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Roving with Ray
by Ray Roberts
Saturday the 22nd of May saw us arriving at Tynemouth for the British Ring
IBM President’s dinner. We checked into the Grand hotel, which had just been
refurbished and made the ideal venue.
The dinner was set for seven thirty so after meeting the first lady of magic and
her consort Betty Laing we drank our complementary bucks fizz and enjoyed
meeting old friends before being ushered into the dining room by John Pye who
was resplendent in his red tails. Once in the room we were captivated by the
breathtaking view across the bay. After the presentation of flowers John had the
unenviable job of asking all present to stand in silence in memory of our
secretary Tony Shelley whose untimely death has shocked us all. Cynthia said
grace and we sat down to an excellent meal, which was served by a proficient
staff. The meal over the short but effective speeches was given. Proposing the
toast to the British Ring was in the hands of our PRO Bob Hayden, the response
was by Cynthia who also proposed a toast to guests and visitors, which in turn
was responded to by Jean Ainley in rhyme.
After a short interval raffle tickets were sold and the cabaret started with one
of the North East’s best known comedians Bobby Pattinson who proved he had lost
none of his charm, skill and charisma that had made him a household name and
provided him an excellent living all his life. Robert Temple is a young man who
loves his magic and it shows. His act consisted of candles, thimbles, and cards
with a lovely linking ring routine thrown in for good measure. Dave Andrews was
simply excellent aided and abetted by Jessica they tore the audience apart with
the six-card repeat and lots of cross talk, for me it was worth the cost of the
whole weekend. Dave Brown is a clown with out make up but never the less a
clown. He is excellent and within seconds he had won the audience over and was
on his way to making his act the ideal closer for the show. Bobby said his good
byes and a lovely night was almost over, the raffle was drawn and Cynthia
thanked every one for supporting her and the British Ring.
© Ray Roberts, June 2004