keith barry & the Mid-west Magic society

Members of Ireland's newest magic club The Mid-west Magic Society present Keith Barry with Honorary Life Membership of their society in University of Limerick on Thursday night last.

A new magic club and convention for Limerick?

Limerick magician Leon Anderson caught up with your editor on Facebook recently to let us know he had been featured recently in The Limerick Chronicle (see picture on left).  In chatting with Leon and having seen posting's on his Facebook page we came to learn that he is in the process of setting up a new magic club in Limerick.  

Leon tells us, "In August 2008, Limerick Magician Leon Anderson opened Ireland's first and only magic school with great interest to the national media. The I.A.M (Irish Academy of Magic) was featured in The Irish Times, The Sun, The Mirror, The Star on Sunday, RTE 2’s News 2 Day and even radio’s News Talk Programme.  For the last year and a half Leon has thought over 100 children how to perform simple magic tricks and is now ready to set up Ireland's newest magic club, I.A.M.  The I.A.M has a slogan, Knowing How A Trick Is Done, Does Not Make you A Magician and it is something that the academy swears by. We are forming a new club from scratch, this I have been told will be very challenging but I’m ready for the task. I have dedicated a 3rd of my life to magic and in that time I have won many awards and currently hold the title of Irish stage magician of the year I was also awarded The Outstanding Young Person of the year both locally in Limerick and nationally in Dublin by the JCI, (Junior Chambers International) for the work I have being doing in disadvantaged areas of Limerick.

On Monday the 29th of March 2010, the I.A.M will hold its first meeting at the Old Quarter in Limerick and is open to anyone over 18 (16 with at adult over 18) with an interest in wanting to learn more about magic and becoming a magician. The Focus of the meeting will be on the future of magic, what we can do to help local charities and organising a 2 day magic convention in Limerick October 2010."

To find out more contact info@magicianleon.com 

There is no doubt that it is a tough job spear heading a magic society,  even an established one at that, never mind starting from scratch.  Will the Irish Academy of Magic succeed? Is there room for three magic conventions a year in Ireland given that the IBM Ring 85 takes place in May and the Mystics are due to host their one day convention this October also? Only time will tell but IrishMagicNews wishes Leon the best of luck. 

In the interest of balance I must point out that our friends, Vincent, Paddy, Terence & the members of The Munster Society of Magicians are still going strong.  You can find all their contact details on the Societies page here on IrishMagicNews.

We will keep you posted on developments.