I would like to take this opportunity to thank our previous president Viv Davies. During his term of office Viv and his family have given so much support to the society; especially with the annual dinners, which have been a great success and his wonderful barbeque nights which I know will be missed by all. Thanks again to Viv for doing such a great job.

I feel honoured to have been given the opportunity to be President and I know the job comes with lots of challenges; I will face them head on and to the best of my ability. This will be made much easier with the excellent committee I have to support me. We have already made a great start to the year with two fantastic star lectures and a couple of evenings with inventive ideas which were received with great enthusiasm. We have also seen quite a few new members who have shown us their talent for magic and the allied arts.

I could not have asked for a better start to my term of office. The future of Cardiff Magical Society will grow even stronger with our teamwork and we will continue to build on the success of the Cardiff Day of Magic event. Some of our members have also received great success this year by taking challenges beyond the normal routine. Congratulations to James Piper and Jasper Blakeley as their successes have also given the society a boost in the magic world. Congratulations also to ‘Taffy’ Ian James and Tom ‘Fun’ Morgan who recently received honorary life membership of the Holy Fools.

You can understand why I find it exciting to be given this great opportunity to help move Cardiff Magical Society forward even further and continue its success.

So, thanks to all who have helped, taken part in and produced feedback for the various events we have had over the past year. Thanks to Andy, who is working on creating a new look for the magazine and is putting a lot of time and effort into it. Thanks again to Frank and Steve for creating and updating our excellent website.

Best Wishes
'Dr Bob' Armstrong
CMS President 2008