The last club meeting was scheduled to be our annual auction of props and books etc, but because of a mix up the previous month, the evening opened with the annual junior close up competition as an added bonus.
James Holdsworth and Ryan Sholem went head to head in a contest which, due to time constraints, and with the agreement of both competitors, only consisted of one performance from each. The audience hid three anonymous judges who awarded points based on magical content, appearance, presentation and entertainment value. In the end it was a close run thing, but James took the trophy and the title and holds the Wilf Dent Memorial Cup for the coming year. Well done James and bad luck Ryan.
It was actually a double celebration for James as he was also presented on the night with the club’s Most Promising Newcomer award, consisting of the Ron McMillan Wand and a cheque for £60 to be spent on magic props.
This monetary award is actually donated by one of the club’s members, who prefers to remain anonymous. But huge thanks go to them for supporting the club in this way – you know who you are, and thank you very much for your continued kindness!!
So on with the auction, and it was as usual a well attended evening, with 19 members, 4 family members and 4 guests in attendance.
With 119 lots to get through, Adrian and Dean who acted as auctioneers moved things along at a brisk pace, while Wally kept the accounts and dealt with the money at the end of the evening. There was pretty much something to suit every taste in the auction, and most of the items on sale went for ridiculously low amounts. In the end, the items sold raised a total of £228.70, from which the club retained £21.20 as a sales commission. We also took the chance to clear out some of the club’s unwanted library books and videos, and these realised receipts of £23.
Thanks to everyone who put items into the auction for sale – it was a very enjoyable evening and a lot of people went home with new toys to play with!
