Aberdeen Magical Society

Aberdeen Magical Society was founded on 17th December 1926 by way of its first meeting, held in the Scout H.Q., 25 Belmont Street in the centre of Aberdeen. There were fifteen founder members including such luminaries as W.G. Craigen, Magic Circle vice president Victor Peacock, the renowned architect Tom Scott Sutherland, first Secretary E.M.C. Smith, accountant and cricketer Alan McBain, master baker George Strathdee, accountant Andrew Shivas, John Carroll, Alexander McGregor, John Elrick, William Bremner, confectioner and children's entertainer (the original Willie Wonka?) John (J.W.) Warrender ("The Gay Deceiver"), optician J.A. Jenson, William Gammie and the musician Irvine S. Cooper.

Society headquarters has moved several times since those days to such places as the Royal Athenaeum, Loyal Order of Ancient Shepards Hall, the Treetops Hotel, the Imperial Hotel, the Sportsman's Club, the Boardwalk at the Aberdeen beach front, the Dee Swimming Club in Gerrard Street and now back at The Sportsman's Club on Queen's Road, in the heart of the west end.

There have only been nine presidents of the Society prior to the present incumbent, Garry Seagraves. These worthy gentlemen are W.G. Craigen, Major C.N.G. Milne, Ian Sutherland, Albert Elrick, Bill Seagraves, Ron Gordon, Peter Nicol M.B.E., Dave Goulding and Steve Meredith.

Today, in the third decade of the 21st Century, Aberdeen Magical Society is still going strong. With about forty members, the development and sharing of magical skills and ideas and the promotion of magic in the north east of Scotland is in safe hands. With a wide range of specialties and performing persona and a broad and varied base of talent, the magic-loving public in this area will never be starved of entertainment.

Society members vary both in profession and background. From full time professionals to amateur hobbyists; from beginners with less than a year's experience to grizzled veterans of fifty plus years, the Society remains a place of lively social interaction where everyone is welcomed as an equal and always goes home richer from the experience.

The future looks rosy for the Society. In addition to the vast experience within our ranks, the younger members have the talent, ability and enthusiasm with which to carry the Society and indeed, magic itself, into a bright, new tomorrow. Regardless of technological advancements, computer controls and continuing miniaturisation, people will always want to be shown that the impossible can happen, that the laws of logic and physics can be broken and that man can seem to defy nature. There always has been and always will be a place for the Magician. The Aberdeen Magical Society will continue to strive to make sure that that place is forever filled.