Events

2nd October - Annual Close Up Magic Competition

Our October meeting was the annual junior and senior close-up competition and the club room was packed with many guests eagerly waiting to see some magic; along with plenty of members keen to either take part or watch the contestants go through their paces. Apologies had been received from Leon Rye and Ray Simkins.

Although there was some doubt initially as to whether the junior contest could run because of a shortage of entrants, James Gilroy and Craig Burden stepped up to the mark to take each other on in a closely fought contest. Well done to Craig for entering – it’s so good to see such enthusiasm, and when you think that he had only become a full member on the night of the contest, it was really fantastic that he entered. The trophy at stake was the Wilf Dent Memorial Cup, named in honour of one of our long standing members who passed away a year or two back.

For the senior competition the Robert Ferro Cup was fought over, and we had 7 entrants including Tracy Wise, Lewis Clifton, Rob Newson, Richard Graham, Adrian Fox, Robbie Wood and Ollie Ward competing.

It was a great night and I’m sure that our audience enjoyed the magic on display, with lots of different effects and routines presented in a variety of styles. No doubt he judges had a hard time separating the acts. Each act performed to three different tables and was assessed independently by judges on each table.

In the end, Craig Burden sadly had to leave the meeting before the competition had finished, and this obviously affected relative scores. The winner of the junior competition was therefore James Gilroy; and after totalling and checking the scores, the result of the senior contest was: Ollie Ward in third place, Richard Graham came second, and Adrian Fox was declared the winner.

Congratulations to our two winners who will have their trophies officially awarded to them at the annual dinner on the 28^th October.