A chilly November dawn, and the NWDD Team, resplendent in their identity tee-shirts, swung into action, seemingly oblivious of the cold. The venue, the Irish World Heritage Centre became a hive of activity.

Adrian Sullivan always finds the right card with a smile!

On 11th November, The Order of the Magi (Manchester) held this event for the fourth successive year, being the second year at this location, which is, of course, the Magi's own headquarters. Following the success of last year's NWDD, it is recognised by the Team that the IWHC is a popular venue, with a good car park and their own catering facilities (which were, judging from the amount of food and drink I saw being consumed, in great demand) and an excellent retail park a couple of minutes' walk away (with the appearance of a number of well-known high street bags evidence of some early Christmas shopping?)

"It was that card" says John Pye, (Secretary of The British Ring) to Stephen Tucker (Editor of The Budget).

The dealers' stalls were all highly appealing and, on the basis of the numerous packages I saw, business must have been good. It was certainly extremely lively and, as Helen Moran, Nikki Sharples and I had been detailed to preside over the entrance desk, we could see just how well attended it was, although, on a more sombre note, at eleven o'clock, a 2-minutes' silence was totally and appropriately observed.

Aubrey Hurst of the Charles Stuart Retail Group who joined us to judge the displays for the DEALERS TROPHY.

Having seen, in previous years, just how appealing the dealers' stalls are, it was decided to award a trophy to the dealer with the most attractive stall. Aubrey Hurst, a retired non-magician, whose extensive experience in the retail trade (he used to have a chain of shops), was well qualified to act as judge for the society. He quietly viewed all of the stalls, Incognito, immediately prior to the opening. Towards the end of the day, the trophy was awarded to David Baxter of Made to Measure Magic, congratulations.

David Baxter of Made To Measure Magic wins the Dealers Trophy for the most attractive stand.

Throughout the event a, continually running and imaginatively animated, power point presentation on a huge screen provided an eye-catching backdrop. This was the skillful production of Dan and Rebecca Sharples, the son and daughter of Past President, and now Secretary Mike. Many thanks to them both.

Always plenty of balloon colours with "Snaggers".

Midday was the point at which a close-up competition was staged. Six competitors, representing magic societies, other than the Order of the Magi, each performed for 5 minutes only. It was indeed a challenging project, with each competitor necessarily moving rapidly to their climax.

Andrew Green (Preston) opened, loudly enthusiastic (he was his own "warm -up" man!), asking for someone to select a card (6H) which was replaced at random in the pack. Andrew skillfully spun another card (A H) from the pack, tearing it up and placing the pieces, face down, on the table. The 6H was found in the pack .He waved this over the pieces which became 6H, whilst the card in his hand became A H. Andrew then reconstituted the 6H. He then worked with a borrowed ring, changing it into a chain. The ring was found in a box and then it re-appeared on the chain. It was an entertaining and cheerfully noisy performance.

Andrew was followed by Steve Bellerby (Barnsley). He initially worked with lengths of rope and, with the assistance of a lady in the audience, knotted one piece, without releasing the ends, dropped the knot, joined the 3 pieces into 1 long rope and made 3 unequal lengths of rope, equal. He produced a ring, which the lady examined, which he then worked onto the rope (whilst the lady held the 2 ends), and removed it again. Moving on to a pack of cards, Steve asked the lady to choose a card, replace it in the pack and he attempted to find her card, but chose 2 incorrect ones. Donning a pair of magic glasses, Andrew then peered closely at the spread the face down pack of cards and, as he looked up, the lady's chosen card was depicted on the glasses.

Next was Michael Diamond (Liverpool) who asked a lady in the audience (Jess) to hold a small drawstring bag. He then blew up a balloon and asked someone else (Jack) to hold it. A third person, John, was asked to name any card. 2S was named. A pack of cards was produced, fastened with a rubber band which was then allowed to pass through a finger. Michael retrieved the 2S from the pack. It was replaced by John and the pack was placed in a box and fastened. A paperknife was produced, the balloon was retrieved from Jack, and was burst revealing the 2S card in the balloon. Finally, Michael took the drawstring bag from Jess. The bag contained a pack of cards which was held up to the audience only one card was reversed and that was 2S! Michael's performance was fast moving, deft and with an abundance of material, given the restricted time.

Chris Strickland (Bolton) followed. Chris stuck to card routines only, effectively using the "quality", not "quantity" approach. A volunteer (Steve) was asked to choose a random card from a pack 2D. Steve returned it to the pack. Chris then removed 4 cards from the pack and placed them in a neat stack, repeating this with a further 4 cards. Steve was requested to point to the stack containing his card. The 2D was the only card in the stack the wrong way up. The whole routine was then repeated, using the shuffled pack. This time, Steve was asked to place his hand over the stack of four, which contained his chosen card. Subsequently, when Steve was asked to remove his hand, only his chosen card was on the table and the other 3 were in Chris's hand.

The fifth competitor was Nick Barnes (Congleton), who is also the President-Elect of the Magi. Refreshingly, Nick was the only competitor who didn't use cards in his routine; he concentrated on ropes, a ring and invisible scissors, interspersed with a series of jokes. After running the rope through the ring and knotting the rope, the ring was removed from, and returned to, the rope. After cutting the rope with invisible scissors, he showed a knot remaining in the middle of the cut rope. After Nick had produced two ropes of unequal length, the lengths became equal and were then joined to become one long rope. A ring on his arm then appeared on the rope, which had been tied at the ends.

Last and, purely in terms of his age, least, was Michael Jordan (Huddersfield), who, with his sister, is to perform his cabaret act at the Magi's next annual dinner. Michael passed a closed drawstring bag to two members of the audience, who each, having felt it, identified the contents as a coin (or similar), whereupon Michael produced from the bag (and drank) a small glass of orange juice. He produced three cards, all 3S, one changed to 2H and the three cards all became 3S. Finally, a single card with three shovels (as in "spades") was produced. Michael described this as the "world's honest card trick". His performance was exceptionally deft.

All the competitors proved skillful and entertaining, but the winner was Michael Diamond, with Chris Strickland in second place. Congratulations to both.

Michael Diamond Wins the Close Up Competition and receives the £100 Prize from Magi President Barrie Horridge

Later in the day, we were enthralled by Keith Kay's beautifully illustrated talk on visual illusions, including their history. Victorian movie camera type devices, such as the kinetoscope principles, were demonstrated. His skillful interaction between visual effects, music, sound effects and his own voice were both stunningly effective and instructive. Thank you so much, Keith.

The NWDD of 2006 proved to be a continued success of this event. See you all next year!

"Just wiggle your fingers and the magic happens" says Brian Berry.

(Thanks for the report Vivien, and thanks again to Nikki and Helen for looking after the door for us. Webmaster.)