What Happened at the Meeting on Friday 16th February 2018

The host for the evening, David Whitson, led off with an attention-getting trick using a drink can that he smashed into his forehead.  (The can had flexible plastic sides.)

Since the Theme was “Ropes, Strings, and Things”, David moved on to several ways of tying knots in a rope without using his hands.  One method was crossing his arms first, and picking up the ends of the rope while his arms were crossed, then uncrossing them.

Noel Clair did several items with rope.  He threaded a shoelace through a plastic frame, then moved the frame so that it cut the shoelace into two parts, then moved the parts together and extracted the shoelace restored whole.   He did ring off rope and ring on rope by several methods with very neat flourishes.  Next was finger ring on and off his finger.

Moving into his rope routine, he performed appearing knots on ends of rope, one full knot to two half knots, rope to circle of rope and back to straight rope.  He took the ends off the rope and put them back on again.

Noel’s use of a finger ring led to a general discussion among the members of whether to use a borrowed ring in these days of suing and litigation.  There was a danger of being sued for damage to a ring by a dishonest person when no damage had actually been caused by the magician.

In response to a question from Noel, we discussed how to achieve a talon of eight known cards on the bottom of the deck in the middle of a card trick when the deck has been in use.

What Happened at the Meeting on Friday 19th January

David Whitson was the host of this month’s magic, with the theme “Free Choice”. David led off the evening with a  presentation of a novelty change bag.  The bag contained a silk which had an outline of a teddy bear – it was “de-fuzzed”, said David. But, with a magical word, the silk changed into one with a fully fuzzy bear.

The next performer was Noel Clair, with his routine “Time Travel Experiment”.  He outlined Einstein’s theory of Relativity for us, reminding us that if we travelled away from earth and back at a speed close to that of light, we could reverse time.

He hoped to do this for us by magic. 

So, he did several things before he reversed time:

• He set a clock going at 2 pm
• Inside a handkerchief he broke a match
• He set fire to matches in a match box
• He moved a card into a wallet under crossed elastic when it had been under straight elastic
• He messed up a deck of cards with a shuffle so that they were face and back, back and face

Then he said the magic word, and he showed us that (1) the clock had stopped at 2pm  (2) opening the handkerchief he showed the match was restored (3) the matches in the match box were restored to unburnt condition (4)  the card in the wallet was back under the straight elastic as it had been before (5) the card were no longer messed up but were all around facing the same way as they had been originally.  Time had reversed !

John Ferguson did a mentalist item in which a card was freely chosen (Yes, it was !) and he told us that the cards were all clean on the backs (and showed us) – except for one card.  “I did write on one card  - What card do you think that might be?” he said, and, yes, it was the chosen card, and the card had the message “You will choose the ten of clubs”.  John congratulated the spectator for being so mentally acute that he was able to read John’s mind and choose the very card that John had written about.

Not so successful was John’s attempt to do Wagner’s Supercloser – but if you are going to mess up, it’s best to do it in front of magicians.  John has now worked out what went wrong, and next time, he will put the Aces in C-H-S-D order !

Joel Howlett entertained us with close up magic.  Each of three chip tokens moved across invisibly from one hand to the other.  Yes, we were all staring at his hands, yet he fooled us !  Joel displayed a rectangle of paper with a hole in each corner.  He folded the paper up and unfolded it, and all holes had gathered together in one corner.

He followed this with a card item in which each of four red-backed aces turned face up in turn, and for the ending, all four cards had different coloured backs !

What Happened at the Meeting on Friday 17th November

This report by Joel Howlett - -

The November 2017 meeting had the popular theme “Packet Card Tricks”. The host was Anthony Roberts who was filling in for John Ferguson. Anthony performed a few effects between acts including a trick that was taught to him as a teenager by the late George Cornford.

Performers and Performances included:

David Whitson – Who opened with a “playing card gag” (you had to be there!!) and a demonstration of trick decks and cards. These included the “Fako Deck”, “Forcing Deck” and the “Devano Rising Cards”. David also demonstrated the very popular “Tenyo Card Box”.

Al Hirschel was up next to show off his beautiful brass close up effect made by Viking Hatchem Magic.

Andrew Pickard performed the simple but effective “Rainbow Deck” effect – well done Andrew!!

Steve Irwin performed a version of “Wild Card” with a clever script about Aliens.

And, Yours Truly (Joel Howlett) who performed a series of packet card tricks that included Daryl’s Hole Card, Two Wrongs Don’t Make A Right and John Bannon’s Twisted Sisters.

A short meeting followed and during the AGM the same office bearers were elected for 2018.

Thanks to all who got involved with an enjoyable night of magic! We look forward to more great magic in 2018. Have a safe and enjoyable Christmas Season……………………..

Upcoming Meetings for 2018 and Oficebearers for 2018

The meetings of Newcastle Society will be held on the third Friday of each month (except December) at 7.30 pm at Mayfield Bowling Club, 2A Ingall St, Mayfield. The Club is opposite Albion Street, beside Park Street on one side and the Mayfield Swimming Centre on the other.

Friday 20th April was Colour Changes and Classics – host David Whitson   NOTE: Venue was Bellbird Workers' Club, NOT Mayfield Bowling Club.

Friday 11th May (Note – NOT 3rd Friday) – Bellbird Rehearsal, and Card Tricks with a Borrowed Deck – host Al Hirschel.  Venue is Bellbird Workers Club, 409 Wollombi Rd, Bellbird, NOT Mayfield Bowling Club.

Saturday 12th May – Bellbird Workers Club Show

Friday 29th June -  (Note – NOT 3rd Friday) Stockton Rehearsal(at Mayfield Bowl as usual)

Saturday 30th June – Stockton Bowling Club Show – host Al Hirschel

Friday 20th July –  Silks and Handkerchiefs – host Joel Howlett

Friday 17th August – Balls and Others – host Noel Clair

Friday 21st September – Paper and Everyday Objects – host Al Hirschel

Friday 19th October – Apparatus Magic – host Andrew Pickard

Friday 16th November – AGM and Coins – host Steve Irwin

Of course, you may not be interested in any of these themes.  No problem!  You are MOST WELCOME to bring along something entirely different that you have been working on and do it later in the performance section of the meeting.  The only reason for having a theme is to broaden our horizons, and if yours are already broader than these themes, so much the better !



Office Bearers for 2018

At the November 2017 Annual General Meeting, the following Officers were elected:
Patron:      Graham Holstein                  President:   David Whitson
Vice-President:   Joel Howlett               Acting Secretary:   David Whitson
Assistant Secretary:  Joel Howlett    
Treasurer: Al Hirschel
Archivist:  Steve Howlett                       Auditor:  Cyrus Taraparwalla

What Happened at the Meeting on Friday 20th October

At the meeting there were four performers, Al Hirschel, David Whitson, John Ferguson and Anthony Roberts.  The theme was “Apparatus Magic”.

Al Hirschel demonstrated some precision made items in brass from Viking Haenchen.  The first consisted of two tubes, one longer than the other. The spectator placed a pencil in whichever of the tubes he chose, and Al capped both tubes.  With a quick magic word, Al showed us that the pencil was now in the previously empty tube!   Secondly, he showed us the “needle through matchbox”.  It was easy for Al to push a needle through a matchbox, but impossible for the spectator.  When the spectator opened the matchbox, he found it filled with a brass block, and we were left wondering how Al got the needle through !  Thirdly, Al displayed a brass key, and he was able to move the sidepiece of the key up and down the shaft easily.  However, when he gave it to a spectator to try, the spectator was unable to move the sidepiece – it had frozen in place !

Next, David Whitson displayed coloured elastic hair grips in his fingers,  and when he pulled one colour, it instantly changed places with the other colour.   He showed a rope staying rigidly horizontal across his hand, and on command, it collapsed and became like a normal rope.  His last item reflected his penchant for sliding colourful signs into holders and pulling them out to show different colours.  In this item, he held up a sign showing a green Christmas tree, then turned it into a blue Christmas tree. When we called out “Turn it round”, etc, the sign then showed Santa Claus, not a tree at all.

The items that John Ferguson presented were demonstrated as Apparatus items rather than as a magic presentation – the Egyptian Water Box, and the Silk Chimney.

Mentalist Anthony Roberts presented some fascinating items.  He showed us ESP cards, which have symbols on them, like wavy lines or a plus sign.  He gave one deck to himself and one to the spectator.  Both dealt one card on the table – and it was the same card !

Next, he said that “certain people are drawn to certain shapes and colours”. He asked a spectator to choose an ESP card.  Then he showed that the spectator had chosen a card that matched the shape on the predicted one.  

Using a pack of crayons and a outline drawing of a person, the spectator coloured in each of the garments with his own choice of crayon.  Anthony, with his back turned, meanwhile coloured in the (similar) drawing that he had made for himself.  Anthony’s colouring in matched the spectator’s quite impressively.

What Happened at the Meeting on Friday 15th September

Al Hirschel, hosting the theme “Paper and Everyday Objects”, led off the magic with his item Cut and Restored Newspaper.  Later, he workshopped it for us.  Quite a lot of work is involved in preparation !   Al also performed  Head through Business Card,  in which he very carefully uses scissors to cut vertical slits in the card in such a way that it can expand concertina-fashion to form a large ring big enough to slip over his head.

Next, Tom Blunden showed us a column from a newspaper and asked a spectator to cut the item in half anywhere they chose with scissors.  The line at which the item was cut matched exactly the first line in a duplicate item that Tom had placed before in an envelope that had been in open view.

David Whitson  wove a silk into a rabbit shape.  Good fun !  Then he displayed two elastic hair ribbons between his fingers and made them change places.  The contrasting colour change was visual and magical.

A number of “Bar Betcha” tricks featured in the presentation of John Ferguson – arrangements of coins, matches, and so on.  He showed that if you place your right foot close up against a wall, and also touch your cheek to the wall, you will find it impossible to raise your left foot without falling over.  John showed us the “Drunken Shuffle”, in which the chosen card is hopelessly mixed into the pack with cards shuffled every which way, yet the magician is able to restore the order of the pack – all except one card – the chosen card.  This trick had been useful in defusing a potentially tense situation with a few football fan supporters when John and Jenny were on a train to Edinburgh back in 2000 – doing this very trick for them made them our friends for the rest of the trip.  Magic can be very useful !

Brad Burgoyne did a card trick involving a switch between the chosen card, supposed to be in the spectator’s hand, and the card Brad had in his own hand.  The spectator was surprised to find it was Brad who now had his chosen card ! (Overheard among the onlookers: "I know he must be using "X", but he's so smooth I didn't see it")

Two mind reading experiments were shown us by Anthony Roberts.  His aim in the first was to read the spectator’s visual clues to find out what colour of Rubik’s cube the spectator had chosen….  a brave example of pure mentalism.   Next, what coloured die had the spectator put in the bag and what in the box ?  Anthony was able to suss out which of the three colours and two locations were correct. His ability to track bodily and visual signs in spectators is fascinating.  He vanished a marked coin, then gave the spectator a nest of brass pill boxes (from Viking) and the marked coin was found in the innermost one.  The workmanship of the nest of boxes was admired by everyone.

What Happened at the Meeting on Friday 18th August 2017

President David Whitson was the host of a very enjoyable and relaxed night of magic. He opened with the Zipper Gag Bag followed by a comedy presentation of Sponge Ball effects that included turning round sponge balls into sponge cubes, a sponge rabbit and the David Ginn sucker sponge effect called “The Big Red Hand”.

Joel Howlett performed the Cups and Balls routine taught to him by Jim Mc Keague. This is Jim’s take on a classic piece of sleight of hand magic accompanied by some quirky story telling!! The entire sequence was perfected by Jim in his days as a Svengali Deck Pitchman on Fairgrounds and at Festivals.

Next unopened decks of cards were distributed to members present. These were a gift to the club from George Cornford’s daughter Karen.

David Whitson took the floor once again to demonstrate some of the magical apparatus he was parting with in his efforts to down size. A unique “Radio Rabbit Production” built by the late Barry Whitson and a card effect by Tommy Wonder had members fascinated.

An informal session with club Patron Grahame Holstein finished off the night! Those present enjoyed Graham’s insight into The Elmsley Count and his Sponge Ball Routine.

A business meeting followed……………….