25 April, 2024

Abracadabra! Club marks 50 years of magic

Hot stuff… (from left) Sebastian the ventriloquist’s dummy, Shore City Magicians Club founding and life member Bruce Allan (aka Bj the clown) and club president Mark Robinson with an array of magic paraphernalia

The Shore City Magicians Club has pulled off the trick of lasting 50 years, an achievement club members attribute to its nurturing of young talent.
Founding and life member Bruce (Bj) Allan told the Observer the club was started in 1974 with the sole intention of teaching young people magic, as no others had that focus. It remains the club’s key objective and is the main reason it has survived, he said. “If you don’t put the trees back in the forest you don’t have a forest.”
The club has been based in the Takapuna Community Services building since it began, teaching 11-25-year-olds magic and ‘allied arts’ such as balloon work and juggling.
Club president Mark Robinson, who joined the club as a boy in 1996, said it was a great organisation for anyone interested in magic, including people with disabilities or who don’t fit in easily elsewhere.
The membership has included autistic and blind people. “They spend their life with people saying you can’t do this, can’t do that and then you come to magic club and you can do the impossible.”
He said the club teaches not just magic but also values which can transfer into multiple aspects of life. “There’s a lot more to magic than just the tricks – there’s learning how to speak in public and skills that can help these kids throughout life.”
The club currently has 16 members, six being young learners, but had as many as 50 a decade ago, Robinson said.
Access to learning resources online has meant fewer young people are interested in joining a club, but it was the best way to learn. “Anyone can learn a magic trick but that doesn’t mean you learn how to perform it or make that trick entertaining.”
The club meets at the Takapuna Senior Citizens Hall on the first Wednesday of every month. Its annual show is at the Rose Centre in Belmont in June.

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