Stuart Kelly (Magic at Events)

Magic at Events exists to bring a little magic to the world.

Life as a grown-up can get quite grey.  We all remember the summers of our childhood, when it was sunny and warm, and we didn't have to worry about hosepipe bans or floods as we've had in 2012.

Magic has the power to bring a little of that childhood sparkle back to anyone's life.  Few of us can fail to be amazed at really good magic.  You know the magician can't really make a solid coin disappear, but it looks just like he did - and that's amazing! And for a moment, you feel that sparkle once again.

If you need an injection of sparkle in your life, then get in touch with me and I'll see what I can do for you.

Description - short, fat, hairy sparklebrain

Spent a lot of my working life with international telecomms, doing a wide variety of jobs (software, hardware development, project management etc) and thanks to this company saw a reasonable amount of the world, including some places where one wouldn't go out of choice....(I don't mean jail, just off the beaten track)

In parallel, I've been volunteering with Mencap for more than 20 years.  I was chair of a local society and whilst there the organisation built from a single part-time employee to a medium sized business with around 30 staff, delivering a range of services for people with a learning disability, their families and carers.  For 10 years I was a trustee of the national organisation.  I learned a lot, and met some wonderful people.

When the dot com bubble burst, Alcatel tossed me aside like an old sock, or in other words, made me redundant, not that I'm bitter or anything!  I started working in the charitable sector with my own company 3rd Sector Skills.  Amongst other things, I've written and delivered training courses in project management and acted as interim CEO for a number of charities.  I've recently published a book on project management in the voluntary sector.

Another big part of my life is magic.  I've been interested in it since I was very young and have been practising it seriously for the last 5 or so years.  Magic at Events is my vehicle for bringing magic to other people.  I get such a kick from the "Just how on earth did that happen?" moment, and seeing the smiles...

Outside of all that, I play the loudest instrument in the world - the church organ, and the sexiest - the saxaphone.  I'm Dad to four great young people (they're hardly kids anymore), one in Norwich, one in Canterbury, and the other two still with me.