The Annual General Meeting of the Island’s magic club for adults was held last Tuesday at the Catholic Columba Club. Chairman of the Magicians of Mann Paul Martin reported on activities undertaken by the club during 2012, which included some of the best lectures and workshops run by professional magicians that the club has had the pleasure to host. Rafael Benatar from Spain lectured in April and was excellent. Members were able to attend a talk arranged by the Young Magicians of Mann by Diamond Jim Tyler from the USA in May, and in September a full day lecture and workshop by Tony Griffith from Bristol provided great performing advice and a lot of new magic to try out. The icing on the cake was a fantastic lecture by David Stone from France in November, which was the best-attended meeting in nearly 20 years.
Paul reminded members that two of the lectures had been supported by the Isle of Man Arts Council, to whom the club was extremely grateful. He added “This year individual members led our regular meetings with short talks or demonstrations, which proved to be a very successful format. John Cain had shared some his unique and wonderful miracles, Michael Daniels performed and explained his own mentalism routines, Colin Boardman talked about and demonstrated magic for restaurants and functions and Mike Clague gave a talk on the history of the club.” Other evenings included Lez Diamond’s walk-around magic and Peel’s Chris Burns had everyone in stitches when he entertained as Cookie the Clown. Paul himself gave a lecture on his favourite tricks with playing cards.
Treasurer Keith Greenland presented the annual accounts, which were approved. It was agreed that subscription levels should remain unchanged. Paul Martin was elected as chairman for 2013, Keith Greenland as Treasurer, Chris Burns as Librarian and Mike Clague as secretary. Thanks were expressed to the Columba Club for letting the club use their premises for meetings.
The Magicians of Mann meet on the third Tuesday of each month at the Catholic Columba Club in Douglas. New members are made very welcome and anyone interested can contact secretary Mike Clague on 878328 or contact@ymom.info for information. Mike can also provide details of the Young Magicians of Mann, a separate magic club for 11 to 18 year olds that meets at the Youth Arts Centre in Douglas on Wednesday evenings.
Photo: l to r Mike Daniels and Fredrik Stromberg
