Well, as I said last night, all good things must come to an end and I can't believe that my term in the chair at 482 has finally come to an end.
Being R.W.M. has been a privilege and a pleasure and it's been a truly fantastic two years. And of course, being in the chair when we returned to Kirkliston - our 'spiritual home' - really was icing on the Masonic cake. I've had amazing help and support from all the brethren of the Lodge and our visitors have been fantastic. My thanks goes out to absolutely everyone concerned. Special thanks go to our secretary Bro. Gordon Yeoman P.M. and our treasurer Bro. William Reddington P.M. for continuing to keep the Lodge running smoothly and oc course to my Depute Master Bro. Jimmy Stewart P.M. for all his help. And the two years were topped off by an amazing 'greetin 'meetin when 92 brethren signed the attendance book!! (When I say amazing, I am of course excluding my contribution to the harmony!!) My final thanks goes out to all the Reigning Masters I met and worked with while out 'on the circuit'. The camaraderie was on-going and many new friends were made. Thanks guys. What now I say? Well, I'm all set for my time as I.P.M. and wish our Master Elect Bro. Les Duff P.M. all the very best for his upcoming Installation and I look forward to supporting him during his term as our new R.W.M. An what about the blog?? Watch this space ........................... !!
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Didn't realise it was so long since my last post, so there are a few important things to catch up on.
A very important event took place at our last meeting when we initiated Donald Small into Freemasonry. Bro. Donald is the first candidate we've had since I became R.W.M., but it's also very significant as he will be remembered as our first candidate since moving back to the village earlier this year. As we have more applications 'in the pipeline', we're very hopeful that Donald will be the first of many new candidates for the Lodge. There certainly was a special buzz in the air on the night and Donald wasn't the only one who was nervous!! Bro. Donald will be passed to the Fellowcraft Degree at our next meeting on December 19th and raised at our first meeting in January, Wednesday 16th. Alongside new members, we also hope to encourage members who haven't attended for a while back into the Lodge. On the same night as Bro. Donald's initiation, we also held the nomination and election of Office Bearers for 2013/2014 at which time Bro. Les Duff P.M. became Master Elect. We can now look forward to our Installation Ceremony on February 2nd when Bro. Les and his team of Office Bearers will be installed. We were also delighted to welcome Bro. Craig Gordon as an Honorary Member at our meeting on November 7th. Since then, Bro. Craig has completed a remarkable three year term as R.W.M. of Lodge Dalhousie Bonnyrigg 720 and congratulations again to Bro. Craig on this achievement. This being December, we are again in the middle of 'Installation Season' and the last event of the year take place this Saturday with the Annual Installation at Lodge Rosslyn St. Clair - but it all starts up again in January!! Of course, on a very personal note, I have just three more meetings as R.W.M. and my greetin' meetin' will be a special meeting on January 30th. As this is a five week month, we've invited deputations from Lodge St. John Fisherrow 112 and The Thistle Lodge West Calder 270 who normally meet the same night as us and it will be really good to catch up. What a night we had at the Edinburgh Masonic Club last Friday when £3000 was raised in aid of CCLASP. A big congratulations to everyone who took part and who helped to raise such an amazing sum for such a deserving cause. I was truly delighted to see so many 482 brethren there on the night and I think it's fair to say that we all had a great time. Lodge Royal Thistle 1338 were behind the event, with help from ourselves and Lodge St. John Corstorphine 1338 and many congratulations to Bro. Tommy Doyle R.W.M. and his team at 1338. Lodge Kirkliston Maitland played a high-profile part on the night with Bro. Gordon Yeoman P.M. as joint Master of Ceremonies being kept very busy the whole evening. Top marks to Bro. Gordon who kept things running very smoothly. Our very own Bro. Les Duff P.M. was in superb vocal form, with a string of classic numbers and a performance that must rank as one of his best ever. Well done Les!! And let's not forget Phoenix Lane, the Scottish Rock/Pop band who's vocalist, Sarah Yeoman, is Bro. Gordon's daughter. The other members of the band are: Christine Munday - Bass, Colin Watson - Guitar and Reg McLennan - Drums. Well done guys, yet another great performance. With the Family Barn Dance in June still to come, we can only speculate on what the final total might be but I think it's safe to say it will be impressive!! I've uploaded a photo-gallery of 50 shots taken on the night and as you can see, we all had a great time!! You can click on individual images to enlarge. |
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