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Give Or Take £8,000

Thanks to Fanderson members, International Rescue’s Virgil Tracy recently delivered a cheque for £8,023 to The Silver Line, the club’s donation from the recent Supercelebration convention.

This fantastic donation means that over 1,600 more people will be able to phone The Silver Line if they’re feeling lonely – for help, advice, or even just for a chat. Loneliness amongst older people can lead to depression, leave people vulnerable to abuse and even affect the onset of dementia. The Silver Line operates the only confidential, free helpline for older people across the UK that’s open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Having just helped the children of Coralville Children’s Hospital (see Give Or Take A Million), it’s great that International Rescue have been able to also now help older people.

Special thanks to Glo Thorogood for the cheque presentation.

FAB 94 is on its way!

FAB 94 is now winging its way to all Fanderson members around the world!

Included in this issue:

  • a look at UFO‘s life after the screen adventures – in comics
  • a fresh re-appraisal of Thunderbirds The Mighty Atom
  • members’ views of Fireball XL5 The Day The Earth Froze, plus an exclusive cutaway illustration of Space City’s launch trolley system, in our regular Timelash feature
  • an interview with Thunderbirds Are Go‘s model maker Steve Saunders
  • the final part of our exclusive Thunderbird 6 photo-strip
  • news, FAB noticeboard, FAB Review, FAB Mail and more

And, in this mailing everyone (except trial members joining for our 2019 Supercelebration convention) will also be sent a revised version of The Secret Service Close Up book.

How to get FAB magazine? Join Fanderson!

FAB magazine is available exclusively to Fanderson club members – we publish three times a year, and we do our very best to make each issue a joy to read for every fan – regardless of your favourite series!

Once again, we’re mailing FAB magazine in a 100% compostable bag, made from potato and maize starch. 

Don’t throw it in your bin, but instead:

  1. put it in your home composter
  2. put it in with your garden waste, or
  3. use it to line your food waste caddy

Thunderbirds Are Go: Icarus premieres this Saturday, 11th January

The latest Thunderbirds Are Go episode, Icarus premieres at 8:30am this Saturday 11th January on ITV and CITV, repeated Sunday at 5:55pm on CITV or catch up afterwards on the ITV Hub.

While the members of International Rescue attend a prestigious global airshow, a test pilot unveils an ultra-fast superjet.

Easter Egg: The ‘world air speed record’ that Icarus is attempting to break in this episode is currently held by Jeff Tracy.

Save in our Super Soundtrack Sale!

Not sure what to spend all that lovely lolly on that Santa gave you for Christmas?

Well, start a “Happy New Year!” by getting that Anderson soundtrack album you’ve always promised yourself, thanks to our Super Soundtrack Sale!

For a limited time we’ve slashed the prices of our exclusive Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons, Joe 90, Space:1999 and Doppelgänger soundtrack albums as well as our Stingray and Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons mini album sets too!

And, whilst you’re filling your basket, why not take a look at our new products:

You’ll find books, badges, patches, magazines, picture cards, posters and much, much more in our shop. All produced by Fanderson, exclusively for our club members (don’t forget to set up your online club account before you start shopping).

The Super Soundtrack Sale is just for January although, as all club merchandise is produced on a limited-edition basis, availability cannot be guaranteed until the 31st!

 

 

 

Dinky Toys website – new in Links

Dinky Toys remain some of the most memory-jogging and collectible merchandise produced in connection with the Anderson productions.

For anyone who wants to reminisce, or even for some research into the variations available, check out dinkytvspace.com (you can also find this in Resources > Links).

Site owner Kevin O’Neil says:

“The site has been up and running for about two years but has been at least five more years in the making. I had started collecting Gerry Anderson themed Dinkys in the nineties, having been a fan of the various TV series from my childhood. The first model I bought was a pretty battered 104 Spectrum Patrol Vehicle and various others followed over the years, generally in less than tip top condition. Then about ten years ago I decided to collect a full set of the GA TV show models in good to mint condition with boxes and it was then I realised that there were lots of variations and instead of 20 odd models there were going to be lots more. The bug had got hold, I couldn’t shake it and the bank account took a major hit!

“The 353 Shados were the first set I pulled together, but it was hard to source accurate information about how many versions and variants there were. Added to the fact that this genre of models were not really supported or even liked by many of the Collector’s clubs that existed. So I started cataloging what I could find with the intention of perhaps releasing a book at some distant time in the future, however,  it became clear that everytime I finished a ‘chapter’ it was out of date because some new information had come to light. 

“I was often researching by looking at websites like the Eagle Transporter forums, Laurent Classe’s Captain Scarlet and Thunderbirds sites and many others and it became clear that the best way to catalogue my collection was to create dinkytvspace.com  which I could then update easily as new information came in. And when the site went live at the end of 2017, new facts and images did arrive. I was delighted to discover that there are some really knowledgable collectors of this genre out there who are happy to share their data and advice and the site has grown from there. I did widen the remit from just Gerry Anderson models to all TV, Space and Specials because I felt that they were part of the same Dinky story and ethos that brought a lot of happiness to the boys and girls of the 60s and 70s and a few adults as well!

If Fanderson members can provide new information and/or images or point out any errors or inaccuracies please contact me on dcmtvspace@virginmedia.com or via comments on the site itself.”

Membership auto-renewal – fix applied

A software fix was applied at the weekend which should have stopped the problem some members were experiencing, whereby they were forced to set up their club account as an automatic annually-renewing membership.

We are now working our way through all membership records to un-apply any auto-renewing, which we are doing on an individual member basis. This will take some days, and members affected will be emailed directly by PayPal to inform them when the club has suspended automatic payments. This does not affect your membership or your ability to pay for any of the club’s services or merchandise. It will simply stop our system auto-renewing your membership next year.

Please ignore any mention of “next subscription payment” on your membership order, as we continue to manage memberships manually, and will inform you when your next renewal is due.

We continue to seek a solution to another issue, whereby some members are not being given the option to simply pay by card (instead only being offered to use/open a PayPal account). As this problem is sporadic, we ask any members experiencing difficulties such as these to email us with:

  • your name
  • your location (country)
  • what you were trying to buy
  • total order amount
  • screenshots of the payment screen and any error messages that you are getting.

Thanks.

 

Sporadic issues with PayPal (updated)

It has been brought to our attention that a very small number of club members are experiencing problems paying for their Fanderson membership, merchandise or services.

Although PayPal has been our card payment processor without problem for many years, it appears that some members are no longer being given the option to simply pay by card (instead only being offered to use/open a PayPal account). Please be assured that this is not something that Fanderson has asked to be put in place.

We’ve also been advised of a separate problem whereby PayPal is suggesting that a membership has to be set up as an automatically annually-renewing transaction. Again, this is not something that Fanderson has asked to be put in place.

We are investigating both of these problems with PayPal, but it is proving difficult as they’re sporadic and don’t seem to be following any pattern (ie, location, amount being purchased etc).

Some members have found that clearing their browser history has cleared the problem.

Other members have found using a different browser works, or completing the transaction on their phone, instead of a computer.

We ask any members experiencing difficulties such as these to email us with:

  • your name
  • your location (country)
  • what you were trying to buy
  • total order amount
  • your browser (eg, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome)
  • the type of computer you’re using (eg, Windows desktop, Windows laptop, Apple laptop, iPad, Android phone)
  • screenshots of the payment screen and any error messages that you are getting.

Thanks.

The Secret Service Close-Up to be reprinted

We’d like to apologise to club members that this year’s membership item – The Secret Service Close-Up book – does not meet our usual high production standards.

The book will be re-printed and re-issued to all members with FAB 94, later this year. We’ll continue to mail the existing stock to new members until new stock is available.