The Bath Circle of Magicians begins its 80th season on October 1st 2026 with lecturer ‘Lord’ Harri Harrington. Paul Preager was appointed as President for the 2026 – 2027 season at the AGM with Hon. Treasurer Shaun Bailey and Hon. Secretary Richard Morse. Our new season of meetings is available on the What’s On page. A meeting will be also held on September 17th.
In Memoriam David Paul MacLeavy (1947 – 2025)
Paul MacLeavy was a long standing member of the Bath Circle and treasurer for 50 years. At the end of 2025 he became unwell and sadly passed away. He passed peacefully on the morning of Thursday 4th December at Bristol Royal Infirmary, having succumbed to lymphoma after a short illness. Paul was born in Jamaica where his parents had migrated to at the end of WWII to work in the Moravian Church. Although he was born David (Paul) MacLeavy, because a close friend who lived with his family was also named David the decision was made to call them both by their middle names, a tradition which continued for the rest of their lives.
His teens were spent at boarding school in Yorkshire where his parents had both taught spending holidays with his grandmothers in Bristol or South Shields. He then moved to London to study Land Surveying and was a keen football player later playing for several local teams in the Bristol area.
He moved to Bristol for his first job meeting Frances his future wife on the day of the interview. He became interested in magic through meeting the Rev Michael Brittell at his grandmother’s church in Clifton, a prominent member of The Bristol Society of Magic who took him under his wing when he joined in 1971. He also joined The Bath Circle of Magicians in 1973, as well as the British Ring of the IBM attending their convention every year including last September receiving the ‘Order of The Merlin’ award in 2023.
He became a popular local children’s magician but also performed stage and close-up shows and charity shows for both Societies. In the 1990s he performed an educational show, “The Wacky Water Show” for Wessex Water his previous employer teaching School children about the water cycle at Wessex sites in Blagdon and Ashford.
His highest profile booking was performing magic for the children at the wedding of actor James Cordon (of Gavin and Stacey fame) in 2012. He had to sign a non-disclosure agreement ahead of time and so couldn’t mention it to anyone, only realising who the celebrity guests were after seeing the press coverage!
He organised the last Bristol Days of Magic in 2017 & 2018 at Nailsea School and loved talking about magic to many of his magic friends. He was Treasurer of the Bath Circle of Magic for over 50 years and had recently become its Chairman where he will be a greatly missed.
He was also the Welfare Officer for the Bristol Society for many years rarelymissing a meeting. Only his other great loves, travel holidays with his son and football, would keep him away. He is survived by his daughter Julie, son Richard, and grandchildren.