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The October Meeting saw the first .... and hopefully other members will follow the example ... of two lecturettes from our own members. Brian Dodridge opened the evening with a fascinating talk on the Houdini Seances. He had several attractive posters on display and an easy presentation which touched briefly on the early career of, probably the best known name in magic as far as the public are concerned, but concentrated mainly on the latter years when Houdini was very active in his exposure of fraudulent mediums. He covered events which followed Houdini's death on 31. 10 1926 when his widow waited for the "agreed code word" to come through from "the other side". Eventually a medium was able to give her the agreed (and apparently only known to H and his wife) word. The Press were somewhat sceptical of the claims and she suffered continual disbelief during her remaining years. A very meaty subject and apparently still causing a great deal of interest and conjecture ... undoubtedly Brian will have aroused the interest of members present (I shall certainly be re-reading all that I have in my own library). A great start to the evening and this continued as Brian and Robin Maddy demonstrated very convincingly Geoffrey Scalbert's Mystery of the Seventh Card. We broke for refreshments (as always Susan was active in her domain) ... and awaited the second half of the evening which was to start with an explanation of "HOW" they had fooled us so well. Members sat fascinated by the explanation of the 7th Card Mystery and we were taken through the effect stage by stage which enable us to "have a go" with Robin (who played the mental receiver in the presentation) and check our results at each stage in the effect. Brian and Robin had slightly modified the original presentation and without doubt I can see several of us "priming our other halves" so that we can also mystify our friends. Robin then took the floor for his showing and explanation of just a few of his favourite items which covered a modern version of George Blake's "Uncanny Hanks"; T & R Tissue with a lovely cod explanation to finish; a baffling newspaper prediction (pleased that I'm not the only one who uses this excellent effect) and closed with a very strong ESP Envelope Divination. The explanations were very clear and easily understood by all present ... shame of you missed the evening ...'cos we all learned something and I would put money on several using at least one of the effects shown. Make sure YOU don't miss the next similar evening. Simon expressed our thanks to Brian and Robin for a mystifying and entertaining evening .... further offers to present your own "mini" will be welcomed by Dan (aka Fred in the Shed) Hudson who handles our programme. |
Society News 
Subscriptions for 2009 - 2010 will be due on 1st May 2009. All members will be receiving a letter with details on how to pay their subscriptions for the coming year, if you have not received your letter and subscription information please contact Simon Williams - treasurer@hcms.org.uk
Members will be aware that Sean Lobban, a magician from the Portsmouth and District Magic Circle, is arranging to walk from Portsmouth to London via Southampton, Winchester, Basingstoke, Reading and Windsor to raise money for the Anthony Nolan Trust, which is a charity saving the lives of leukaemia patients through bone marrow transplants.
Don't forget that March 19th 2009 is our Annual Competition Night. Please make sure that you have given your details and entry form to myself
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in plenty of time for the evening. We would like as many members to enter as possible. We have a wealth of talent in our midst, please take some time to show it. 