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'Spinning plates has taken me around the world'

Ollie SamuelsNorth West, Penwortham
News imageBBC A man in a white t-shirt smiles in front of a tent. He has dark hair, blue eyes and a short beard. In the distance, a tree can be seen over his left shoulder.BBC
Marky Jay grew up in Preston but, until this year, had never performed in his home city

Marky Jay spins plates from a popular Swedish furniture store, is a dab hand with a diabolo, and loves to show off all of his juggling tricks while wearing a giant cat's head...

Welcome to the British Juggling Convention (BJC), which this year is being held in Penwortham, Lancashire.

Mark's circus skills and juggling abilities may have taken him as far away from his Preston roots as Australia and Mexico, as well as seeing him perform on the finest cruise ships.

But nothing is better, he says, than to be performing for the first time in his home city.

"It's a homecoming," says Marky. "I'm super proud, not only to represent British juggling, but also Preston, Penwortham and Lancashire."

News imageDozens of jugglers throw clubs into the air. Surrounding them are hundreds of people sitting and watching them. They are sitting in a green field, with blue skies above.
Jugglers compete at the British Juggling Convention

"It's just a really nice, full-circle moment, and when the BJC offered it to me, I was over the moon," he tells BBC Radio Lancashire.

This year's seven-day event concludes at All Hallows Catholic High School later.

One of its organisers, PJ Perkin, says: "We get people of all ages from all around the world, bringing skills they are interested in sharing and learning, and demonstrating and doing shows.

"The youngest I think is 11 weeks old; the oldest is in their 80s.

"We have people in wheelchairs with accessibility requirements, and young people who are up all night in a 24-hour gym."

News imageA man smiling with grey hair and a black moustache. He is wearing a floral shirt with a jacket over the top. In the background are several tents standing on a mown grass field.
PJ Perkin is one of the convention's organisers

The convention features workshops and skill showcases as well as a variety of imaginative competitions.

These include endurance events, Simon Says-style games - sometimes on unicycles or while juggling balls or hula-hooping.

Marky says he loves the people here as much as the juggling.

"These are my people, we celebrate our diversity," he says.

"We celebrate just being off screens and talking. This is our own little world."

Juggling can even also help pay the bills, something which Marky takes great pride in.

"I bought a house from this," he explains. "You wouldn't think so, but I managed it!"

Marky says he is always looking for ways to improve his act.

"If it's on fire, I'll juggle it!

"I'll 'risk assess' a child, and if they are up for it, I'll juggle them too!"

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