The meeting on Friday 27th October, (this was the November meeting if you remember, but it was brought forward because the hall was in use on Friday 3rd November), had an air of the war time spirit about it. The Bradford Magic Circle was entertaining itself. Having said that, what a couple of entertainers we had for the evening. Keith Pickles and Steve Gore. Keith is not just one of the editors of the Billet magazine he is also an established children’s entertainer having performed over 1,800 shows. He opened his talk by telling us that the first tricks that he ever bought were Ellisdon’s little cardboard compass trick; I am sure that we all know it, with an arrow drawn on each side, they can be made to point in the same direction or different directions; and the sixpence in a nest of boxes. Keith still has them and demonstrated them both. It was nice to see some old time tricks being performed and it was a credit to Ellisdons that they still worked. Keith’s magic word, the one he gets all the kids shouting, is ‘Sizzling Sausages’. He told us that the first show that he ever gave to a Cub Scout group included EVERY item that he had, that was a real value for money children’s show. Nowadays the shows are shorter and a lot snappier. Keith showed us some of the tricks he performs for the children and with a little help from the audience playing the parts of noisy 5 – 9 year olds we all enjoyed his Little Red Riding Hood story, some magic painting and an appearance by Sooty. Keith was asked if he did the same show every time, and he replied that he would repeat some tricks as children liked a certain amount of repetition but he kept records of what tricks he had taken to each show so he never performed exactly the same show twice to any audience. To show that he isn’t just a children’s entertainer Keith finished the first half of the evening with a couple of excellent card tricks with the help of Stevie B. Steve Gore opened the second half of the evening. One look at Steve’s web page at www.stevegore.co.uk tells you the many talents that Steve has. Anyway, this evening he was to present a workshop on juggling, diablos and plate spinning. He went through the various routines of juggling three, four and even five balls. He had brought along some extra equipment so members could have a go for themselves. He brought along some special silicon juggling balls that cost £30 each. Although members were allowed to look and touch these, he understandably kept a careful eye on them. Diablos were the next thing that Steve demonstrated. Asked how long it took to learn the skill. Steve said about 15 minutes for the basic concept of keeping the Diablo square on to the body, the other tricks took a little longer to learn. Melvyn Shalks asked Steve what the string and sticks were made from. Steve replied that the string was a waxed string and the best sticks were made from carbon fibre. However he had bought some wooden sticks with ordinary string for members to have a go. Colin Gough was the first up as a pupil. He attempted to juggle with three balls and didn’t make a bad job of it for a beginner. Steve said that if you can do twice the catches of the number of balls, (i.e. six catches with three balls, eight catches with four balls) then you can officially juggle!! Steve then brought out a set of clubs which he said were the hardest thing of all to juggle with, but he did have some other ideas. Silk scarves were quite easy, but just to show off a bit Steve juggled with two knives and a rubber chicken, (called Chuck). At the end of the evening members were encouraged to have a go at the various skills that Steve had demonstrated. Suddenly the hall was full of plates spinning on sticks, loose diablos careering across the floor with members in pursuit and balls bouncing everywhere being chased by stooped figures. It was like a toddler’s play group gone mad. I am just glad he didn’t bring his unicycle for members to try. | 
