Firstly I would like to congratulate all the competitors in last month's competitions. They all put on an excellent performance. They deserve all our congratulations for the effort they made to put together a short routine and get up to perform in front of an audience. That is what, as magicians, we should be about. Getting up and performing. I would encourage everyone to enter these competitions. It is evening's such as this that help to make us all better performers, which is what we must all want to be. Please think deeply about this, and when the competitions come round next year, enter one or other of them. We are always looking for acts for the Hey Presto Show, and it is by seeing you in situations like the competitions, that we can judge if you have an act that could be used on the show. We need our own members to perform in this show. We cannot afford to pay all the artists who are on the show. It is our major fund-raiser of the year. Without it we could not afford the lecturers, etc, that we have each year. Every member of the Bradford Magic Circle is good enough to perform on the show. Next year it could be you. Please think about this. Tonight we welcome Mark Mason. Ivan has been trying to book Mark for the last three years, but either Mark was too busy - often being in America - or we had problems with the dates available. In fact we cancelled Mark, I think it was twice, when something else came up. Mark was very good about it, and therefore I am doubly pleased to welcome him this evening during my term of Presidency. I am sure that we will have an exceptional evening of magic from Mark. See you all at the dinner on the 21st. | 
