Not a very grand day out! (Or one to be forgotten)
 
The March meeting of Mark Grand Lodge was supposed to be a normal day, arrangements had been made to attend by several brethren from West Lancashire but it was noticed that numbers were reduced possibly caused by worries of the Covid-19 virus that had made an appearance in the country, The business of the meeting was to hear from recipients of grants from the MBF to the various children’s hospices around the country and the lasting effect.
I along with W. Bro Michael Winterbottom left Chester at 8.30am and changed trains at Crewe and travelled to London on the 0930 Pendolino train from Manchester.
We nearly missed the train due to a very sudden change of arrival platforms without announcement but we made it. Settled into our seat and awaited the arrival of breakfast, but sadly NO breakfast which should have signalled further problems, which I will explain.
The RWPGM Keith had planned on travelling from Preston to London along with other members of the executive but on arrival at Preston he found that the station was closed due to a fire alarm, causing the station to be closed to all trains and members of the public, even though the Fire Service had attended and declared it a false alarm. It appeared that no one in authority was prepared to make a decision to allow trains into the station. As a result they were transferred to Wigan by bus and travelled south from there, but unknown to them a train ahead of them had damaged to overhead wires and signalling equipment just north of Watford. This had a knock on effect to all southbound and northbound trains on the west coast.
Grand Lodge started and finished with the deputy Pro Grand Master taking the proceedings, those in attendance were treated to quite an emotional talk given by some of the hospice members who had received grants and the difference these had made to the lives of the children concerned, giving one child the power of communication by the provision of eye controlled computer and speech generator.
We closed and went to dine. There was a greatly reduced number dining especially from West Lancashire as can be seen from the pictures. The PGM deputy and assistant arrived just before the dessert course. We had managed to prevent the waiting on staff from taking away the fist course and the late comers did get their meal. However, VW Bro Eric Drinkwater who had travelled from Liverpool arrived another 20mins or so after the others.
You would have thought that was the end of the disruption but no! It was by chance that we left to walk back to Euston early and on arrival found that the train we should have been travelling on had been cancelled so good fortune and luck got us onto the earlier Chester bound train. What a day!  not one to be repeated soon hopefully, but one we will remember.
Words and pictures by David Richards