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Thursday, 9th March 2017, saw us meet at the slightly earlier time of 18:30, this being to allow us to comfortably accommodate the business of the evening.
A quiet meeting by our regular standards, with over twenty brethren absent for one reason or another.
We gave a lecture on the evening entitled The Masonic Apron. Palatine Lodge has been fortunate in being able to count many keen historians amongst its members, past and present, and this lecture was written by W Bro EG Watson, author of volume one of our Lodge history, and was compiled into the Palatine Book of Lectures by Bro GE Pearson in 1914.
On the 12th of January 2017 we had the good fortune of being able to celebrate our 260th anniversary, having been consecrated on the 14th January 1757.
The main business of the evening was the initiation of a new brother, a Mr Paul Wallace. Someone that I have known, a rather scary, 29 years and counting! We’re old school pals.
The first outing of 2017 and what an enjoyable night it was.
The business of the evening was the dedication of a new lodge banner. Donated to the lodge by the Rutter family brethren (father and two sons'), The Assistant Provincial Grand Master, W Bro Simon Craig Steele received the banner for dedication and the Provincial Grand Chaplain, Canon Ron Black gave the dedication prayer, including a brief history of Phoenix Lodge.
Another fine evening was spent on Thursday 8th December, 2016.
Having been re-elected Master, in my absence, at our November meeting, I was duly installed into the chair at our December meeting, or rather, proclaimed in the chair. As it is now quite common for Masters' of the lodge to serve a second consecutive term, the province have proposed a new ceremony for this situation, and having adapted it slightly to fit in with Palatine workings, it was performed thus.
We had a superb visit to Vedra.
The business of the evening was the initiation of a Mr Stephen Williamson, who became the latest brother to join the Craft. A stand-in team performed the ceremony admirably, only receiving the information at the last moment that their Worshipful Master was otherwise detained with work.
Well known as a dining lodge, the festive board was not to be missed, and consisted of 5 courses, all worthy of upholding their reputation.
Getting back into the swing of things with a first degree demonstration this month.
Our Fraternal visitors on this occasions were Vedra Lodge No. 3137 and Lodge Stewart No. 4261. Vedra being represented by their Junior Warden, W Bro Clive Parry, and Lodge Stewart being represented by their Almoner / Charity Steward, W Bro Malcolm Wilkinson.
The first meeting after recess is usually a quiet one for us, and for this reason we rarely do any 'work' on the night. That's not to say we don't put every effort into having a good meeting!
We had Fraternal visits from Amity Lodge No. 3193 and Nautilus Lodge No. 4259. Whilst both of their Worshipful Masters were predisposed at work, Amity was well represented by their IPM, W Bro Richard Storey, and Nautilus by Bro Les Adams (JW), who delivered his first visitors' response at the festive board.
I'm not too sure how many people are regularly checking the site, but rest assured we haven't gone away.
Our Lodge doesn't meet in July and August, and we don't have any visits, either, so we're mostly all enjoying the summer and waiting to start back up in September.
We signed off for recess with an easy one. Owing to a holiday mix-up, we didn't have a bar steward for the festive board, so it was decided we would have a very short meeting, formalities only, then head off to the local curry house.
We had a good collection of fraternal visitors from Thornhill Lodge No 3216, Peace and Unity Lodge No 6312, Lodge of Harmony No 4224 and Ernest Dixon Lodge No 7856.