9.3 The Connolly Shield March 11th 2005
The sponsors, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution Hessle branch, had produced excellent publicity, colourful tickets and a good house for the Connolly Shield Competition 2005. At 7.30 p.m. on Friday March 11 in Hessle Town Hall the competition got underway with Paul Kitchen as compre introducing the first competitors Kevin Ward and Beau. Kevin took us through his professionally polished childrens show, compromising of Balls to Box, a Sawing in Halves of a child volunteer, followed by a levitation and decapitation of other helpers from the audience. Each assistant received a balloon flower for their trouble. Kevin and Beau finished with a Cube-Zag illusion.
Malcolm Bromwich and Roxanne Broadbent were next to perform. They started with a nice interlude of Cut-and-Restored Rope and Unequal Ropes, with Roxanne getting one-up on Malcolm. Malcolm got his own back by twisting Roxannes head round in his Head Twister illusion. A fun aside with the Hunter Puzzle Knot and a couple of audience members, led into what is now Malcolm and Roxannes signature piece, The Wall illusion. Unfortunately Malcolm ran slightly over time.
Third on was Daniel Hargreaves making his move from the Spooner Trophy to the Connolly Shield. Daniel opened with an impressive Vanishing Cane, produced an Umbrella from a copy of The Hull Daily Mail, vanished and re-appeared a silk a-la 20th Century. He then confidently showed his version of the Blocks-Off routine, Candle through Arm, the Phone Number card trick and finished with the Goodnight Wand. Unfortunately for Daniel he under-ran his declared time.
The final act of the competition and the eventual winner was Gordon Stow in his character of Professor Bumblebore. Gordon started off by trying to square a circle, and kept this up as a running gag. He produced a rabbit from his wizards hat. Gordon then showed his Sympathetic Ropes routine, followed by David Ginns Stretching Streamer, peppered with jokes which revealed Gordons dry sense of humour. A routine which blended the disappearance of a necklace, a watch, ring and money followed, and concluded with the re-appearance of the articles to a strong round of gasps and applause. Gordon concluded his act with the David Ginn Blendo, which gave a nice colourful end to his act and the competition.
Throughout the night Paul did an excellent job as compere. With strong magic and sight gags he filled the stage waits with ease and professionalism, using his Sponge Ball routine, Torn and Restored Newspaper, Gaetan Blooms McDonalds Bag with Pauls original script and Appearing Straw kicker, Party Popper Roulette, Card Called Phil, and Misers Dream.
In the second half whilst the judges were still deliberating, Alan Hudson treated the audience to a spot of his comedy magic, including Norm Nielsens Vanishing Ketchup Bottle, the, amazingly impossible, Ring in Gumball Machine and Ali Bongos Balloon trick which has become a strong closer for Alan, and was much appreciated by the audience.
The judges consisted of Ann Robinson from the RNLI, and two magical judges, our friends from the York Society, Maurice Deighton and Roger Martin. They decided that the winner for this evening should be Gordon Stow, with Kevin and Beau a close second.
The whole show ran smoothly thanks to the hard work backstage by Brian Wilson and Richard Morrell. HMC President, Eddie Dawes, thanked all concerned, with the evening raising over four-hundred pounds, benefiting HMC and the RNLI the evening was certainly deemed a success.
Malcolm Bromwich and Roxanne Broadbent were next to perform. They started with a nice interlude of Cut-and-Restored Rope and Unequal Ropes, with Roxanne getting one-up on Malcolm. Malcolm got his own back by twisting Roxannes head round in his Head Twister illusion. A fun aside with the Hunter Puzzle Knot and a couple of audience members, led into what is now Malcolm and Roxannes signature piece, The Wall illusion. Unfortunately Malcolm ran slightly over time.
Third on was Daniel Hargreaves making his move from the Spooner Trophy to the Connolly Shield. Daniel opened with an impressive Vanishing Cane, produced an Umbrella from a copy of The Hull Daily Mail, vanished and re-appeared a silk a-la 20th Century. He then confidently showed his version of the Blocks-Off routine, Candle through Arm, the Phone Number card trick and finished with the Goodnight Wand. Unfortunately for Daniel he under-ran his declared time.
The final act of the competition and the eventual winner was Gordon Stow in his character of Professor Bumblebore. Gordon started off by trying to square a circle, and kept this up as a running gag. He produced a rabbit from his wizards hat. Gordon then showed his Sympathetic Ropes routine, followed by David Ginns Stretching Streamer, peppered with jokes which revealed Gordons dry sense of humour. A routine which blended the disappearance of a necklace, a watch, ring and money followed, and concluded with the re-appearance of the articles to a strong round of gasps and applause. Gordon concluded his act with the David Ginn Blendo, which gave a nice colourful end to his act and the competition.
Throughout the night Paul did an excellent job as compere. With strong magic and sight gags he filled the stage waits with ease and professionalism, using his Sponge Ball routine, Torn and Restored Newspaper, Gaetan Blooms McDonalds Bag with Pauls original script and Appearing Straw kicker, Party Popper Roulette, Card Called Phil, and Misers Dream.
In the second half whilst the judges were still deliberating, Alan Hudson treated the audience to a spot of his comedy magic, including Norm Nielsens Vanishing Ketchup Bottle, the, amazingly impossible, Ring in Gumball Machine and Ali Bongos Balloon trick which has become a strong closer for Alan, and was much appreciated by the audience.
The judges consisted of Ann Robinson from the RNLI, and two magical judges, our friends from the York Society, Maurice Deighton and Roger Martin. They decided that the winner for this evening should be Gordon Stow, with Kevin and Beau a close second.
The whole show ran smoothly thanks to the hard work backstage by Brian Wilson and Richard Morrell. HMC President, Eddie Dawes, thanked all concerned, with the evening raising over four-hundred pounds, benefiting HMC and the RNLI the evening was certainly deemed a success.
Comments
No comments yet
