The Billet Article - Secretarial

This article is taken from The Billet Issue - 440 - Nov 2008, Authored by Stephen Bellerby

Secretarial

On the eve of our Dinner, there are a few things on the magical calendar that I should mention. The first two of these come to you at fairly short notice, as the respective clubs seemed only let me know of the events after our last meeting. Never the less, on Saturday 8th November (short notice!) The Order of the Magi will again be hosting the North West Dealers Day at the Irish Heritage Centre in Manchester.

Tuesday 18th sees Huddersfield Circle of Magicians holding the first (and I’d hope not the last) Scooter Inter-Society Memorial Card Trick. Scooter was a member of their club who sadly passed away a few short years ago but while enduring his illness, he donated his magical books to their library, giving it a real boost. I can only assume that he loved card magic, which would explain why the event is card orientated. The rules that I have been given are:

1. The competition is to be cards only.
   
2. The competition (at this time) will take place in front of a live audience at Orlandos Restaurant, 5 Wakefield Road, Grange Moor. WF4 4DS.
   
3. Competitors will perform at each table in “real time”.
   
4. Performance time will be 5 minutes maximum, at each table.
   
5. The same card routine / routines do not have to be adhered to at each table.
   
6. Each Magic Society may enter 2 competitors.
   
7. Scoring: the competitor will wear a number, which shall be seen by the table. The table will vote on the most entertaining competitor.
   
8. The Huddersfield Society will have final say in any dispute.
9. The prize will be a certificate, and a plaque will have the winners name attached.
   
10. The plaque is to stay in the hands of Huddersfield Society, and Scooters Family.

I’ll be going along as I feel such events are healthy for magic and for inter-society relations.

Carrying on with competitions, on Tuesday 25th November the George Powell Trophy for Comedy Magic, in its return for a third year. This event is being run by Leeds Magical Association at the Quaker Meeting Hall, 188, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS2 9DX, opposite to the University and next to the Eldon pub. Doors open at 7.00 PM (6.30 PM for competitors to set up) and the competition will commence at 7.30 prompt. First prize will be £100.00 and the winner’s name will be permanently inscribed on the trophy. There will also be a consolation second prize of £25. The number of competitors is restricted to 8 and there will be a strict time limit of 12 minutes for each performer.

I’ll finish off with things nearer to home. Please remember that the December meeting will be a week earlier than usual, on November 28th. This meeting will of course be the last meeting before Christmas. Should you wish to, please bring along your greetings cards and more importantly, please remember to take those brought along for you home with you! There’s always one who forgets to take their home with them. The meeting will be our show night, Ken Mitchell will be assembling a cast of performers, but I’m sure would also appreciate volunteers.

The first meeting in the New Year will be the Party Night. This is open to family and friends. There’ll be more about this next time around but for now, is there anything that you’d like as a game, why not pass on your suggestion to a member of committee.

Speaking of the committee, Mark Waddington was co-opted onto committee at its last meeting. If the dedication he’s given to the Skipton Factor is anything to go by, his addition should be beneficial to the continued running of the Circle.

Right that’s it for now, thanks for reading.

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