Newsletter: 137 for January 2008 Happy New Year to everyone! Dave asked how many of our members had seen the Tunbridge Wells Courier just before Christmas as he was dead proud of having his (and indeed Martin and mine) photos in it. I had to apologise to members about the lack of December’s newsletter. This was due to Martin’s mum being taken very ill on the Isle of Wight over Christmas/New Year and to be honest, we simply ran out of time to prepare it. My apologies again – I will try harder. Stan let us all know about the Top Hat Magic dealer dem on 6 February – ACES members are welcome for free. There has also been a request that members volunteer for washing up and refreshment making please. Zac doesn’t want to have to do this every time we get together! Dave welcomed everyone along tonight especially our friends and special guests from Southdowns. It was lovely to see you all. He outlined how an ACES meeting runs and without any delay arranged for Martin to take the floor with his challenge of jelly. Although I had prepared this the night before and it had been sitting in a cold car all day at Ardingly (we were filming the first part of Bargain Hunt today!), it still hadn’t set so when Martin asked Patrick for a tenner, tore off the corner and the remaining part was to be found in a randomly chosen sweet, the jelly decided to leap off the plate and all down my front. Oh the joys of sweet, sticky, orange muck down one’s front! Pierre had prepared a similar routine but using Dave and a more sedate jelly choice (Dave was allowed to use a jelly-handled knife and fork!), a chosen cornerless card was found. As the routines appeared quite similar it was definately going to be difficult to decide which was the best but we would see later on. Tonight we were delighted to introduce Alex Lodge to members again. Many of us had seen a fantastic cabaret by Alex at our annual dinner and tonight gave him the opportunity to host his very first lecture. He very kindly stood in for us at the very last minute as Roger Crosthwaite let us down and Alex had exactly 10 days to prepare for this. Thanks again, Alex. Alex is a young man who loves his cards and delighted in sharing the secrets of card manipulation with everyone. Although we are aware that some of our members do this already, although not many, it was great to see everyone join in. Alex explained many of his favourite routines with cards and close-up. He also recommended Jeff McBride’s DVD “Zoom Bounce & Fly” to anyone who wanted more information on card spinning and the like. Jeff’s website is www.mcbridemagic.com. Well, the votes were counted for the Challenge and it was with little surprise that I discovered that one of our members had in fact voted for Alex! It was close again but Martin knocked John off the top spot and was challenged after much encouragement by Mike to illusion for February’s meeting. Can I please ask that everyone thinks about challenges before our meetings, as we would love more members to participate, not just the same old faces that always entertain. After tea Alex spoke at length from members questions and comments about his experience on the cruise ship circuit and the trials and tribulations of agents and suchlike. Our thanks to this extremely entertaining young man who I am sure we will see more of in the future. Don’t forget you saw him first at ACES. Next month’s meeting will be Hearts and Flowers and I look forward to seeing some especially pretty magic. Meeting finished at 10pm. Post meeting – I was delighted to hear from Peter Bennett that he felt Alex’s lecture had been the best he had ever seen at ACES and I have ensured that Pete’s comments have been passed on. Written by: Nicky Lewis |
|
Home | Diary | Join | Members | Newsletters | Photos | Effects | Links | Competitions | Email us | Login |