Ten years of one groups paranormal questing in Edinburgh
In April of this year the Edinburgh Fortean Society celebrated its tenth anniversary with a totally self indulgent birthday party, and why not? For ten years the group has met once a month (except in August when every venue you care to think of is taken over for some sort of performance courtesy of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) for talks on the esoteric and the paranormal. From the initial meetings with only six or seven attending meetings regularly have forty interested participants.
Each meeting takes the same format – a talk followed by a break and then a chance to question the speaker on their topic. The meetings are held in a pub (currently The Illicit Still on Brougham Street, Tollcross) giving a very relaxing atmosphere. During the two hours or so of the meetings the pub is closed to members of the public and the beer is served at a discounted rate.
The first talk was a look at the life of American author Charles Hoy Fort, a collector of oddities and bizarre information, and from whom the word Fortean comes from. Subsequent talks have ranged over all manner of interest – alchemy, Rosslyn Chapel, Rennes le Chateau, conspiracy theories, ghosts, UFOs and Jack the Ripper to name but a few. A full back history of the talks is covered at the website.
The group is very informal and there is a relaxed atmosphere throughout. Speakers are always given the opportunity to put their case without any undue hassle and when the questions start its generally polite even though the questioner may not agree with the speaker.
I'll admit to having to declare an interest – I founded the group ten years ago and I still organise the meetings, but even if I didn't I'd still head along every month.
Everyone who attends has an interest in some aspect of the paranormal or esoteric and due to the relaxed nature of a pub as a venue its an easy place to chat with like minded people. All told it would be better if there were more of these events throughout the world (and since the inception of the Edinburgh Fortean Society some have followed in our footsteps and formed their own groups). Big conventions and meetings are nice but they're over far too quickly and they're too infrequent as well as usually being somewhere you don't actually live. And that's without the expense. So yes this blog entry is a bit of an advert but it's also a challenge and a call to arms. You've read this far so why not take the next step and form your own group? All you need is a venue – pubs are good as they add an extra to the meetings – as an aside we meet on a Tuesday as that is a night when quite frankly no one else wants to use a function room on a Tuesday night (Fridays and Saturdays proved to be a big no no for the reason that other bookings were preferred such as high drinking birthday parties) and a few people to attend. Local papers are a good source of publicity – put out a press release or offer an interview. Once you've got in there quite a few people will hear about it and of course there is the internet – get a web site and advertise what's happening. And of course the venue itself will usually be good for a poster or two (it's all extra business for them). Now all you need is a speaker! Speakers can be drawn from the group itself, local authors or have a look around the web for people you would like to talk to you and just email and invite them. Costs can be covered by an entry charge although if you catch an author on a book tour they may well be willing to do it for free and the money you take in can subsidise a speaker with more expensive costs. And one other thing that has helped us raise fund is the ever popular auction. When we started charging for our talks I was going to drop the auctions but by popular demand they were quickly back.
It's work, it may take a bit ot time to get going but overall it's worth it.
Go on you know you want to.
Gordon Rutter
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