Craft News
- Written by: John Fergusson
The Three Counties Lodge hosted their Installation meeting on Friday 20 October 2017 at Sheaf Close, Northampton. It was a very memorable and special evening with the Masonic Charitable Foundation’s Deputy President, VW Bro James Newman, installed into the Chair of King Solomon by W Bro Norman Pope.
- Written by: Simon Key
It was a memorable evening at the meeting of Vale of Nene Lodge No. 7006 on Wednesday the 11th of October 2017, when the Provincial Grand Master delivered a very special 50-Year Certificate to WBro Roy Bradley.
WBro Roy Bradley receiving his 50-Year Certificate from the Provincial Grand Master, RWBro Max Bayes
WBro Roy was initiated into the Lodge exactly 50 years previously, on the 11th of October 1967. He attained the Chair of King Solomon in his mother Lodge in 1983 and also served as Director of Ceremonies from 1987 to 1993. WBro Roy was also a member of Schola Regia, Palmer and Three Counties lodges, serving as Master in 2001, 2007 and 2005 respectively. In addition, he was Assistant Director of Ceremonies in Richard Sandbach Lodge of Research from 2000 to 2002.
WBro Roy attained the rank of Past Provincial Senior Grand Warden in 1994. He was further honoured with Grand Rank in 2002, when he was made Past Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies.
In addition to Craft, WBro Roy was an active member of The Royal Arch, being exalted into St Peter’s Chapter and holding the Provincial rank of Past Provincial Grand Scribe N.
In the degree of Mark Master Masons, WBro Roy was Provincial Assistant Grand Master during the time his brother-in-law, WBro Norman Manser, was Grand Master. He replaced WBro Norman as Mark PGM in 2000 and held the post until 2006.
Following the presentation, WBro Roy asked if he could address the Brethren.
He thanked the Provincial Grand Master for his kind words, and went on to explain that he had returned home to his wife after his initiation, told her that he hadn't been disappointed, and that he was going to enjoy Masonry.
WBro Roy gave special praise to his mother lodge, Vale of Nene, and promised continued attendance.
- Written by: Simon Key
On Thursday the 28th of September 2017, the Deputy Provincial Grand Master, VWBro Trevor Boswell, was pleased to present a cheque for £25,000 from the Masonic Charitable Foundation (MCF) to Cassandra Kamara from Arthritis Care.
Cassandra Kamara receiving the cheque from VWBro Trevor Boswell DepProvGM
The funding will support the development of 50 new groups across England and Wales. These are often a lifeline for people who may have become isolated because of their condition.
Over 10 million people in the UK currently live with the often excruciating and debilitating pain and fatigue of arthritis. In a recent survey, Arthritis Care, found that over 50 per cent of people with arthritis felt isolated and 79 per cent had experienced anxiety or depression.
- Written by: John Fergusson
The Beatles were in their prime when, in the early 1960s,WBro Mike Richards PAGDC frequently visited New York on business. Being the keen Mason he has always been, on each and every trip he would soon become a regular visitor to the Grand Lodge building at 71 West 23rd Street and eventually, he was invited to become a joining member of Britannia Lodge No: 1166, a membership which he has maintained to this very day.
It was in late 1989 that WBro Mike was inspired to suggest to a number of locally based Masons the possibility of putting together a visiting party to New York to perform a demonstration of a First Degree ceremony as practiced under the English Constitution, to be hosted by the Brethren of Britannia Lodge. The stage was set.
With arrangements in place and after many rehearsals, a party of 14 Brethren and their wives/partners, predominantly Northamptonshire & Huntingdonshire based, arrived in New York in October of 1990. Our visiting party included the Deputy Provincial Grand Master, in charge at that time – VWBro Brian Smith and his wife Joy.
With immaculate ritual, in Dinner jackets and black tie, the ceremony was performed to a full house in some 90 degrees of humidity in the ornate Renaissance Room on the 6th floor of the Grand Lodge building. Our demonstration ceremony was received with much acclaim and not least a barrel of Sam Smith’s finest ale.
It was our newly installed Provincial Grand Master, RW Bro Brian Smith, who later suggested that our success was such that we should consecrate a new Lodge in Northamptonshire & Huntingdonshire, firstly to commemorate such a successful and enjoyable sojourn and, secondly, with a view to promoting further Anglo/American Masonic relationships.
Taking its name from the village of Sulgrave in the South West of the Province and the family home of the Washington family on their relocation from Durham, Sulgrave Lodge No: 9462 was consecrated in Northampton on 15th April 1992 by the Provincial Grand Master of Lincolnshire, RW Bro Geoffrey Cooper.
Sulgrave Manor and its surrounding grounds remains under the joint sovereignty of the UK/USA Governments and is now a world famous Museum dedicated to the history of the Washington family and the memory of George Washington himself who was to become, a few generations later, the first President of the United States and with it, a prominent and dedicated Freemason.
With a number of our new Masonic friends in New York also becoming Founders and joining members, the pattern was set for regular visitations back and forth across the Atlantic. Spreading our wings and with other American Brethren hearing of our reputation, in the following years we also graciously accepted invitations to Lodges on Long Island and in Youngstown, Ohio and where we were able to demonstrate our Second Degree ritual under the English Constitution.
Back home, the early popularity of Sulgrave Lodge in the early 1990s was influences in no small way by the proximity and certain personnel of local USAF bases at Alconbury, Molesworth, Chicksands and Chelveston and with whom we made initial contact with a view to developing reciprocal visits to American Lodges operating on their respective bases.
The possibilities were soon to change however and the closure and downsizing of the USAF bases locally and with the advancing years of our Founder Members, it was soon to become a major challenge to sustain the early momentum that we had so successfully established in our early, formative years.
Meeting just twice a year at Rushden, it has increasingly become difficult therefore to determine a new direction for Sulgrave Lodge; the visitations to New York and reciprocal visits from our American Brethren continue but in much smaller numbers. As enjoyable as these occasions may be however, they are not sufficient in themselves to revive and sustain the enjoyment of our earlier years with any certainty.
With only one available Meeting after the Installation, rarely do we entertain Degree work as such; very occasionally we have performed a ceremony for a local Lodge looking for assistance to accommodate their full programme but, for ourselves, we now have to seek an influx of new joining members to keep the momentum going, to help us seek out other American Masonic connections in the UK as need be, and to support and participate in the programme of Anglo/Foreign Lodge meetings that are frequently arranged at Great Queen Street.
If you feel that you would like to support Sulgrave Lodge and become a joining member and then to participate in events both here and in New York, then we would be delighted to hear from you. On both sides of the Atlantic, you will be assured of a very warm welcome. Our next meeting at Rushden will be on Friday 3rd November 2017. Come and join us.
We shall be delighted to hear from you.