Prehistory

The introduction of Doctor Who in Birmingham is due mainly to Allen Hammack.

When Allen moved to Birmingham, he opened a comic shop called "Lion & Unicorn". He met numerous people and introduced some of them to Doctor Who.

February 1987:  Allen and his friends decided to start a sign-up list for those interested in a Doctor Who club.  This was also the same time the USA Tour (aka "Doctor Who Celebration & Tour 87-88") came through Birmingham.

With strong interest from the sign-up sheet, Allen and his friend conducted a couple of organizational meetings and were able to start the club.

1987

Meeting Location: Avondale Regional Branch Library

April 4th, 1987:  The first official meeting of the "Alabama Doctor Who Fan Club" was held.  Many enthusiasts came from all around the state for the viewing of The Five Doctors.

After a couple of organizational meetings and a general vote, the club decided to become "a TARDIS of the Companions of Doctor Who". Meetings were held at the UAB Humanities Building. The club’s mission was "to seek out new fans and new episodes; to boldly Who as no other club has before".

After few more meetings, the club saw the emergence of a number of different newsletters, including the limited Who Knows. Who in Who debut in December and eventually spawned the official newsletter of the BBC.

At this time, the club had problems gaining entrance to the room.  When we were able to gain entrance, police officers gave strange looks as we were observed moving a telly and video player into the room.

Suggestions were given for a different branch of the Birmingham Public Library which would also provide several local restaurants for eating after the meeting.  The meeting place had to be one that could provide a telly and video player, in order to simplify our meeting needs.

Eventually, the Avondale Regional Branch Library won out over the other choices. In addition, we decided to elect officers to our club.

Elected Offices

All elections occur in August, unless otherwise noted. Elected officials take office the following month for fiscal year (fiscal year is September to August).

Officials

September 1988 - February 1989

President: Jeff Jones
Vice President: Frank Colvin
Secretary: Lorraine Walker
Publicity Officer/Editor: Lorraine Walker
Meeting Location: Avondale Regional Branch Library

December 1988:  We elected officers.

Our President, Jeff Jones, who had been organizing the appropriation of a telly and video player for the episode viewing, was instantly elected. Frank Colvin and Lorraine Walker were elected as Vice President and Secretary, respectively.

March 1989 - August 1989

President: Jeff Jones
Vice President: Frank Colvin
Secretary: Garry Brown
Treasurer: Cathy Brown
Publicity Officer/Editor: Lorraine Walker
Meeting Location: Avondale Regional Branch Library

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.

September 1989 - August 1990

President: Jeff Jones
Vice President: (none)
Secretary/Treasurer: Rebecca Self
Publicity Officer/Editor: Lorraine Walker
Meeting Location: Avondale Regional Branch Library

August 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 Secretary/Treasurer. The Vice Presidency remained unfilled. This meeting 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 1990 saw the re-emergence of Who in Who, the new official fanzine of the BBC. Also, the official newsletter now was the Blue Box Companion.

1990 : The Sisterhood of the BBC

August 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 four years until its members voted to dissolve it.

Bill Savage moved to Omaha in May of 1996.  He decided to start a new club, Time Travelers Anonymous.  The club held it's first meeting on November 23, 1996 (the 33rd anniversary of the start of Doctor Who).

September 1990 - August 1992

President: Bill Street
Vice President: Paula Woodall
Secretary/Treasurer/Editor-in-Chief: Lorraine Walker
Treasurer: Debbye Melton
Chief Typesetter/Bottle Washer: Paula Woodall
Meeting Location: Hoover Public Library
Alternate Meeting Location: Avondale Regional Branch Library (January 1992)
Alternate Meeting Location: Homewood Public Library (April 1992, May 1992)

August 1990:  The club felt it was time to reorganize. 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 as Vice President and Secretary/Treasurer positions, respectively.

January 1991:  The BBC move from the Avondale Regional Branch Library to Hoover Public Library -- often referred to as the "(W)Hoover Public Library" in the club newsletter. As our club was growing in size, we needed the space and the Hoover Public Library was able to offer it.

At the 1991 elections, the Secretary/Treasurer office was split. Lorraine remained in the Secretary office and Debbye 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.

Many changes occurred at the Hoover Public Library. The biggest change was the extension of the library which was shared with the Hoover Police Station.

September 1992 - August 1993

President: Bill Street
Vice President: Paula Woodall
Treasurer: Debbye Melton
Editor: Lorraine Walker
Meeting Location: Hoover Public Library

September 1993 - August 1994

President: Paula Woodall
Vice President: Bill Street (September 1993 to July 1994)
Vice President: Martin Schulman
Secretary/Treasurer: Debbye Melton
Editor: Lorraine Walker
Meeting Location: Hoover Public Library
Alternate Meeting Location: Springville Road Library (March 1994)

August 1993:  Bill Street felt he was having trouble keeping up his duties.  Bill announced he would not run for the Presidency in the upcoming election. When the elections were completed, Paula Woodall became President and Bill Street was Vice President. The Secretary and Treasurer positions were reunited and Debbye Melton continued these positions.

July 1994:  Bill Street announces that he was going to be unable to continue in his role as Vice President due to his occupation. Martin (Marty) Schulman was elected to Bill’s Vice Presidency.

September 1994 - August 1995

President: Paula Woodall
Vice President: Martin Schulman
Secretary/Treasurer: Debbye Melton
Program Committee Chairman: Jerry Bard (April 1995 until)
Publicity Committee Chairman: Bill Savage (June 1995 until)
Editor: Lorraine Walker
Meeting Location: Hoover Public Library
Alternate Meeting Location: Springville Road Library (January 1995, February 1995)

September 1995 - August 1996

President: Paula Woodall
Vice President: Martin Schulman
Secretary: Debbye Melton (September 1995, October 1995)
Secretary: Bill Savage (November 1995 until)
Assistant Secretary: Lorraine Walker
Treasurer: Debbye Melton
Program Committee Chairman: Jerry Bard
Publicity Committee Chairman: Bill Savage
Editor: Lorraine Walker
Meeting Location: Hoover Public Library

August 1995:  The club chose to split the Secretary/Treasurer position again. Debbye 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.

March 1996:  Bill announced that he was going to have to step down since he was moving to Omaha for a job in May. Becky Byrd volunteered to step into his shoes.

January 1996: A short six years after reviving Who in Who, the official fanzine was put on hiatus, where it has remained to this day.

September 1996 - August 1997

President: Paula Woodall
Vice President: Martin Schulman
Treasurer: Debbye Melton
Program Committee Chairman: Jerry Bard
Editor: Kriss Hougland (December 1996 until)
Meeting Location: Hoover Public Library

August 1996:  Becky decided to step down from the position. The Secretary and Treasurer positions were fused once more and Debbye Melton filled the position.

September 1996:  Bill Savage started a website for the club, www.radkis.net/davros/Bluebox.html.  This was the start of our club's presence on the Internet.

June 1997:  The club newsletter was the first known mention of our "working" website.  The location was www.binary.net/auberon/blue/bluebox.html, which is currently unavailable.

September 1997 - August 1999

President: Paula Woodall
Vice President: Martin Schulman
Secretary/Treasurer: Jerry Bard (November 1998 until)
Treasurer: Debbye Melton
Program Committee Chairman: Jerry Bard
High Council Secretary/Treasurer: Debbye Melton
High Council Librarian/MasterBrit Theatre Guru: Jerry Bard
Head Scribe: Kriss Hougland
Layout Design: Jason Ring (December 1997 until)
Scribe: Jason Ring
Meeting Location: Hoover Public Library

September 1999 - August 2000

Lord President: Paula Woodall
Chancellor/Vice President: Kriss Hougland
Secretary/Treasurer: Jean McDonald
Publisher: Jerry Bard
High Council Librarian/MasterBrit Theatre Guru: Jerry Bard
Editor/Artistic Direction: Jason Ring
Meeting Location: Hoover Public Library
New Meeting Location: Homewood Public Library (October 1999 until)

January 6th, 2000:  Yahoo Group for the club was created by Bill Savage.

September 2000 - August 2001

Lord President: Kriss Hougland
Chancellor/Vice President: Tommy Neel
Secretary/Treasurer: Jean McDonald
Publisher/Editor: Jason Ring
Meeting Location: Homewood Public Library

September 2001 - August 2006

Lord President: Tommy Neel
Chancellor/Vice President: Becky Byrd
Secretary/Treasurer: Jean McDonald
Publisher/Editor: Jason Ring
Meeting Location: Homewood Public Library

September 2006 - August 2007

Lord President: Jason Ring
Chancellor/Vice President: Karl Korendil
Secretary/Treasurer: Jean McDonald
Publisher/Editor: Jason Ring
Video Engineer: Jason Ring
Meeting Location: Homewood Public Library

September 2007 - August 2011

Lord President: Jason Ring
Chancellor/Vice President: Elizabeth Peters
Secretary/Treasurer: Jean McDonald
Publisher/Editor: Jason Ring
Video Engineer: Jason Ring
Meeting Location: Homewood Public Library

On July 21st, 2008, Matt Monroe passed away. He was loved by many members of our club.  He will be sorely missed.

At the end of 2008, the club purchased the domain of bbcbham.org and bbcbham.com and started a simple presence using Google Apps for managing the website.

Beginning 2010, the club started posting events on the Cultural Alliance website.  In 2011, Cultural Alliance moved their event posting to Birmingham365.org.

September 2011 - August 2013

Lord President: Hiram Lester
Chancellor/Vice President: Elizabeth Peters
Secretary/Treasurer: Jean McDonald
Publisher/Editor: Paula Woodall
Video Engineer: Hiram Lester and Jason Ring
Meeting Location: Homewood Public Library

In 2011, recognized for his enthusiasm in Doctor Who, Hiram Lester became our President. Hiram is most notable for always staying on top of the latest T-shirts from TeeFury and other similar sites.

September 4th, 2012:  The club started a Facebook presence and scheduled meeting events, initiated by Jason Ring.  Google+ was pursued shortly after by Hiram.

Beginning May 2013, we had 68 members on Facebook (equivalent to the 67 users on Yahoo Groups).  During our June 8th meeting, we had 122 members as a result of an article posting on Birmingham News website (al.com), and adverts with TimeGate Convention and Alabama Phoenix Festival.

June 7th, 2013:  We obtained a Google Voice number.

June 8th, 2013:  Author and historian, Annette Laing, a guest at 2013 TimeGate Convention, gave a short presentation at our club meeting. Annette was a guest on several of the panels at TimeGate and fascinating to speak with. She showed letters, photos, and other memorabilia from the classic series and its stars.

July 28th, 2013:  With the most deepest and saddening heart that our beloved Bill Savage passed away.  He was loved by many.  He is greatly missed.

September 2013 - August 2015

Lord President: Hiram Lester/Jason Chuang
Chancellor/Vice President: Elizabeth Peters
Secretary/Treasurer: Paula Woodall
Publisher/Editor: Paula Woodall
Video Engineer: Hiram Lester and Jason Ring
Meeting Location: Homewood Public Library

In November 2013, members of our club went to Atlanta, GA, to view Day of the Doctor in 3D.  Other members that were out of town went to the theaters at their location on the 25th for the 2nd viewing that was available nationwide.

December 2013 meeting recognized the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who.  A cake sheet decorated with a TARDIS and "Happy 50th Anniversary" commemorated the occasion.

On January 28 2015, our President Hiram Lester passed away.  Hiram was a strong enthusiast to all things that were Doctor Who and a volunteer with MomaKat Rescue and Adoption Organization.  He is very sorely missed.

On April 10 2015, Jason Chuang was elected to office as President.  During April, our club reached 400 members on Facebook.

August 8, 2015, Louis Robinson was our feature guest. Louis Robinson is a professional singer/songwriter in Atlanta. Before coming to America, he worked for the BBC for many years, in a number of capacities in both television and radio.  During the meeting, Louis spoke about his time working with the production of Daemons starring Jon Pertwee, England in general, and his music career.

September 2015 - August 2017

Lord President: Jason Chuang/Jerry Bard
Chancellor/Vice President: Elizabeth Peters
Secretary/Treasurer: Paula Woodall
Publisher/Editor: Paula Woodall
Video Engineer: Jason Ring
Meeting Location: Homewood Public Library

In May of 2016, Jason Chuang announced that he would be moving out of state for new employment opportunities.  Jerry Bard was elected into office as President on June 11th of 2016.

References

The Complete History by Jerry Bard (1997)
Edited by Jason Ring (12/11/2017)

Test edit by Allen Hammack