Newsletter: 130 for June 2007 Wednesday 13 June Dave welcomed everyone to this special evening. Tonight we would be holding our annual Tony Richards Memorial Trophy competition and for those of our members who had not met Tony (some of you may recall his stage name as Mr A(Tony) Lusion), Dave and Martin outlined what tonight was really about. Tony was a comical stage and children’s performer and as such tonight’s meeting was really to honour this special man. Notices Dave made a point of thanking those who had helped make his Albourne Show quite a success so huge thanks to Brenda, Mike and Geoff for travelling to perform together with Peter, Stan, John Holden, Mike E, Doreen (special thanks for such nice tea!), Colin and a very nervous David Croucher who proved to himself and everyone else there what a great act he has. The orange socks advice also went down a storm! Dave also had to say a thanks to his wife Paula and Mike’s wife Jan for helping so much with the promotion of the show and just being there in support. Nicky updated everyone on the Annual Dinner (29 September) and requested that menus should be back to her as soon as possible so we can begin to sort out table plans. The venue is really lovely and we have taken on board everyone’s comments from last year and hope to have a really homely feel this time. She promises this year that she won’t forget both our Chairman and Vice Chairman and their wive’s off the table listing! Probable nominee for the Cock Up Award looming I fear! Next month’s meeting will be the AGM and again please ensure that your voting slips for committee members are with Nicky by 7 July when the committee will be holding a meeting to discuss the forthcoming programme and details for 2008. Dave did go on and on about his starring two second appearance on Britain’s Got Talent and the old blue material trick obviously stunned the judges into shocked silence as he wasn’t seen again after that flash of the orange wig. Performers were volunteered to take part in the three categories at the now Tri-Wizard competition at the Sussex Magic Circle on 5 July. We were lucky to have the likes of Zac, Patrick and John Holden proving to everyone just how good we are. Banners and cat calls on the night very welcome! Finally Dave announced that it was our very own President’s birthday today and in his honour, sang happy birthday in his best Marilyn Monroe voice. Everyone was also told that there would be banofee pie available during the break. After all this chat, the evening started proper with our Monthly Challenge and this month Dave had challenged Patrick to “Cards” (not really very original guys!). Dave showed us all how he finds the four aces and Patrick’s mentalism again came out with a shuffled deck and cards chosen by members of the audience chosen correctly. I know what you are all thinking, it was definitely going to be close although my only concern was were we going to have time to vote for both competitions tonight? Tony’s competition began in earnest with our friendly French comedic magician Pierre, also known as John Holden with a fab routine to seriously funky music. Do you play that in the shop John? He started with silks to parasols, silks to candles and then silks to a rose, a chosen silk appeared in a balloon and a finale of some card manipulations (certainly no need for your “L” plates this time John!) The whole routine was funny and there was a huge tres bon from us all. Peter was up next with some excellent patter (always one for this Peter) and a six card trick. He followed on with a well trodden rope trick which always confuses me and I begin to forget which is the middle and which is the end of the rope by the finale! Peter also had silks, arrows and a really good six ring routine which was very nicely done. Tonight’s competition was going to be really difficult to judge and we had only seen two acts so far! Mike “I really do have a trick for every occasion” Pettett started off with picking cards in the dark with Patrick, Martin and Dave following up with a routine using Tennant’s Super Lager and a pen. There was then a chewing gum transposition, a murder mystery with a noose, a dagger and a gun placed in different bags with Dave finding not only the murder weapon but the murderer as well. Mike Elvin was last on before the break with potentially the most scary Punch & Judy show I think I have ever seen and I can’t go into the details much more as I’m still traumatised! After coffee, Colin did his long awaited audition which was a mentalist routine using cards and thought transference. The Committee decided that he should become a member and hoped he would enjoy his magical journey with the ACES picking up top tips and new skills along the way. The Challenge trophy was won by Patrick by just one vote and he was instantly challenged by David Croucher to The Sun newspaper. (post meeting - please can I add that a torn and restored routine will not be acceptable, as we’ve all seen this tonight with Brenda. Thanks.) Magic Martin is always one to do things differently and to see my better half standing on the stage wearing shorts, a khaki shirt, hobnailed boots and holding a loaded rifle was enough to scare the pants of most spectators in the audience. This jungle friends treated us to singing parrots (thanks to Pat for the loan of one of them), Rory the Lion saying only one word and Cheeky Monkey terrifying all but the most hardened of people, the jungle routine finished abruptly when David Croucher fired the rifle too early. The finish was supposed to be the chosen card pinned to Martin’s forehead by a tranquilliser dart but never mind, I enjoyed it! What’s black and red and white all over? Well it’s Brenda whose whole routine was just that starting with a rabbit not in hat and then in a hat fan (purchased from Lynn Thomas!) following on with black and white ribbons to silk creating a newspaper. We then saw a zig-zag CD, a vanished CD and then a completely deleted CD. The CD was black and white but finished up being black and white stripes. Brenda showed us her wooden ball vase, silks turning into a ball and transforming back into a silk. All beautifully done to music. Brenda finished up with a large dice covered with a plain silk and when removed, the spots had vanished (I think she used a cream for that!). Finally her dice magically transformed into two bunches of flowers. I think that for such a limited time to perform, both Brenda and Mike always give us such good value for money with the amount of magic they actually perform. Remind me never to let Martin go and visit them as I might not see him for a fortnight afterwards. Eventually, after a very busy night, votes were counted (and verified!) and Dave was thrilled to announce that John Holden was the winner and everyone agreed that he should do the same routine for his part of the Tri-Wizard seeing as was so funny. Huge appreciation and thanks to everyone who took part and who once again prove that ACES is a great society to belong to for the laughs and magic that we see on such a regular basis. Written by: Nicky Lewis |
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