Magician & mentalist

The Swan at Streatley

I mentioned in an earlier post I would blog an 8oth birthday party. Here it finally is. The lovely Melissa Dockett, for whom I performed at her Wedding several years back, booked me to perform at The Swan at Streatley for her mom’s 80th birthday party. You can see by the picture below that it is an idealic place for any celebration.

Pretty as a picture!

 It was a wonderful day for everyone, especially her charming mom, and Melissa kindly sent me this message the following week, ‘Thank you so much for being so fantastic – everyone who I spoke to absolutely loved you – truly spectacular’.

Miss Daisy Deluxe

Here was a fun evening where I was part of a group of performers. It was held at the Two Brewers in Marlow.The charming Ruth Morgan, who also peforms as burlesque dancer Miss Daisy Deluxe (see pic above) booked me to warm up the crowd with some close up magic (see pic  below) followed by a part of my mentalism show. There were several singers and improvisational comedians as well.

Everyone loves magic!

I love performing magic for birthdays. Everyone is in a good mood. I have been invited to do magic at some great birthday celebrations this year. Here are a few. I’ll get to an eighty year young celebration in the next entry!

Starting with a double celebration was a 50th and 21st birthday party of dad Raj and daughter Amy.

Gardeners paradise

The event was at a private residence in Bicester and held in the gardens. They were absolutely stunning. Amongst the rose bushes and water features were the four piece classical group Divertimento.

Birthday bash in style

The dinner was held in a stunningly designed marquee and here I performed for the guests. After an intriguing piece of mentalism Raj replied, ‘Einstein would have been impressed with that!’ Music was supplied by Freeze Frame who do Rock and Pop.

The whole event was orgainsed expertly by Antoanella from  Ambassador Catering. She contacted me later in the week and said, ‘ Raj and Amy were delighted with your performance and I personally would like to thank you for your professionalism. It is great when everything works as planned, but it becomes ‘magical’ when someone goes the the extra mile like you did, and for that I do thank you.’

Your welcome Antoanella and it was a real pleasure working with you.

Then a friend of mine Yvonne Rogers asked me to entertain at her son Tim’s 40th at  Hicknaham Farm in Burnham.

Hicknaham Farm near Beaconsfield

It’s a very picturesque working farm and a perfect place to have a private party with catering provided. Yvonne said later, ‘everyone I spoke to said how much they enjoyed having you there’. Thanks Yvonne, I thoroughly enjoyed being there and entertaining your family and friends.

The last Blog mentioned events other than weddings at which I do magic for. However, as it is weddings season, here are a few that I have performed at locally.

The first one is the Lane End Conference Centre where I have performed on numerous occasions. It was the wedding of Marcia and Daniel.

Dan and Marcia

Bisham Abbey

This lovely venue is right next to the famous sports venue of the same name

Bisham Abbey. Kerri parkins and her partner Lee chose another beautiful day and had the accompaniment of Affinity harp and flute duo whilst I mixed and mingled amongst the guests. Kerri sent me a card later saying, ‘loads of guests commented on how cool the magic performance was and it made our reception very unique’.

Affinity harp and flute duo

Close to home, and another venue I am familier with is Court Garden House in Marlow. This was the wedding of Katherine Finkle and fiance’ Richard.

The dreaded speech moment

There was photography by Sean O’Dell and Katherine kindly sent me this quote after the wedding:

‘Thank you so much. Everyone has commented on how much they enjoyed the magic and I just heard people bursting into applause at constant intervals.’

Le Manoir Aux Quat

I had know idea when Adam Kemp and his charming Fiance’ Noemi invited me to perform for his guests at 

Manoir Aux Quat ‘Saisons in Great Milton that it belongs to the famous french Chef, 

Raymond Blanc. What a magnificent venue. Half ot the guests were from Spain so the magic had to be visual so lots of fire was used!

Fellow South African, photographer Adrian Stone from The Dream Catchers was there capturing the specail moments. Adam emailed later saying , ‘Many thanks, you did a great job. Everyone really enjoyed it – I was delighted to get my ring back’.

Magicians don’t just do weddings, we provide entertainment for a range of events. A birthday party is always a popular time to have a magician on board. Karran Robb hired me to perform for her hubby Jason’s 40th birthday party in the stunning location of  Benson Waterfront Cafe’ and Bistro in Wallingford, Oxon. I love the water, and maybe it is because I was bought up close to the sea in Durban South Africa.

Guests baffled in Benson

Karran quoted after the party: ‘Thanks you so much for helping in the success of Jason’s party. I have been overwhelmed with text messages from friends thanking me for  lovely evening and many of them have added that the magician was a great touch’.

One  of Karran’s guest, Vicki Quartermain also kindly sent a message: ‘We saw you at Jason’s 50th birthday party last night and just wanted to say we thought you were amazing’.

Kathleen Fraser-Harding hired me for her hubby Tim’s 50th birthday in Caversham, Reading. It was held in a marquee at the home and they had a splendid hogroast by Roasters Catering…mmmm, I love Hogroasts!

Kathleen sent this message the following week: ‘Thanks for doing such a sterling job on Saturday. All who mentioned you thought you were great. Tim’s Mum especially. We will definaitely recommend you if any of our family/friends are ever looking for a magician.’

Sweet Sixteen

Finally, the bubbly and charming Erica  Beetcham asked my to secretly arrive at her daughters Jess’s 16th birthday party (centre of photo above) in Chalfont St. Peter, and pretend to be a ballon modeller. Jess was terrified her mother would hire a Balloon modelist – not so cool at a 16th birthday party!.

Well the acting seemed to work (the things we’re asked to do hey!!) and then I transformed my act into mind reading which was well received. I must say I was a tad anxious before I began, because as I was getting prepared upstairs, I could hear, ‘down..down..down’,  below in the kitchen and many bottles klinking. I shouldn’t have worried, it was a fabulous party and all the teenagers were great fun. They made me feel really youthful, and that is Real magic!

I performed magic at David Lidgates 70th birthday party in Gerrads Cross right next to the The Bull Hotel. There was a fab Catering group who have an amazing barn in Burnham in Buckinghamshire where they hold many wedding ceremonies. They treated me to some lovley grub! All the magic, (and the grub) went down well but the guests particularly liked the mentalism.

Jo Lidgate, wife of David, Kindly sent this quote:

‘ Hi Ian, You were Great. Everyone enjoyed your performance. Still scratching their heads as to how you did all that Magic. Well done and many thanks.’

Mentalism or shadow puppetry?

I’m putting a couple of engagements up here from the past because I think they were worth mentioning and I guess I am also getting behind in the blogging department due to arrangements for the Edinburgh Festival. I am doing a performance there called Reality Vaccine, which is a mentalism show.

Sandmartins Golf Club

The first one was a repeat booking by the ‘Lovlies and the Wrinklies’ Golf group at Sandmartins Golf Club club in Wokingham. I usually do a cabaret for them and they are always such a fun and welcoming group. As you can see they were in a festive spirit.

Luvlies and Wrinklies

 The second one I wanted to mention was a 60th birthday party for Roger Jennings in Hindhead, Surrey. He has a lovely large house so there was plenty of room for a dsico which was provided my Make A Note mobile disco.

There were quite a number NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) practioners present at the party so they were fascinated my the mentalism. Roger very kindly sent me a message later:

‘ Thank you for helping to make a great evening amazing. Everyone was astounded by your ‘magic’ – I think that is too limited a word for it! and were talking about ‘their favourite trick’ for a long time after. (I am glad that you surprised my NLP friends, they usually think they are the practitioners). You were very professional yet mixed seamlessly with everyone – thank you for bringing a touch of magic to the party.

I am sure referrals will follow.’

Alfred Hitchcock would have been proud of Stephen Lane, CEO of the Propstore in London, which sells movie memorabilia.

He held his 40th birthday bash in the Hitchcock rooms at Pinewood Studios . I had performed magic at his beautiful home in Beaconsfield several years back (see ‘Alien invasion in Beaconsfield’) and he asked me to perform close up magic and mentalism for his guests a few weeks back.

..boo..

As you can see, a scary scene was created for his family and friends, including hideous screams and shouts from various speakers as they entered the function area.

one less guest..

The guests went to town with the appropriate outfits..

Is he wearing mascara?

..even the magician appeared mysteriously in his own box. This photo was taken by the charming  and talented Andrew Redpath of Redpathstudios. Also making some noise on the dance floor was Class Act Events who provide a range of entertainment for private and corporate events.

Quotes from the party:

‘How the f..k did you do that?’  Dizzy (guest)

‘Thanks so much for your hard work at the party. Loads of people have commented about your skils and tricks – all great stuff. I’m sure we’ll be back to you again in the future.’ Stephen Lane (birthday boy)

Annie Wilkes and her hubby held a double birhday bash in Buckingham on the sunniest day in April. She decided to have a marquee erected in the garden,  and provide delicious food food by Bon Viveur Catering and cracking magic by yours truly!

Designer marquee!

As it was such a lovely day, many of the guests chilled outside in the sun listening to the cool sounds of The Ariella Experience string quartet.

magic moments..

Annie sent a lovely quote:

‘Many people commented on your marvelous magic and how much they enjoyed and been intrigued by it all. You really added to the relaxed and happy ambiance of our party so thank you very very much’.