I've been very busy performing at various events over the last few weeks and haven't had a chance to update this blog, but last weekend was a bit special and I wanted to mention it on here.
The weekend started on Friday with some lunchtime magic at my regular spot at Heathrow Airport. As it was the start of the half-term holiday everywhere was busy with lots of families flying out for a short break. Little did they know how lucky they were as we were only hours away from the BA computer crash that grounded all flights for days! It's always fun to do magic at Heathrow and people are very surprised to meet a magician providing free entertainment. I even got to practice my language skills by doing some card tricks in French and Italian. "Non è possibile!" At 2pm I dashed out of the airport, jumped in my car and drove round the M25 to Botleys Mansion in Chertsey. I'm the recommended supplier magician for this venue and had been booked by Yanika and Amit to do magic for their guests. It's a great venue and as I arrived the sun was blazing hot - it must have been the warmest day of the year so far, not ideal when you're wearing a jacket (or a wedding dress!) It was a pleasure to spend a couple of hours entertaining and amazing everyone. On Saturday I had been booked for two more weddings - Elysha and Roger's in South Oxfordshire and Emma and Dale's near Marlborough. Elysha had seen me performing at one of her friend's wedding a little while back and loved the idea of having a wedding magician, so had pretty much booked me on the spot. It was great to see her again and the wedding reception was great fun, with everyone in a brilliant party mood. Then, as they sat down for the meal, I headed off to Marlborough and, thanks to my satnav, managed to find the slightly hidden venue for Emma and Dale's celebrations. They were using a marquee and the weather was (thankfully) kind again, meaning the guests were all very happy and not too hot or cold (which can sometimes be the case). After the meal and speeches I had a very enjoyable time doing magic for the guests of all ages. You never know who you might meet at a wedding so I make sure to have tricks that are suitable for everyone from the age of 5 to 95! On Sunday I watched the Monaco F1 Grand Prix and then drove over to Old Windsor to do magic for Vinka and Patrick at Beaumont Estate. This venue is always special to me as it's where I was filmed doing magic for a movie a few years ago. The main room with its huge stained glass window is an amazing sight and it's always a pleasure to perform there. The wedding was running slightly late, but I always keep my timings flexible so this wasn't a problem. It was a lot of fun to perform my magic for everyone and also throw in some balloon animals for the children and plenty of mind-reading for the adults. What a lovely way to round off the weekend!
0 Comments
Every year I perform magic for free at a number of charity events. It's always good to support a great cause and I've helped several small local charities as well as the more well-known ones such as Save the Children and Macmillan. Well, a few days ago it was Red Nose Day and I was asked to go along and provide some free entertainment for people manning the phone lines at their call centre. Obviously everyone spends most of the time taking calls and bringing in the donations, but they need a break every now and then and the organisers made sure that they had plenty of food, drink and entertainment to keep spirits high all the way through the evening. I had been kept a secret so when I started making things appear and disappear and reading people's minds the reactions were amazing and extraordinary! It was a wonderful evening for a great cause and I was delighted to have been part of it all - many thanks to Cheryl for organising it all.
Spring is here - the weather is definitely improving and it's time to mow the lawn for the first time this year! It's also time to amaze people with plenty of magic and mind-reading and I've certainly been busy. I've been performing at parties, weddings, team building days, wedding fairs and back at my regular spot at Heathrow Airport. Thanks to everyone who has made it such a pleasure!
As always I'm adding many new magical routines to my repertoire and working on new impossibilities. In particular I can now solve two Rubik's Cubes in under four seconds and have memorised the whole of Wikipedia - you have to see it to believe it! My diary for the next few months has filled up nicely and even the Christmas party enquiries have started to come in. If you need a magician for December it's best to get in touch soon! Just a quick note to say that I won't be at my regular slot at the Wee Waif tomorrow (Sunday 5th February) due to the Six Nations rugby being shown on the big screen. However I will be there every other Sunday this month between 4pm and 6pm.
After a very busy December I expected January to be a quiet month, but that's not how it turned out! In fact I ended up performing at 17 parties and weddings plus four wedding fairs. In addition the phone calls and emails have been pouring in and my 2017 diary is already pretty full, plus a number of bookings for 2018.
Every event is fun in its own way, but a couple of my January performances stand out. One was a large corporate function for supercar and Formula 1 legends McLaren. Their F1 drivers (Fernando, Jenson and Stoffel) weren't there but I had the chance to talk with lots of very interesting people and everyone is hoping that the team will have a spectacular 2017 with the new Honda engine sounding very promising. Funnily enough the wedding that I did just before the McLaren event also had a motor racing theme, but not exactly Formula One. Matt and Corinne had pulled out all the stops - just have a look at their (rather unusual) wedding car in the pictures below. No white Rolls-Royce for them! I also thoroughly enjoyed performing for charity ARC at Wokingham Town Hall. It's always a pleasure to do magic in my home town (nice short drive!) and the Town Hall is a marvellous setting. Everyone was seated and I went from table to table giving each little group their own special magic and mind-reading show. There was a great response from everyone - many thanks to Paul for arranging everything. Another highlight was meeting double Olympic gold medal winner Max Whitlock MBE. He's currently planning his wedding to his girlfriend Leah and was interested in booking a magician. I was asked not to give away any details about their plans but it should be an amazing day! Well 2016 was another busy year for magic. With a magician winning Britain's Got Talent it has never been more popular as a form of entertainment for weddings and parties. Over the course of the year I performed at over 200 events and have lots of happy memories of amazing people with some magic and mind reading!
Now that the New Year has started it's all about looking forward and the diary is now open for wedding bookings in 2017 and 2018. I'll be appearing at a number of wedding fairs giving free demonstrations of my wedding magic and already have over 50 events booked in for 2017, so if you're interested don't leave it too long! Everyone loves to see a bit of magic - it's the perfect way to treat your guests to something special. Here are some pictures from events that I performed at during 2016 and here's to an amazing year ahead! Are you organising a Christmas party? Then you need a Christmas party magician! Alongside the food, drink and music what could be better than a bit of magic? At your party I will wander around mingling with your guests doing impossible things. It's the perfect way to add some festive astonishment into the proceedings!
If you're interested get in touch ASAP! Another busy month with lots of magic and travelling around. One particular highlight was doing magic at the marvellous and spectacular Leeds Castle. What a place! It's a bit of a drive (especially when the M25 isn't behaving itself) but totally worth it when you get there. The setting is gorgeous and the staff couldn't have been more helpful. In fact I'm back there in a few weeks for a corporate event, so it's becoming a bit of a regular haunt!
Lots of weddings this month and luckily the weather has (mainly) been kind. Many congratulations to all of the couples who I have seen and the guests who I have amazed. You can see some pictures below. As we go into October the weddings calm down a bit and the wedding fairs start up. I will be appearing at a number of these over the next few months, plus some Open Days for a few of the venues that have me as their recommended supplier. If you're interested in having a wedding magician come along for a chat and a demo of my magic - it's the perfect way to treat your guests to something special! Another busy month at the height of the wedding season. During August I performed at 22 different events, many of them weddings. I've been driving all over Southern England, including a very long journey round the M25 in rush hour on the hottest day of the year. It's a good thing that Gary and Steph's wedding in Kent was worth it! I've also done another school Magic Workshop and had a few trips up to London for special parties and celebrations.
My diary for the rest of 2016 is looking pretty full and I already have 21 weddings booked in for 2017 (and a couple for 2018 too!) It's nice to be so in demand and the Christmas party bookings will start coming in soon as well. If you're planning a Christmas party and want to magician then don't hang around! Thanks to everyone who booked me during August - here are some pictures of some of the people who I met and amazed this month... Another very busy month in the Mike Stoner magic diary, with 25 events booked in for July. There have been a lot of weddings, including one up in Peterborough which was a five hour round trip (but worth it as the guests loved the magic). I did charity magic to celebrate a successful JOGLE (that's "John O'Groats to Land's End") which raised tens of thousands of pounds for a great cause. I did two school magic workshops and performed for hundreds of people at Kempton Park race course. Amongst all of this I also did magic at several parties, had my regularly weekly appearances at two local pub/restaurants and managed to get away for a short holiday. Anything else? Oh yes, I also did magic for the new Prime Minister Theresa May!
|
Archives
August 2021
|