NEIGHBOURS looking out of their windows might have thought they were hallucinating when they saw a woman with a floating table in the front garden.

But perhaps not so unexpected when you are living next door to an East Lancashire magician.

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Anne Walmsley, otherwise known as Magik-An is a member of The Modern Mystic League based in Blackburn and one of 64 women worldwide who belong to the Magic Circle compared with more than 1,300 men.

She believes that there are not enough women in magic and hopes to inspire more girls to take it up.

Growing up Anne was fascinated by her brother’s magic set and would watch the “gentleman magician” the David Nixon Magic Show on television.

Her brother got a job as driver for the chief constable of Surrey and found himself with time on his hands when he would visit Davenport’s Magical Emporium in London and teach himself magic tricks.

He taught Anne how to do her first trick, the disappearing lit cigarette.

Anne would spend a lot of time visiting magic shops such as the House of Secrets and JB Magic Shop in Blackpool.

She said: “The House of Secrets was on Caunce Street just behind Blackpool Tower. It was run by Bill Thompson, one of the most helpful men you could wish to meet. I used to say, ‘come on Bill show me some tricks’.”

Anne has also regularly attended the Blackpool Magic Convention for many years at the Winter Gardens where she noticed comedian Bradley Walsh browsing the dealer hall one year.

She said: “It’s an amazing atmosphere and there are famous faces there sometimes. Anybody can go who wants to but it is 80 per cent magicians and their families.”

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When Anne realised she wanted to progress further with magic she had no idea how to go about it until her mum told her she lived next door to a magician, Maurice Howarth, currently the oldest member of the Modern Mystic League.

Following a successful magic demonstration to members Anne was accepted as a member of the league in March 1997 and later served a spell as its first female president.

She said: “I had done it off my own bat and was officially the first lady member which was a bit of a notch on my belt for a woman.”

Anne would also use magic as a way of breaking the ice with students when she worked as an instructor at engineering company, Lucas Body Systems.

She also started to be asked to perform at charity shows and at children’s parties where magic was often a way of encouraging shy youngsters out of their shells, she said.

She said: “The best thing is doing magic with children aged between five and nine as they are unspoiled at that age.

“I ask them to assist me in doing tricks and give them gold badges. It gives them confidence.”

Anne has spent hundreds of pounds on magic tricks over the years but has bought magic tricks for as little as a pound, she said.

She decided to try out for the Magic Circle to prove that she was as serious about magic as men and was accepted in March 2001.

“I just think that women, with anything, have to prove to be 101 per cent as good as men and I thought if I joined the Magic Circle then people in my profession would know that I took it as seriously as them.”

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Anne said she has had nothing but encouragement from fellow magicians although she believes that girls are not generally encouraged to get into magic.

“I feel that if girls found out earlier at the age of boys at around 10, 11 or 12 there would be more opportunities for them to get into magic.

“Girls never get told they can be as good as a boy in magic.”

She currently has a young trainee, Leah Hillman, who is proving to be a promising magician, she adds.

Leah, 16, of Barrowford, got interested in magic around four years ago after watching a magician doing table magic at a local Italian restaurant.

She said: “I said I was interested and he showed us a few extra tricks.

“I like close up magic and I would like to be good enough to do events like birthdays. When I do magic to people my own age it is quite a nice feeling and I do it to the teachers. I did magic on a ski trip and a girl started videoing it. Some tricks take a long time to learn practising every day.”

Anne’s magic heroes would include Paul Daniels, Dynamo and Siegfried and Roy. Ironically Anne was present at the pair’s live show at the Mirage hotel-casino in Las Vegas in 2003 when Roy was grabbed by the throat by one of his 380-pound white tigers.

She said: “We were on row 12. We had waited two years to see the show. He had one of the white tigers on a chain and he had a mike. It started to nibble his hand and he tapped it on its nose.

“It reared up on its back legs and its mouth went round Roy’s neck. He fell on the floor and the tiger pulled him back towards the stage.

“Two minders came out. It was surreal and you could hear a pin drop. People thought it was part of the show or an accident. Nobody knew. Then a voice said there had been a terrible accident and the show had finished and we would be refunded.”

As I chat to Anne she performs a number of magic tricks which include successfully guessing a number written on the back of her business card, changing the colour of a deck of cards and changing a blank piece of paper into a £20 note.

She added: “I would say to girls if you really want to get into magic don’t give up. You’ve got the internet now.”