What Happened at the Meeting on Friday 19th July

The theme was "Colour Changes and Classics" hosted by our President David Whitson.
David treated us to 'Blooming Flowers', 'Colour Card Fans', a comedy presentation of the 'Colour Change Jumbo Coin in Change Bag' and the 'Two To One Ropes'. Each trick was performed with some dry puns that kept members laughing........

Joel Howlett (JD) surprised every one present when he took a bite out of a playing card! Then he gave the classic 'pick a card trick' effect a new twist with a story of the Wild West and the selected card was found in a noose! He followed this up with the classic children's effect of turning a carrot into a rabbit!

Noel Clare was up next demonstrating an impromptu effect where he folded his hanky up to make a little origami mouse. Noel told us that he hopes this little stunt will be of use to him on his next cruise to amuse passengers.

Steve Irwin was our last performer of the night - he demonstrated a version of the Baffling Blocks that we had never seen before. It was a "cute" prop where the assembled blocks showed a picture of Mickey Mouse.

An informal session followed with members brainstorming gags for the bitten card effect. Michael Blakeman also kindly taught us a simple card effect. It was a simple version of the 'Slop Shuffle' effect that can be used to create an astonishing moment of magic with an ordinary pack.

What Happened at the Meeting on Friday 28th June

The magic segment of the meeting was short, to allow us time to prepare for the Magic Show at Stockton Bowling Club the next day.

STEVE IRWIN entertained us with a surprising card trick – a card was chosen, and then Steve directed our attention to a jumbo card that was hanging from the ceiling – and it was the chosen card!

A small pack of cards with glamour photographs of girls was displayed by AL HIRSCHEL.   As he thumbed through the cards (one to the back, one to the table, etc) he had one card chosen by the spectator – and it was not one of the beauties, but Ugly Thelma!

NOEL CLAIR showed us a colour changing silk.  Supposedly, he said he would show us how the colour change happened, but he really confused us even more!  A nice piece.

The recent "Dan Harlan Lecture" had been  much appreciated by JEFF CLARK, and he had two items from that lecture to show us.  The first was a new version of "Professor's Nightmare".  In the second, he poured a drink into a glass, placed it into a box and closed the box, then rotated the box in the air.  When he opened the box, the drink had not spilled !