All packed and ready to set off in the morning for the magic convention in Southport run by The International Brotherhood of Magicians. http://www.britishring.org.uk/
I have been attending these for a few years now and go with three great friends of mine, Mike, Pearse and Thelma and we always have a good laugh. In fact these are my three closest friends, so five days of magic and three great friends, what more could one want.
Thelma and I will be behind the stand working during the day but as you know we don't take it too seriously and still have a great laugh about things. So if you are attending come over and have a chat and a cup of coffee and cream cake would also be most welcome  

Just had a great night out with Thelma, Mike and Pearse. We went to a lovely restuarant but had to wait over an hour for our starter, so after the first bottle of wine they gave us one on the house so we were a litttle worse for wear before we had even eaten but when the food came it was absolutely beautiful and the time flew with great company and playing with a voice reconition system on Thelma's phone, it was just so funny, if you see me ask me about it.
Will be setting the stand in the morning for the convention which opens at 10.30 with the opening ceremony and show at 12.3o. Looking forward to the week.

Thelma and I set the stand today and we think it looks nice, we have done three really lagre 6 foot flowers from 660's, will try and post some pictures soon.
Went to see two shows today, the opening show was dis-appointing although Mark Shortland was excellent and this evening's British ring shield competition, well I'm not to sure what to say but came away upset and depressed. It's been a long time since I've seen such a terrible show, there were one or two acts that put into another show would have been ok but the show started off really badly and never got going. I can honestly say that it upset me as people come from all over the world to see this and I and the others I'm with are all wondering what they think of the quality and standard of the UK magic acts.

Thelma went to see Terry Herbert with a childrens lecture this morning and said it was very good. I was still depressed from yesterday and it took me till after lunch to get over the previous nights show. We had a laugh this afternoon trying to make a sausage dog with one hand and not using your body, it was fun as we had 5/6 attempting and it's a lot harder than one might think. Took some pictures and will try and post when we get a few minutes.
Had a really lovely meal at the new lounge/lounge Inn, it was excellent with a nice bottle of wine as well. The show tonight was nice with four acts and a very funny compere.

Congrats to Dave Andrews, a forum member who was placed second in the British Ring Shield competition with his manipulation act. Thelma went to see a lecture by John Kimmons and Thelma reports it ticked all her boxes and was great.
I went to see the Eddie Dawes afternoon show which was most enjoyable and we had a lovely time at the hotel with our cheese and wine night. Then on to the fringe banquet to see Piff the magic dragon which had some funny moments and then Sean Taylor with an unbelievable newspaper prediction which for me at the moment is the trick of the convention, it was a killer.
Been a busy day today as we then went onto the late show at 10 pm which was again a very nice show which we all enjoyed.

Finally back home and all unpacked, on Saturday I went to see the Q&A session with David & Dania who are top of the bill tonight with there quick change act which got plenty of publicity on America's got talent. We had an interesting chat today with two producers from Britains Got Talent who were trying to coax Thelma into entering and making some balloons on stage. It was an interesting chat with both Thelma and I, probably me mostly though having a good old go at them for getting people on and crucifying them. We talked about Bob Woodings act which one of them said he had seen it and completely described something that Bob does not use in the act, I was very forthright in my views of there programme and asked why they have a warm up guy who encourages the audience to hiss and boo the contestents even before they have walked to the centre of the stage. It was an intersting few minutes.
Really enjoyed the gala show, the hula hoop act and an act with magic, paint and a telly were possibly my favourite of the night.

Some pictures from the convention;

Some more;

Thelma couldn't look at the last picture  :lol: He was a happy dog.