OPEN LETTER TO MEMBERS OF THE ORDER OF THE MAGI
___________________________________________________________
RYAN ROBERTSON’S RESIGNATION LETTER TO THE MAGI
Dated Tuesday 11th September 2018 can also be seen here:
From: JONATHAN ROYLE – (Formerly Known as Alex-Le-Roy)
royle@magicalguru.com – www.facebook.com/alexthehypnotist/
Thursday 16th August 2018.
F:A:O – All Members of The Order of the Magi.
Dear All,
Following events which took place at the last Order of the Magi meeting (Adrian Sullivan Presidents Lecture) on Tuesday 14th August 2018, namely the fact I was (by Secretary Mike Sharple’s) turned away, my money was refused and I was told that I was/am not welcome any longer as apparently I have upset too many members with my comments at the AGM I am sending this message to ensure the full facts are known by all.
Therefore I am sending this letter to all members of the Magi for whom I have (or could easily find) contact details, either by direct email and/or by way of inbox to your Facebook or other Social Media Account.
(I will also publish it openly & publicly on my WordPress Blog Page)
Firstly to anyone who attended the AGM on 27th March 2018, at which I resigned as a member of the Magi, may I once again in writing repeat that which I have already communicated to various people both verbally in person and also by email/text, namely that if anyone was in any manner offended or upset by any of the language used by myself that I offer my sincere apologies for any upset/offense caused.
However for the record (as communicated to Club Secretary Mike Sharples via Whatsapp Messages & then at a later date in person) I stand by everything I said at the AGM as it was all stated with only the best interests of the future success and growth of the club at heart.
For those who may not know I started attending the Order of the Magi back in Circa 1989 onwards when they were located at The Post Office Club and was very kindly taken to meetings by life member Jack Griggs.
Due to issues which are now water under the bridge relating to Derek Lever I never actually joined the Magi until after I had done three heavily attended and positively received Lectures for your members, where at the end of the 3rd Lecture I joined & became an active member of the club.
With the exception of when I had paid Professional Bookings and/or Television interviews I attended at all Lectures, all informal club meetings and even entered competitions regularly, resulting in me winning the 2016 Cabaret Magic Trophy and both the Best Card Trick Shield and also the outright Close-Up Magic Trophy in the 2017 event.
I would regularly help to set out chairs, clear stuff away after lectures and take photographs during events which appeared on an almost monthly basis within the pages of the Magi magazine.
I came up with the idea of getting discounts from Magic Dealers for our members (and to help entice new members) and indeed I then negotiated such with the dealers. For the year of 2017-2018 there were approx 18 dealers giving members such discounts, for the present year of 2018 to 2019 you will notice on the magi site on the membership page located at this link: https://www.orderofthemagi.co.uk/membership that I was able to negotiate more discounts for members (You should have been sent a PDF with all the discount codes) and now you have 34 dealers you can save money with.
Bearing in mind all of the above and the fact that I have known many of the Magi members since I was in my early teens and indeed some members such as Jack Steel worked with me when I was around 12, it is with great regret and sadness that on Tuesday 14th August I discovered that I am no longer welcome in any manner and so it would seem at any time at the Order of the Magi.
In a nutshell as mentioned earlier I resigned my membership at the AGM on 27th March 2018, however on 22nd May after having communicated with Mike Sharples by Whatsapp & text Messages during which I had again apologised for any offense my language may have caused anyone at the AGM it was confirmed by Mike that I was welcome to attend the Magi Auction that evening which indeed I did and as always at such events I bought numerous items thus helping to raise funds for the club in the process.
On the 12th of June it was the Andrew Normansell Lecture and on 26th June it was the Paul Roberts Lectures, I attended both events and paid my £5 visiting non magic member attendance fee to Mike Sharples who happily took my money.
On 10th July I attended the Close-Up Competition and just like had occurred at the 2 lectures, various members (you know who you are) were encouraging me to rejoin and so I said I would give it some serious consideration.
It had also recently been brought to my attention that the Magi website had been updated with this sentence:
“This is restricted to two visits per person per Magi syllabus year, not including auctions and competitions.”
Which had been added to the sentence about visiting non members so that in full and in context it now read:
Visitors are welcome to attend meetings and lectures by prior arrangement with either the President or Secretary for a fee of £5 (unless otherwise stated). This is restricted to two visits per person per Magi syllabus year, not including auctions and competitions. To attend all lectures and meetings, and to benefit from full Magi membership, Click Here.
Quoted from the home page of https://www.orderofthemagi.co.uk/
I mentioned this to various members who seemed to be hearing about this for the first time and several commented that such rule was ridiculous and not in the best interests of the club.
My observation is that whilst some clubs such as the Magic Circle have such a rule, they only have such on the basis that they already have lots & lots of members and want to ensure there is always enough room for their registered members to attend.
Sadly no such membership level or issue currently exists with the Magi, and whilst some may think limiting attendance to 2 meetings and then forcing people to join is the way to get more members, I would disagree and point out that currently the more visitors you can get paying £5 a time the more there will be for club funds to pay for more and bigger name lecturers who in turn would attract more paying guests and more funds to the club.
Ultimately in time as bigger names are appearing more regularly some of these people would then join of their own accord due to membership having then become more desirable and beneficial to them.
Anyhow the point is when I attended on 14th August I knew about the 2 meeting rule and so was prepared to pay my £35 subscription fee to rejoin.
I was met at the door by Mike who said “You Can’t Come In” and proceeded to mention the 2 meeting rule to which I replied “That’s fine I understand and that’s why here is my £35 subs money”and tried to hand him the payment.
However Mike refused to take such and said “Your Not welcome, you’ve upset too many members and we’ve had too many complaints” I can only assume by “we” he meant the committee?
Given the AGM was on 27th March 2018 and that I after the event had apologised for the few choice words I used whilst resigning and had subsequently been welcomed back for the auction, 2 lectures and a competition without a single word about “not being welcome” ever being said to me by anybody I was as you can imagine somewhat surprised to say the least by this reaction.
Having spoken to several Magi Members since I was turned away at the door it seems many had absolutely no idea about the new “2 meetings as a visitor rule” and most certainly had no idea that I was apparently no longer welcome at the club.
Several mentioned that members were certainly not asked to vote on whether I was welcome any longer or not and that they doubt that a proper Committee meeting has been held about the matter (or the new 2 meeting rule) as they are aware proper committee meetings in line with the rules of the club have, it seems not taken place for a long time.
So to the members I’ve known for years and those who have become friends in recent years, please do keep in touch and I hope to see you soon.
To those who were encouraging me to rejoin which I tried to do on Tuesday night, thanks again, but it seems I am not welcome any longer.
I’ve only ever wanted the best for the club, for it to grow and return to the kind of success it has enjoyed previously, unfortunately that has not been possible.
I wish you all Health, Happiness and Success for the future.
Kind Regards
JONATHAN ROYLE
PS: I’ve not (yet) been able to find an email address for Dave McGee, Kaye or David and as there may possibly be a few others I’ve missed, it would be massively appreciated if you could, please forward this email to them (and any other members) so that everyone knows what is going on.
_____________________________________________________________
RYAN ROBERTSON’S RESIGNATION LETTER TO THE MAGI
Dated Tuesday 11th September 2018 can be seen here:
https://klearthoughtsmentalismhypnosis.wordpress.com/2018/09/11/open-letter-to-members-of-the-order-of-the-magi-letter-of-resignation-from-ryan-robertson/
______________________________________________________________
Rochdale Magician & Hypnotist Jonathan Royle Win’s 2016 Cabaret Magic Trophy at England’s 3rd Oldest Magic Club, Manchester’s Order of the Magi.
ABOVE: Magician Ian Brown Presents the 2017 Trophy for Close-Up Magical Champion to Jonathan Royle at Manchester’s Order of the Magi.
ABOVE: Sly Smith Presenting The Sly Smith Shield for Best Card Trick 2017 to Jonathan Royle at Manchesters Order of the Magi.
Rochdale Magician, Mind-Reader & Hypnotist Wins Close-Up Magical Champion Trophy & The Sly Smith Shield for Best Card Trick in Magic Competition Run by England’s 3rd Oldest Magical Society Manchester Based The Order of the Magi.
Below are the Three Reviews of the Three Lectures I have given to the Order of the Magi in the past which were always positively received and very well attended.
LECTURE ONE REVIEW: – (2011)
http://www.magicalguru.com/magical-lectures/
LECTURE TWO REVIEW. – (2014)
http://www.magicweek.co.uk/magic_reviews/magic_lectures/review_lecture_jonathan_royle_2014.htm
LECTURE THREE REVIEW: – (2016)
http://www.magicweek.co.uk/magic_reviews/magic_lectures/review_lecture_jonathan_royle_2016.htm
THE 2016 LECTURE IS AVAILABLE TO BUY ON VIDEO HERE:
NOTE: Enter the discount code of WIZARD in block capital letters to get 50% off.
Celebrity Hypnotherapist & Comedy Stage Hypnotist & NLP Hypnosis Trainer Jonathan Royle aka Alex William Smith
Award Winning Hypnotist Jonathan Royle
klearthoughtsmentalismhypnosis 