraine during the night but,
fortunately for us, he was able to join us later.
After the Lord Mayor had
welcomed us, speaking about the need for young people to care about others, we
were then addressed by Ald. Lever, who spoke about the welfare state. His
speech was followed by that of Miss White, who holds a position as secretary in
one of the branches of the Voluntary Service Unit and who spoke on the place of
voluntary services in society.
Such was the interest in the
last speech, which was that of Rev. Don Van Voorhis, who spoke on idealism,
that it made us late for dinner.
For the afternoon session,
which took the form of visits to state and voluntary organisations, people were
divided into groups. We were shown round their premises, their work was
explained and we were able to ask questions.
After this everyone once more converged on the Free Trade Hall for the final session which consisted of folk songs and readings.
Thanks must be expressed to Mr. Else for arranging for us to go to the conference, which we all enjoyed.
Susan
A. Stuart, Rosalyn M. Tong, 6UA
INTRODUCTION TO SCIENCE
FICTION
Science Fiction is the
modern magic-story. As we are now too sophisticated to believe in witches and
wizards, we believe in telepaths, spacecraft, interplanetary travel,
extraterrestrial beings, and time-machines instead. Science Fiction is
so-called, as it is usually based on probable scientific developments in
science parallel to some stories written long ago.
Jules Verne foresaw
submarines, airships and diving suits. His stories, once extravagant fantasies,
are now classic tales, quite acceptable to the modern generation. H. G. Wells
prophesied atom bombs, gas turbines, vast improvements in medical sciences and
man-made textiles. He also thought of Martian invaders and time-machines, now
commonly employed to enmesh our imaginations. He wrote about moving pavements,
helicopters, growth hormones, sky-scraper cities, advertising jargons (e.g.
'Beanz Meanz Heinz'), and germ warfare, all of which, though mere dreams in his
era, are now accepted as facts. Arthur C. Clarke, the most famous modern
Science Fiction writer, designed a communications satellite in detail, for a
boys' paper twenty years ago. Because he did not patent it, he did not receive
royalties from Early Bird!
There are several classes of science fiction:
The seven-headed
purple monster and the damsel in distress model of story, is most widely
recognised as Science Fiction among nonreaders; unfortunately, this is worth
reading only for amusement. Clifford Simak is one of the leading writers of the
completely incredible: e.g., he wrote a story about bowling-balls and sewing
machines going for a walk, directed by a wonder dog and a pink blob of jelly.
More serious writers use
one or two fantastic details and build a completely acceptable story of human
reactions upon them. Given that the galaxies are so enormous that the
possibility of other inhabited planets is undoubted, then the stories about
them are no more incredible than the tales of exploration in darkest Africa,
written by Rider Haggard.
A favourite theme is
telepathy, portrayed excellently by Naomi Hitchison in "Stories of the
people" — a book about a colony of telepaths and the difficulties they
encounter trying to lead a normal life.
Another favourite is
the aftermath of an atomic war, ranging from immediate survival stories to
results of long term mutations.
A good example of the latter is John Wyndham's
"The Chrysalids," a book which combines this theme with telepathy.
Nevil Shute's "On the Beach" is probably the most thought-provoking
of these stories.
Life on Mars, or any other planet, possibly gives most
scope for detailed stories about social organisation on planets whose
meteorological conditions may be extremely different from ours.
Something out of control on Earth poses more questions
for the skilful Science Fiction writer to answer. John Wyndham has written
three interesting books on the subject.
The best vehicle for
Science Fiction is the short story, in which there is no need for a detailed
background, leaving the intricate human behaviour patterns to be driven home.
Short stories cover the whole field, and some more besides. Edmund Crispin's
collections, "Best S.F. 1, 2, etc." are probably the best
introduction to Science Fiction for a new reader. Ray Bradbury's fantasies,
Arthur C. Clarke's more down-to-earth and often humorous collections ('Tales
of Ten Worlds'), James Blish's lack of faith in humanity, Daphne du Maurier's
"The Birds," recently filmed, Brian Aldiss, Bertram Chandler, Fred
Hoyle, H. G. Wells and Clifford Simak all demonstrate their mastery of this
form of writing.
Pleas for social reform can
be disguised in Science Fiction, either as straightforward Utopias or satires,
cunningly concealed in excellent stories. George Orwell's "1984," H.
G. Wells' "Modern Utopia," Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451,"
James Blish's "A Case of Conscience," and many others point a finger
at faults in our present society.
Science Fiction is a
serious form of writing, the best exponents of the art undoubtedly ranking
above writers in other fields. As in all classes of fiction, however, the wheat
and the chaff need sorting. It can be an extremely rewarding field of reading, certainly
not as escapism, as it is often made out to be, with plenty of wry human comment,
satire and serious character-portrayal, to colour the many volumes, of which
most are well worth reading..
A. J. Britton, 5 Science
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