The Billet Article - Rope Night

This article is taken from The Billet Issue - 446 - May 2009, Authored by Jon Harris

Rope Night

A fun night was had at our last meeting in April. We were treated to three separate items, starting off with a chance to see the audition routine that Mark Waddington was going to present to The Magic Circle. His routine was included a dazzling display of card magic, sponge rabbits and comedy, all mixed into one. It was a great routine, superbly executed, and we wish Mark all the best on his foray into the world of the prestigious Magic Circle.

Next up was the main item of the evening, with our very own Colin ‘Rope Man’ Gough giving a workshop on rope magic. Armed with about twenty miles of rope, he showed us through one of his favourite rope routines where knots on the ends of the rope kept appearing and disappearing in front of our very eyes. Then it was our turn. We were each given a short length of rope and Colin bravely led us through all the required steps. I must admit, his audience of expectant Rope-ateers gave Colin a very hard time, but he battled bravely on and by the end, more than person had the routine pretty well sorted. Colin, hats off to you my friend, you’re a braver man than I am, well done !

Our final item was an unexpected treat from an ex-member of the BMC, Graham Roe aka Jack Diamond. Jack gave a lecture on card routines which used the very valuable and useful ‘weave’ shuffle. Although a couple of the tricks didn’t quite work out as expected (we all agreed it was Steve Naylor's fault), we all learned a lot of what can be done with that particular shuffle. My personal favourite was the trick with Jasper the Mouse in which a mouse trap was used to find a selected card.

Thanks to all those who took part in what was an evening to remember!

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