Tag: International Brotherhood of Magicians

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Gatling Magic featured in the Key Ring Magazine

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There was an article on us in the November issue of the Key Ring magazine, the monthly magazine of the British Ring of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

The article is reproduced here by kind permission of Key Ring magazine and their editor Geoffrey Newton.

For more information on the British Ring, visit their website www.britishring.org.uk

THE PEOPLEPAGE James and Sarah Dickson (known as Jay Gatling and Amelia)

Wizardry in Wales by Geoffrey NEWTON

I was trolling through the membership list the other day and found that James and Sarah Dickson of North Wales are both members of The British Ring. Granted they are not alone in this, but it is quite rare amongst the several hundred people in our society. I am very pleased to see this husband and wife team supporting us in such a manner. Their name was already familiar to me due to their success in winning the Theo Speaker Cup and Dittia Shield for Manipulation at the 2011 Southport convention. As a direct result of this I booked their act as seen for a subsequent dinner at The Order of The Magi, in my alter ego capacity as PRO there. See it pays to enter competitions so please pay heed and have a go yourself next year.

Although James originates from Kent, Sarah was born in North Wales. They became (then unknown to each other) interested in magic via different routes. James from a book on card tricks and Sarah having seen a magician perform at a Christmas pantomime in her home town of Rhyl. They met at North Wales Magic Circle and made their first performance together with ‘Elemental’ in 2008 winning the NWMC competition. The following year they had a summer season in Llandudno, honing this act to perfection and winning their local society competition again in 2010. This clearly had urged them to have a go at the IBM competition.

James and Sarah married in 2014 with a reception full of magic, with performances by many of the North Wales society members and even adding their own digital dexterity as part of the celebration.

Jay and Amelia (I’ll call them by that name from now on) are both actively involved in the Llandudno Victorian Extravaganza, held over the first May Bank Holiday and which will be celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2016. There are daily parades throughout the event with many people entering into the spirit by wearing Victorian costume. Jay presents mix and mingle magic and the two perform on the various stages in Mostyn Street which is specially closed off for the weekend. According to what I have read it is clearly a very popular event, proved by the large numbers who attend.

I had to ask about any disasters but luckily they generally seemed to have escaped these so far. A near miss though has come their way on a couple of occasions. Once when the wrong music was playing, fortunately Jay knew the piece so battled through with no one any the wiser. The other was when Amelia forgot to unpack the Losender floating table and Jay was on stage performing with just one minute to it being needed. Talk about a high speed prop set. She just made it and Jay knew nothing of the panic until he had finished the act.

Amelia told me of her most exciting performance, on the stage of the Rhyl Pavilion when they were the interval act whilst the judges were adjudicating at the Welsh Factor competition. It happened to be the very stage where she had seen a magician all those years ago and which had hooked her into magic in the first place. Jay has another interest, as a trained swordsman and he presents sword displays with a friend Erwyd le Fol. Their performances are appropriately called ‘Two the Hilt’. I bet he can do a great Card Sword or Sword through Neck!

I have a few more people in the pipeline to write about, so keep reading as it is amazing what you learn about your fellow members.

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Review of Seaside Special in the Budget

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Jay and I are both members of the British Ring of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, and we had a lovely surprise when we opened our copy of this month’s Budget magazine.

As you can see, Maggie Tucker saw Seaside Special recently, and came backstage to chat with us after the show.

It’s always nice to know that people have enjoyed watching us,  and the shows that we take part in.

This was the best £6.00 I’ve spent in a long, long time.

Jenna Grace, a vocalist, sang (amongst others) a song from Les Misérables as expertly as that from the actual stage and film productions. She was excellent. Mel Blake is a top TV comedian and it showed… very funny. The Linzi Grace Dancers performed four times during the show and were very energetic and fast paced. Now to the magic…

Jay Gatling performed a lovely solo spot in the first half with a series of entertaining rope effects. Then, in the second half, Jay & Amelia, as Elemental, wowed the audience with their illusions and manipulations. It was good to see so many original touches that no doubt helped to secure them two British Ring prizes, in 2011, including the Dittia Shield for manipulation. Jay’s manipulative skills, on this night, were outstanding and he and Amelia worked so well together in the second half.

I was pleased to be able to chat with them backstage after the show, and congratulate them on two terrific performances. The two hours just flew by.

I highly recommend magicians and their families to see this show, especially when you realise that ALL the proceeds go to a charity that helps sick and disabled children in North Wales.”

The Budget, September 2013

Seaside Special is on at the Town Hall in Llandudno every week until the 2nd of October, and all proceeds go to Happy Faces Children’s Charity. Click here for more information.

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International Brotherhood of Magicians Convention in Great Yarmouth

At the end of September we travelled all the way to Great Yarmouth for the annual convention of the British Ring of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

The convention took place in several different locations on the seafront in Great Yarmouth, including the Britannia Theatre and  Long John’s Showbar (both on the Britania Pier), the Hollywood Cinema and the Marina Centre.

We go to Great Yarmouth nice and early, and handed our trophies safely back to the organisers.

Although we didn’t enter the stage competition this year, Jay entered the Ali Bongo Micro Marathon. The Micro Marathon is a fun, friendly competition, but Jay still wanted to make sure that he looked his best!

The British Ring have very kindly let us use two of their photographs of us at the convention:

Members of the North Wales Magic Circle in the dealers hall at the IBM convention in Great Yarmouth.
Jay performing at the Ali Bongo Micro Marathon at the IBM convention in Great Yarmouth.

For more information on the British Ring of the International Brotherhood of Magician, visit their website (www.britishring.org.uk), their convention website (www.magicconvention.co.uk), or “Like” their Facebook page (www.facebook.com/IBM.BritishRing25).

As well as being busy at the convention, we decided to take some time off to enjoy the attractions of Great Yarmouth.

We played adventure golf at Pirates Cove:

We went back in time at Yesterday’s World:

And we explored the depths of the ocean at the Sea Life Centre:

We had a brilliant time, very relaxing, and full of magic!

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Trophies and Magic Conventions

It’s been almost a year since we won the Dittia Shield and the Theo Speaker Cup in the stage competition at the annual International Brotherhood of Magicians British Ring Number 25 convention in Southport.

This year’s convention is in Great Yarmouth and we’ll be taking the trophies back with us, ready to be presented to the next winners.

I wanted to make sure that the trophies were handed back in the best possible condition, so I spent a morning last week cleaning and polishing them. How do you think I did?

While I was cleaning them, I had a good chance to read all the names of the previous winners, and it’s amazing to think that we’ve been added to them.

 There are some well known names on there, including Ali Bongo, president of the Magic Circle, adviser to Paul Daniels and David Nixon, and one of the inspirations for Jonathan Creek; and John Archer, the first magician to fool Penn and Teller on their television show, Fool Us

Some of the names are probably less familiar to most people, but are greats in the world of magic – Ron MacMillan, founder of the London magic shop; Walt Lees, editor of the only weekly magazine for magicians; Roy Davenport; Scott Penrose; Brian Sefton.

One name on the trophy has special meaning for me. We have a family tradition that every year we go to the pantomime on Boxing Day. In 1998, it was Cinderella, and Buttons was played by Dominic Wood. He performed magic in the pantomime,  and from that moment on I was hooked. Fourteen years later, and I’m on the same trophy that he won!

The trophies are all safely packed away in their carrying cases, ready for the drive down tomorrow. We’ll tell you all about it when we get back!

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Elemental at the IBM Convention in Southport

Every year the British Ring of the International Brotherhood of Magicians holds a convention, and this years’ was in Southport. At the convention they hold their annual stage competition, and we decided to take part.

This was Jay’s first IBM convention, and Amelia’s first for ten years, so it was a whole new experience for us. On Thursday we picked up our registration packs. There was a very relaxed pace to the convention, leaving lots of time to catch up with friends. We enjoyed the Thursday night micro marathon and the cabaret show. Friday was fun, and we saw some good magic in close up competition.

Saturday was taken up with the stage competition. All the acts were given twenty minutes in the afternoon to go through their sound and lighting, and we had just enough time to do a run through of our routine. We got talking to another of the competitors, Jason & Joanne and had a lovely chat with them.

The evening was spent backstage, getting into costume and setting up all the props. There were ten competitors in all, and we were sixth, which meant that we were the first act after the interval. It was a strange feeling, partly nervous at going on stage in front of hundreds of magicians, but partly calm, knowing that we would just get up there and do our best. The ten minutes we were on stage seemed to pass very quickly. The routine went well, and we could just about hear the audience clapping at the relevant points. We came offstage exhausted, but happy that we had done a good performance.

We were backstage with the other acts as the winners were announced. The first stage competition result to be announced was the Dittia Shield for Manipulation, and we were absolutely stunned when the name read out was Elemental! We went up and collected our trophy, and waited as the other trophies were presented. We could hardly believe it when we heard our name called out again; we had been awarded the Theo Speaker Cup for second place in the competition.