Five Mark lodges join in at Wyre Lodge |
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With several officers of Wyre Mark Lodge No. 754 absent through business, holiday commitments, illness, | |
or the simply the time constraints of the festive season, visitors from five different Mark lodges willingly | |
pitched in to lend a hand, so that Wyre’s newest member Graham Young could have a memorable | |
advancement ceremony. | |
For the second meeting in a row at the Fleetwood based lodge, Giles Berkley of Bispham with Norbreck | |
Lodge No 866 took over from WM Steve Wilson so that he could advance one of his good friends into the | |
ranks of Wyre Mark Lodge. Giles conducted the ceremony with his accustomed aplomb in faultless fashion, | |
setting the candidate greatly at ease. | |
He was ably assisted in the ceremony by the regular officers of the lodge and by several of the visitors who | |
filled in the gaps in missing personnel according, that is, to lodge secretary Jimmy Rogers, neither having | |
been coaxed nor cajoled nor even bullied into doing so, but had done so freely and willingly into giving of | |
their services and expertise. | |
Tony Farrar of Semper Fidelis Mark Lodge No 880 took post as JW, Derek Abbott of Scorton Mark Lodge No | |
1103 stood in as SO and Terry Murtagh of Cleveleys Mark Lodge No 1176 was pro temps JD. Mike Shaw | |
Pr GJW of the Province of East Lancashire responded magnificently on behalf of the Provincial officers – | |
despite being preceded by the oratory of Captain Walter Porter PGJO who fondly imagined he had pinched | |
all of Mike’s lines in his response on behalf of the grand officers. | |
Pictured above: Giles Berkley, recruiter extraordinaire Joe O’Brian, Duncan Brereton, WM Steve Wilson | |
and the newest member of Wyre Lodge of Mark Master Masons Graham Young. |
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Seemingly one man recruiting sergeant, lodge junior overseer Joe O’Brian, who was the candidate’s | |
proposer and, who had at the previous meeting seen another of his candidates, Duncan Brereton, also like | |
Graham and Joe himself, from Royal Oak Lodge in the Craft, delivered the working tools in meaningful | |
manner. Jimmy Rogers too showed that he had lost none of his skills by emerging from behind the | |
secretary’s desk to act as senior deacon for the evening. | |
At the end of the evening’s events Mike Shaw commented that he had been privileged to witness a | |
“wonderful ceremony conducted with fantastic ritual” and that he had been impressed by the atmosphere of | |
friendliness so evident in the lodge. Eric Bridge, WM of Cleveleys Mark Lodge, echoed Mike’s sentiments | |
when he brought his congratulations on a job well done on behalf of the visitors. | |
Thereafter, the lodge retired to continue the evening at an extremely festive, festive board featuring turkey | |
and all the trimmings with a raffled bottle of gin bringing £70 for good causes. | |
Article and Photographs courtesy of Bob Boal. |
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