Today’s session was very Magical. We have 32 members and their carers all tuned in to meet Alan Hudson – who is a regular performer at The Magic Circle in Hollywood and also a member of the world famous The Magic Circle.

Members as usual joined in from 2.30pm so that they could have a bit of a chat together and also Lisa can provide members with any updates. Lisa introduced new members today Michael and Christina and other members made them feel very welcome.

The Magic Show started promptly and Alan made a grand entrance. I could see everyone’s faces glued to the screen. Alan started with a short introduction of himself and showed us his room where he was performing. He also told us about an envelope which he had at the back of his room which he would open at the end. Intriguing? Alan had everyone mesmerized with all of his tricks and best of all he interacted personally with a few of the members asking them to take action. Amazing what can be done virtually!

Alan made us think at times that he had made a mistake or didn’t know the answer especially when he asked one of the members to provide a 4 digit number (for example his card Pin number!) Alan was supposed to reveal the 4 digit number on a piece of paper but instead he wrote ‘Your Pin number’ Everyone laughed. Another amazing trick was the Rubik Cube. Alan had 2 Rubik Cubes. He showed us both Rubik Cubes which were completely different colours on all sides. He put one Rubik Cube away and with the one he had left he asked different members to play by getting them to say which layers and corners of the Cube they wanted to turn and which way until they were happy to stop. Once everyone was happy to stop – Alan brought back the Rubik Cube which had put to one side and to everyone’s amazement both Rubik Cubes were identical in colours on each side. Wow!!

There were quite a few card tricks and I could see that everyone was so excited. At the end Alan opened the envelope and in the envelope was a piece of paper with all the answers to all the tricks he performed. How amazing is that especially as he would not have known what choices the members would make during the performance. The 4 digit number was also revealed on this piece of paper.

It was a fantastic performance Alan and members really enjoyed all your magically tricks. You made a lot of faces smile especially during these very difficult times. We look forward to seeing you again.

The session then continued with our music entertainer James le Bec who as usual got everyone singing with a bit of Elvis and other familiar songs and then a music quiz which always gets members competitive to try and shout out the answer first. Richard our chair Yoga instructor then followed with some magical movements today getting everyone to work out from top to toe but also with fun. Richard continued with a magical quiz asking for example the name of a comedian and magician who used to say ‘Just like that’. There were 10 different questions and the winners for the quiz today were Pamela and John. Well done Pamela. Lisa then called out the Bingo numbers and the new winners today were Nino and Rosita. Well done to you both.

What an amazing Magical afternoon.

It was lovely to see our Rotary members today Helen, Nandini, Ritu, our volunteers Annette, Melvyn, Melissa, our student Louis, our Trustees Dr Angela and Mark who was also the Session Manager taking care of any technical issues. Hope everyone enjoyed today and look forward to seeing you all on Monday.