It feels an age since the Blackpool Magic Convention, so now’s probably the time to finally unpack those impulse buys and consider getting them on those second-hand sites…
Straight after Blackpool, we held a catch-up meeting to share thoughts on what we’d seen and swap some novelty skills, including some impressive artistic balloon modelling that brought flair and fun to the evening. The pizza was also appreciated!
A real highlight of March was our lecture from Oliver Meech, known for his creative thinking and clever routines – see Nev’s write-up below.
Behind the scenes this year, plenty of work continues as our club develops. The website has moved to new servers, with Dean planning updates to content and design. As noted in the last meeting reminder, we now have new email addresses – please use them to contact the Council with your thoughts and ideas. We’d also love your input into these newsletters. Just reply with magical stories, meeting reports, or interesting thoughts to share. It’s our club, so let’s shape it together. More updates coming soon.
Last week brought our annual Maurice Lennox Close-Up Competition, with eight members entering and standards higher than ever. Simon opened with a passionate plea and a skilful routine, followed by Ken who was moving both space and time. Glenn took to the table with his usual quick whit as he moved amongst the audience. Dale (in his infamous Radgie character) wrapped the first half with some dubious merch but slick tricks. After the break, Gary started the second round with some fast-paced effects, not to mention also displaying his laundry needs. Rob then took over with 15 minutes packed with magic. Richard tried to engage our 6th sense with his ESP routine, and Tom closed strongly with folks, scissors and paper clippings flying everywhere. Corey then tallied the scores, declaring Tom our deserved 2026 winner – congratulations, Tom, and well done to all.
Glenn also announced the new “Power Of You” awards, letting members nominate others for special contributions to club life (Bronze, Silver, or Gold). It’s a great way to recognise unsung efforts and encourage us all to build our thriving North East magic community. Who’s on your nomination list? Send your ideas to any Council member.
Oliver Meech Lecture
I discovered Oliver through his fantastic book ‘Effervescent’. His outside of the box thinking appealed to me and I like to think I share the same way of looking at effects and ideas.
This was his Effervescent Lecture, as it showcases some of the routines from the book. Think along the lines of when magic and science collide with a heavy focus on creativity. Many of the mechanics and techniques used throughout the lecture will be recognised by most magicians, but its HOW they are used and how the routines are dressed which makes them thoroughly entertaining.
A good attention grabber included a balloon that instantly turns into a balloon dog. I also enjoyed ‘Thinking fast and Whoah’ where a bit of fun psychology is used to make sure two spectators cut to the aces.
My favourite for the evening was ‘The Other Three Magi’ where yours truly ‘Flip-ini’, Rob ‘Gone-ini’ and Corey ‘Move-ini’ chose a card each only for them to appear in different locations. This really was a fun and easy routine using three volunteers.
‘Synaesthesia’ had David able to ‘see’ colours when tasting food and listening to music.
Oliver then shared a technique he uses for finding ideas and creating routines. A technique used in marketing… Random Word Stimulation.
After the break, Harry chose a coin which ended up inside a sealed jar of bolognaise sauce. It used Oliver’s idea for a force bag with coins.
Next, Oliver introduced his Sat-nav for cards: a GPS Packnav where playing cards with directions on eventually became Dean’s chosen card. Very clever!!
A sugar cube and coin transposition came next, that had a really mad working using sandpaper. This made a lot of people smile and I can see it getting used a lot,
To round of the evening, Oliver presented and explained a routine he is selling using Cluedo cards. This was also preformed on the recent Stellar Magicbox weekly newsletter if you want to see it again.
And unfortunately we ran out of time and that was that. Like I said at the start, Oliver is a very clever thinker – NOT ‘how hard and slight heavy can I make this’ but rather how fun and different can I make this routine? This showed throughout the whole lecture. Many thanks to Oliver for travelling up to see us.
