As with everything in life, we must know where we have been to know where we are going. Now that the Blue Box Companions (hereafter known as the BBC) have become 10 years old, we feel it is about time to publish the rest of the story.
On April 4, 1987, the first official meeting of the Alabama Doctor Who Fan Club was held. Attendance was great as people came from all around the state for the viewing of The Five Doctors. After another couple of organisational meetings, and a general vote, the club decided to become a TARDIS of the Companions of Doctor Who. We began to hold meetings at the UAB Humanities Building. The club’s mission: to seek out new fans and new episodes; to boldly Who as no other club has before. The next few meetings saw the emergence of a number of different newsletters including the limited Who Knows. December saw the birth of Who in Who the newsletter that was to become the official newsletter of the BBC. At this time our club was having problems with gaining entrance to the room as well as strange looks from police as we were seen moving a telly and video into the room (if we could get in). We had suggestions of different branches of the Birmingham Public Library as well as several local restaurants. The meeting place had to be one that could provide a telly and video as carrying one in downtown Birmingham does look a bit suspicious. Eventually the Avondale Branch of the library won out over the other choices. In addition, we decided to elect officers to our club.
The Jones Era
In December of 1988, we elected our first set of officers. Our President, Jeff Jones, who had been organising the appropriation of a telly and video for the episode viewing, was instantly elected. Frank Colvin and Lorraine Walker were elected as Vice President and Secretary, respectively. As we wanted to give everyone a chance to run for office if they wanted, elections were held biannually. The next election saw Garry and Cathy Brown, who were also writing, editing and publishing Who in Who, become the secretary/treasurer of the club with the presidential and vice-presidential positions remaining constant.
In August of 1989, Garry and Cathy Brown bid a farewell to the club as they were moving to Tennessee for a job. Who in Who was put on hiatus and new elections were commissioned. The Presidency remained the same as the Vice President stepped down to pursue other interests. Lorraine Walker was elected as PR Officer for the club and Rebecca Self was elected to the now vacant Secretary/Treasurer position. The Vice Presidency remained unfilled. This meeting also saw the emergence of a new newsletter to later become Blue Box Companion. We changed our name officially to the Blue Box Companions (better known as the BBC).
January of 1990 saw the re-emergence of Who in Who the new official fanzine of the BBC. The official newsletter now was the Blue Box Companion.
The Street Era
In August of 1990, the club felt is was time to reorganise. A constitution was drafted and ratified at the next meeting. Dues were set at a tenner a year and election for officers was held. We chose October as the beginning of the fiscal year in addition to electing Bill Street as our new President. Paula Woodall and Lorraine Walker were elected to the Vice President and Secretary/Treasurer positions, respectively.
January 1991 saw the BBC move from their Avondale home to Hoover. As our club was growing in size, we needed the space and the Hoover library was able to offer it.
At the 1991 elections, the Secretary/Treasurer office was split. Lorraine remained in the Secretary office and Debye Melton was elected as Treasurer. In addition, the dues were raised to $12 per year and we changed the constitution to allow us to change our fiscal year to a calendar year. The dues were set to be pro-rated for the new members as everyone’s dues became due at the end of the December meeting.
The BBC saw many thing happen during its stay at the Hoover library. The biggest change has to be the building of the larger Hoover branch of the library just across the street from the current one which shared a building with the Hoover Police Station. This meeting place has remained our constant home ever since.
The Woodall Era
In August of 1993, Bill Street felt he was having trouble keeping up his duties for the club’s sake and announced that he was going to not run for the Presidency in the next election. We elected Paula Woodall to be the President. Bill Street did accept the election to the Vice Presidency. The Secretary and Treasurer positions were reunited and Debye Melton continued in the office.
The next year’s elections saw Bill Street announce that he was going to be unable to continue in his role as Vice President because of a job. Marty Schulman was elected to Bill’s Vice Presidency. These three officers were to remain in office until August 1996.
In January of 1996, a short six years after reviving Who in Who, the official fanzine was put on hiatus, where it has remained until present day. Plans are in the works for another revival of the fanzine, but only the Doctor knows when and where it will happen.
In August 1995, the club chose to split the Secretary/Treasurer position again. Debye remained as the club’s Treasurer. Bill Savage, who had played a major role in the opening of a sister club in Huntsville, was elected as Secretary. In March of 1996, Bill announced that he was going to have to step down as he was going to be moving to Omaha for a job in May. Becky Byrd volunteered to step into his shoes.
In August of 1996, Becky decided to step down from the position. The Secretary and Treasurer positions were fused once more and Debye Melton filled the position.
The Sisterhood of the BBC
In August of 1990, Bill Savage and Paula Woodall (the newly elected Vice President of the BBC) began the Twickenham Time Travelers of Huntsville (hereafter known as T3). The club was a great inspiration to the BBC as several of the members had been active in other clubs before T3. The most notable of these was Patrick and Janine Reardon who were members of the now defunct Federation (a Doctor Who/Blake’s Seven cooperative). This club lasted for four long years until its members voted to dissolve it. Hopefully none of that solution survived as we would hate for accidents to happen.
With Bill Savage’s move to Omaha in May of 1996, he decided to start a new club. Time Travelers Anonymous was formed and on November 23, 1996 (the 33rd anniversary of the start of Doctor Who) held its first meeting.
The People
What is a club without its members? Our membership have mostly joined our ranks because of an adveritisement in the Kudzu & Punch sections of the Birmingham papers as well as Fun ‘n’ Stuff. We do still have three of our charter members still with the club. These are Allen Hammack, Deborah Woodley (both of which were instrumental in the organising of the beginnings of the club) and Jerry Bard (the Librarian and Programming Committee Chairman).
MasterBrit Theatre
What is a club without its library? Our club library has grown from strictly Doctor Who to also include an encompassing array of various British programmes. Included in the library are Blake’s Seven, Red Dwarf, Absolutely Fabulous, Monty Python, and Mr. Bean to name but a few. As a part of the programming committee’s functions, the BBC held a video room at Continuity, the local Science Fiction convention called MasterBrit Theatre.
In July 1995, MasterBrit Theatre was born as a videozine similar to that of the Federation’s videozine. As an easy was of bringing only one tape to the meetings, MasterBrit Theatre was born as such. All of the month’s programming was put on with an intermission between the Doctor Who and the extra British comedy. We have also included video hosts to help guide us through the programming. The original standard host was Bill Savage. He was a perfect choice as he could still keep in contact with the club while in Omaha but when he stepped down as primary host, a choice was made to offer the post to Max Tube. He accepted by saying "Mmmmhrrgh mmeraghh sure mmmhreggg grrrrnnmmg love to." As time progresses we have been able to get some celebrities to record video promos for us.
A Hope for the Future
In order to survive, we must remember to adapt, adopt, and improve. Our first ten years were a hoot. Here’s to ten more. Cheers! Thanks a lot.
