
Prior to the formation of the Peterborough
Society magicians in the area met up for informal sessions at
the Alderman Jacob School in Whittlesey where David Fisher was
Headmaster and a fellow magician. Although the venue was free
of charge it was never going to be a permanent base for a new
club. Ed Strong, on the other hand, had a room available.
At the time Ed was a master baker with
his own business in Werrington and he had a spare room above the
shop, kindly offering this, free of charge, for the formation
of a Peterborough based magic club. Thus was born the Peterborough
Society of Magicians.
The P.S.M was founded in 1980 by Ed Strong,
Bernard Carr, Mike Hawthorne, and Terry Drudge. They had all,
originally, belonged to the South Lincs Magical Society (Boston)
and, later, some had joined the Leicester Magic Circle. In either
case it was a long way to travel to meetings!
As the numbers grew it soon became apparent
that bigger premises were required and it was decided to move
to the Deeping Leisure Centre. This proved to be a short term
solution in the search for premises. The next move was to the
Eye Community Centre on the outskirts of the city. This was also
to prove unsatisfactory due to the cost and to the fact that the
property was too small to accommodate our, now famous, Sale, Exchange
and Lecture Day, the first of which took place in 1989.
Once more Ed Strong came to our rescue
through a contact he had at the Millfield Community Centre, on
Lincoln Road to which we moved in 1991. This time the venue proved
perfect for our requirements and continues to be to this day (2009).
It had everything that we required, a nice club room, large car
park and best of all the use of the whole centre for our Sale,
Exchange and Lecture Day. The first meeting to be held at the
Millfield Community Center took place on 14th July 1991.
The P.S.M. is now firmly established, with
a membership of around 25.