Our Magical Room

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Take one empty room, add a pair of magicians, and what do you get?

A room stuffed full of magic props, costumes, books, and all kinds of weird and wonderful things!

We’ve been working on our magic space since we moved in, and we’ve finally managed to get it in some kind of order. As you can see from these photos, we had an awful lot of things that we had to fit in the room before we could even start to think about putting them tidy.

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This is what the room looks like now, still absolutely full of props, tricks and costumes, but a lot tidier than it was before! We’ve still got a long way to go before everything is completely organised, but it’s a good start.

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No magician’s room could possibly be complete without a library, and this is our little selection of books. It’s also nice to finally have a space to display our trophies.

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 Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Jay now has a dedicated space to practise his close up magic in.

Bernie is also happy with his nice new room, as he’s got a great view from where he sits in his top hat in the corner!

A Truly Magical Day

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As promised, here’s the explanation for the lack of posts recently: we got married!

We moved house back in April, and between then and June, we spent most of our time organising the wedding. To say that things were chaotic doesn’t even begin to cover it, but we got everything sorted in the end.

The day itself was amazing, and we had glorious sunshine all day. It was great to be surrounded by family and friends and to share the day with them. And as you can see, Bernie played a vital role as our unique ring bearer.

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Of course, there was plenty of entertainment at the reception afterwards, provided courtesy of our friends Dean Raymond, Harley the Clown, and Roslyn Walker.

They all put on extra special performances just for us,  including Harley doing a dangerous balancing act that he normally only attempts with small children – except that this time he performed it with Jay sat on his shoulders!

It looked rather precarious, but they both managed to stay balanced and got a huge round of applause.

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Jay also couldn’t resist the opportunity to take part too, and show some of his magical routines.

Appropriately, he chose to perform his linking rings routine, and a chain escape with a twist – instead of escaping, we ended up chained together!

We had an incredible day, one that we will always remember. We’re so happy that after eight years together, we’re finally married, and have got everything we’ve been dreaming of for so long.

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The name’s Bond, James Bond

We’ve been rather busy of late, so I’m a little behind with the blog posts. (If you’re wondering what it was that kept us so busy, visit the blog again later in the week, and there’ll be a post all about it.)

Today’s blog is a combination of two of our recent events, that share a common strand.

Firstly, back in June we performed at a James Bond themed evening for the Venue Cymru Fundraisers and the Llandudno Lions. It was a great chance for us to try something new, and we themed our magic using ideas and music from the James Bond films.

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We almost also ended up with a stowaway, when Bernie tried to sneak into one of our bags when we weren’t looking. We managed to persuade him to stay at home, but he wasn’t very happy about it!

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At the beginning of July we took part in the North Wales Magic Circle’s annual stage and cabaret competition.

Inspired by the themed show that we’d just done, we put together a new act specially for the competition. The ten minute act used music from the James Bond films as a backdrop to the magic.

Conwy Pirate Weekend 2014

One of the great things about being entertainers is all the fabulous events we get to attend. It’s always a great excuse to dress up in costume and really get into character.

This last weekend, we were at the Conwy Pirate Weekend, the third year of this annual event. Unfortunately it was very wet and overcast on Saturday, which meant that we were all very soggy pirates, but it was more than made up for by the brilliant sunshine on Sunday.

There were loads of events and activities over the weekend: barrel rolling and barrel carrying competitions, a real live mermaid, an 18th century pirate camp, a pirate ship attacking the quay which had to be fended off by cannon fire, and all kinds of stalls and stores.

The crowds were kept entertained by Harley the Clown, Roslyn Walker, Tom Mason & the Blue Buccaneers, as well as Clerical Error Morris Dancers, mermaid Toni Mishell and others. We  told the magical tale of “Captain Gatling’s Journey of Wonder”, and Jay was also the voice of the event, giving announcements all day, and providing commentary on the events, and introducing the acts.

As always, Bernie the Bunnie came along with us, and this time, he decided that he wanted to dress up too. He met lots of new people, but some of the pirates were a bit fierce… although he did eventually get his revenge!

Huge thanks to everyone at HTC Entertainments and Events for all their hard work in making the event such a success.

Make sure to keep an eye on the Conwy Pirates website to get all the news about next year’s event, and be sure to like their Facebook page.

Knights and Princesses in Conwy

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Gallant knights and beautiful princesses, a jester, a magician, balloon models, jousting, bouncy castles and a hot dog stand,  and some beautiful birds of prey… this was our day on the Quay in Conwy.

The main feature of the event was a competition to see who would be the official Knight and Princess of Conwy. The competitors all took part in a bravery test, where Harley the Clown juggled sharp knives over them!

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As always, Bernie the bunny was with us, and he made lots of new friends in the Coastal Hawks Project. He enjoyed sitting up high on their tent, watching everyone walk past; and he really liked looking at all their swords and armour.

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But most of all, Bernie loved their birds.

You might think that a rabbit would be scared to go near predators like these, but not Bernie!

First of all Bernie tried to persuade Angel, the eagle owl, to give him a ride.

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Bernie also met a hungry hawk, and narrowly avoided becoming lunch.

After that, he decided to be a bit more careful!

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Finally, Bernie met Merlin and Morgana, two barn owls, with magical names.

Bernie especially liked their white feathers, he thought that they looked a lot like him!

We all had a wonderful day in Conwy, and we’re counting the days until our next event there.