Welcome to everyone to tonight's AGM. It has been an honour and a pleasure for me to be the President of the Bradford Magic Circle during the past twelve months. Being elected as President should be either recognition of many years support which the individual has given to the Circle, or recognising that an individual member has given many years service to the art of magic not necessarily in the Bradford Magic Circle, but in the wider world of magic. I am sure that we all acknowledge that our President for 2004, Len Medina, falls very firmly into that latter category, and those of us who have been lucky enough to have heard him speak on his years in magic, will realise what a life he has had. As I write this, I know that Len is not very well, but I hope that he will be fit enough to be here this evening. Looking back over the last twelve months, I am amazed how quickly it has gone. It doesn't seem two minutes since I was having the chain of office placed around my neck, a chain that I have enjoyed wearing at all our meetings. The reality of the position is that there are only two of our own outside events where the President gets chance to wear the chain of office - the dinner and the Hey Presto Show - and it seems such a pity to leave the chain in its box the rest of the year. The highlights of the year have been the dinner, where I was delighted to see so many members come along and support the evening; and the show, where we sold out completely before the night, the first time we have managed to do that - let's hope this year's show is just as successful. I would like to thank all the committee members who have supported me throughout the year. If I could just mention two or three people in particular, I would like to thank Ivan for organising the lecturers and booking the various artists - I realise that this is one of those jobs that takes much longer than imaginable trying to get hold of people on the phone; Stevie B, who is our excellent Secretary and jack of all trades; and Steve & Victoria Gore, who very kindly let us use their home for our meetings and who also open and close the church hall for our monthly meetings - Victoria also looking after the welfare of our members - they are both hard workers for the Circle. I am also pleased to see that two relatively new members of the Circle will be appearing in this year's Hey Presto Show - Ken Mitchell and Simon Jackson. This bodes well for the future of the Bradford Magic Circle. Let's hope we can see some more new members joining them next year. To them all, and to all our members, I would like to say thank you for your support. Long may you continue enjoying coming to the Bradford Magic Circle and supporting the various events which the committee organise. | 
