About Us

Club History

Back in the late 60's / early 70's, Ken Hoskins, an aspiring magician, was introduced to the late Ron MacMillan, who, apart from being the proprietor of London's International Magic Studios, was also a very well known and skillful coin manipulator. Ron and Ken would meet fairly regularly, with Ron teaching and Ken learning. As time went by, more magicians began to attend these informal sessions and in the end they started to meet every Sunday night at the Dickens Pub in Southend, to talk about and swap magical ideas. At the time, people like Dick Turpin, Ronaldo, Magini and Jimmy Rogers were all attending regularly.

It was Jimmy Rogers, the Club's first President, who suggested the formation of a proper society, since so many magicians were now coming along. As a result, Southend Sorcerers Society had its first proper meeting in 1971 at the Bell Public House in Southend. Early members included Don Simpson, Don Griffin, Henrique, Terry Machin and, for a short time, Simon Lovell attended.

The club has seen its fortunes come and go, with membership down to an all time low of 3 people at one time. Various meeting places have hosted the club nights since then, including a return to the Dickens Public House, then back to the Bell. After that it was off to the Eastwood Community Centre, then back to the Bell again (!). Following a successful couple of years at Southend's Essex County Hotel, the club's home once again moved, this time to Flights Leisure Centre (now Saxon Hall) in Aviation Way near Southend Airport. Meetings were held there until July 2007, when, for the 4th time the Bell again became our permanent meeting place.

The club is now bigger and busier than ever, with about 40 regular members (including the likes of Luke Jermay who has been a member since his early days in magic), and is also unusual in that it encourages junior members to learn and perform alongside their senior colleagues. We meet on the first Sunday of every month and we host competitions, lectures, dealer demonstrations and a variety of themed club nights. The Annual Awards Dinner is held every October at a local venue and is always a night to remember.

Southend Sorcerers also provides its members with an opportunity to perform for 'real' people, by taking bookings for fund raising evenings of magic, which the club puts on for local schools and charities.

For more details about the club - membership or shows - please take a look at the relevant pages on the site. If you can't find what you're looking for, please contact one of the committee via e-mail (addresses on the contacts page) and we'll do our best to help you.