The food and magic were plentiful and of good quality. The company was convivial. The place was packed – another winner!

Over forty members, prospective members or members of Humberside Young Magicians attended the supper. This was by far the most in the Circle’s history and this was despite the unavoidable absence of several well-known faces. Two dozen performers had kindly agreed to do close-up magic at the tables in the half-an-hour between the end of the meal and the start of the cabaret. Yet another record.

Kerry Scorah, Richard Morrell, Ray Burrell, Malcolm Bromwich, Jon Marshall, Marion Hodgson, Arthur Setterington, Mark Shortland, Thomas Davey, Peter Smales, Alan Johnston, Paul Kitchen, Roland Tuplin, Peter Bennett, Margaret Henriksen , Roni, Matthew Bentley and David Hand produced magic a plenty. Rex Stott also did some bits and bobs but his role was that of a magic traffic cop directing performers towards any table clamouring to be entertained. Yet another first was to have two members of Humberside’s Young Magicians working the tables Daniel Hargreaves and Marley Rudland did some good magic whilst looking very smart, which gained Arthur’s approval.

The magical fare was varied – mainly cards but sponge balls, ropes, silks, coins and even a mousetrap were also in evidence.

The only complaint – if indeed that’s the right word – was that the performers themselves had no opportunity to see what the other magicians were doing. What they did know from the sounds of the very positive reactions in the room was that it was well-appreciated. Maybe we will have to build a re-run into the programme in future years.

It didn’t quite seem the same without Tom Wilkinson but his usual two tables of enthusiastic supporters were there and seemed to have a great night. They were totally mesmerised by some of Roni’s “mind magic”.

Every year the committee search to find a magical, comedy performer for the Supper, I think all would agree that the guest acts have, over the last few years, been excellent. This year was no exception when John Archer made a return visit to entertain.

Newly re-instated member, Daniel Nelson, gave John a great introduction and then it was around forty minutes of Archery comedy. It would be very easy to give a bare list of tricks – Magic Square, Max Maven’s Kurotsuke (the balls trick!), Burnt and Restored Note, Card Divination through Shoulder Reading and Larry Becker’s Casino Royale… but that would give no clue as to the essence of John’s performance. John is a large performer in size and style, you know you’ll like him in seconds, you know he’ll be funny, he excels when interacting with the audience. He has the ability to extract great humour from the situations that arise with his audience volunteers. Clearly he is experienced in handling them and has given his own original presentations and lines to what could be standard routines. In the Maven trick (the divination of who is holding the only black ball), John had some great lines – “How old are you? Fourteen? You are at the peak of your lying powers”. His Shoulder Reading (like phrenology but with shoulder blades) performed with Rex Stott’s grandson was apparently quite new, bizarre and funny and clearly there are more lines to be mined from that situation. John makes comedy look easy, he exudes confidence, which communicates to the audience; they trust him to take them on his comedic journey. Lesser performers attempting the same audience joshing succeed only in unsettling or, worse, embarrassing the audience. This was a brilliant act for our supper. John has become, over the years, a great friend of Hull Magicians’ Circle and we look forward to his return visit.