Author: Henry

Yes and freemasonry celebrates this rare landmark well. We are lucky that we have a few members that have reached this major moment in their masonic journey.

After a special introduction from our most senior member, we heard a short summary of the memories and achievements over a 50 year period along with further amusing insights and incidents from other brethren. This clearly involved recalling the fondly remembered brothers who have since passed to the mansions above but who had added so much to the enjoyment and support of the members of the lodge.

We were also so grateful to the provisional team that so ably assisted in the presentation and ceremony and who made the whole evening that much more of a special occasion.

We also heard news of a recent promotion for another long standing and very hard working brother, so the evening became a double celebration.

Our thoughts and best wishes turned to those unable to attend.

Our festive board (meal) was once again delicious with the wine tasting particularly fine. (It was generously provided by the recipient of the 50 year certificate.)

The speeches were delightful where we heard further recollections of the 50 years and the enduring friend ships made and still maintained to this date, of not the just the brothers, but their wives and families.

The singing of our national anthem was particularly poignant as we had heard the sad news of his majesty’s diagnosis. We toasted him and wished him a full and speedy recovery.

Our charities were generously supported using the donation envelopes and the proceeds of our raffle.  We retired looking forward to our next happy meeting.

Many of us are also, so looking forward to witnessing the installation of a new master of Wyche Lodge that meets at Worcester next Monday 12^th February. Be there early, it starts at 5pm! They do the fully extended version which, we know from previous experience, will be simply amazing, particularly if you are a past master as you can see the whole ceremony. So we have celebrated commitment, achievements, friendships, traditions and support, all whilst having a wonderful evening. If you think you might be interest in masonry please get in contact by visiting our website.

Our first Monday of the month meeting had to be moved from January 1^st and we met up last night the 15^th of January 2024. Special approval had been applied for and permission provided and this letter of dispensation had to be read out in full (This was a first for me)

Sadly we also had to receive a moving eulogy for a bother who had sadly passed to the mansions above. It was also marvellous to hear memories from other brethren on his illustrious time at the lodge.

The next item on the agenda was to receive an enlightening Masonic talk entitled, ‘The Master Builders’. It was written by another brother from a different lodge who was unfortunately unable to attend and wonderfully delivered by a member of our lodge. This was a definitely a leaning night for me. I know so much more, for instance, why we wear white gloves.

We also received a reading of a research paper believed to have been generated by veterinary students as opposed to learned professors. The first few sentences included many medical terms (possibly in Latin), on the evolution, changing grazing habits and potential possibility of the haggis’s actual extinction.

It was also our Haggis night with all the wonderful pageantry of the evening that we create here a Mitton Lodge. The food was scrumptious, pipe playing powerful, speeches insightful and toasts respectful, Oh and that special Haggis gravy packed a punch!

It was also delightful to have a good number of visitors in attendance and who made such an amazing improvement to the evening.

Well, back to the normal calendar now……oh, except our Installation in April, that has had to be moved to April the 8th as the 1^st is Easter Monday. (Please see our website for details.)

If you think you might be interested in becoming a mason, please do get in touch.

p.s. Happy New Year

It was wonderful to see so many members attending along with our prized visitors.

Our speaker was Neville Hay, the legendary motorsport writer and commentator.

Neville is very well known and respected within the motorsport fraternity and very often shared a similar reputation at that of the famous BBC motorsport correspondent Murry Walker, in fact Murry and Neville were very good friends.

Neville spoke so eloquently and knowledgeably of his experiences within motor racing, the characters, the tracks and the cars, it was truly mind blowing, then he gave us all an opportunity to ask questions and there were many. For each question he managed to create a marvellous story that including so much additional and fascinating information. We were all so captivated and the questions and interesting answers kept flowing.

As reported in 2019, Neville has been commentating on Hill Climbs, Sprints and Circuits since the 50’s. In 1975, the company moved into Radio and TV and later worked with virtually all the world’s motor manufacturers.

An Associate Member of the BRDC and an Honorary Member of the Aston Martin Owners Club, Neville continued to enjoy working at Le Mans and Historic Events.

If you ever get the chance to hear him speak you should definitely take it

Thank you Neville, you gave us such a wonderful evening.

Our festive board (supper) was again delicious with our various toasts and speeches enthralling us all.

If you think you might enjoy masonry, please get in touch and we chat it through.

An emergency hospital visit can be a frightening experience for a young child. Imagine a first visit to hospital, hurt, upset and in pain. Teddies for Loving

Care (TLC), is a way of providing much-needed comfort to children in this situation. Worcestershire Free Masons has donated over a thousand teddies to A & E Departments, Minor Injuries Clinics and Children’s Wards all over the Province. Particularly in A&E departments, they are helping to reduce the shock and distress of their experience. Every child that receives a teddy gets to take it home.

The Teddies for Loving Care initiative provides unique cuddly bears to Accident & Emergency departments for medical staff to give at their discretion to young children. The bears are used to calm children down, reward them for being brave or using them to demonstrate procedures to the child prior to the intended treatment. Often the bears distract children, so that nurses and doctors can get their jobs done quickly and efficiently.

The work of TLC is funded through the generous donations of Freemasons, their families and supporters of the programme. Many Freemasons also volunteer hundreds of hours each year to manage the scheme, deliver bears to hospitals, campaign to raise funds and increase awareness through events and talks.

There are 47 regional TLC programmes across England and Wales that provide teddies for their local A&E departments. Once a hospital joins the scheme they can replenish teddies on request through their local TLC representative. Some TLC programmes also donate a portion of their funds towards teddies for minor injuries units, children’s wards and hospices; there are even teddies flying on air ambulances!

The TLC teddy has become an invaluable tool for medical professionals and are a real comfort for children. WBro Phil Hannah, of Halesowen Lodge No 5635, after running the operation for a number of years on behalf of the Province, is delighted to be handing over the reins to WBro Steve Eagle, a fellow member of Lodge of Progress No 9893, the Province’s motorcycle lodge. “Steveʼs energy and enthusiasm” says Phil “will help take the program forward in the coming years”

Steve, in his new role, is keen to expand the scheme to as many hospitals as he can. This is where you, our brethren come in. Our challenge is to fund the bears. Steve would be delighted if you would consider, in the coming season, holding a lodge raffle with the proceeds going to the TLC scheme. He can provide a foot high teddy (as in the picture) as the raffle prize. If you feel your lodge would be willing to do this, then please email Steve at worcesterteddies@gmail.com to let him know. Best wishes Steve from us all on your worthwhile efforts, and many thanks to Phil for working so hard in the past few years

For more details on how you can help please visit the site https://teddiesforlovingcare.org.uk/

Mitton Lodge 6904 Stourport-on-Severn October 2023

Monday 2^nd was the first day of the new season and what an evening it was!

Brothers that we thought would not make it two weeks ago, could attend and many brothers scheduled to attend, couldn’t at the last moment.

I was reminded by more experienced brethren, to remember, always be ready for the unexpected! So many had originally volunteered to take one role only to “offered” another, I was luckily offered two roles, one of which was Immediate Past Master with prompting. That’s the one I went for.

Our Worship Master presided over his first ceremony at Mitton Lodge brilliantly (He did go through the chair at his mother lodge but that was possibly 30 years ago (that is a guess (sorry)). Like all lodges, he had to preside over us whilst all sorts of news was imparted and dealt with it all with great care.

Unfortunately our candidate to be passed couldn’t make it, so we preceded with a demonstration which went really well. Our only brother attending, not to have been through the chair yet, presented the extended version of the working tools word perfectly, with not a single prompt required. It was simply brilliant, in fact it was better than that but I don’t have the words (Our secretary says that he will wax lyrical about it in our minutes). The extended version takes the simplest presentation and uplifts it to best in my opinion.

We hopefully have an initiate lined up for our Haggis Night in January. He is quite young in comparison to most of us so we will making a call out for 20 to 40 year old brethren (as well as any older visitors that would like to attend) to make him feel extra welcome.

The festive board was back to its finest in my and many other brethren’s opinion. Local produce, cooked, (mostly) from fresh, in our kitchen and definitely created and served with love and care.

Next month, as previously reported, we have Neville Hay, the legendary motorsport writer and commentator presenting which is definitely an evening not to be missed.

If you think you might like to join masonry, please simply get in touch and we chat it through and see if you would enjoy it.

Tonight we hold our first lodge of instruction, or what I call “summer camp”. Everyone will have been working hard on their lines for their new positions. There will unfortunately be no toasted marshmallows or for that matter, a camp fire but possible a cold beer at the end, to finish.

This is always such an exciting time and our first get together since April for most.

A couple of went off to the Evesham lodge to receive a presentation and advice from some of our provincial brethren, on the new Pathway methods which was very well presented and equally well attended. We have already made planned improvements to our policies and procedures and we hope to ensure we both improve retention and attract even more new members over the coming months and years.

I also hope to get the confirmed dates for our social events that I will upload as soon as I have them.

I try to keep an eye out for interesting masonic information, today I have

Mission Statement

WHAT WE ARE (PURPOSE)

We are a unique members’ organisation that has thrived for over 300 years. Having no political or religious affiliations, we comprise members of all ages, races, religions, cultures and backgrounds. We meet in our individual Lodges throughout the country where we have ceremonial traditions which encourage us both to be more tolerant and respectful and actively to fulfil our civic and charitable responsibilities; we also make time to eat, drink and meet together, and form lifelong friendships.

More on my next post..

We hope you all have the very best summer possible.

If you think you might be interested in finding out more about masonry, please contact us and we can arrange an informal get together over a coffee and or beer.

We had the installation of installations here a Mitton Lodge in Stourport on Monday 3^rd April 2023. We had the most amazing provincial team to assist us who had also generously agreed to stay robed so we could take some pictures for this our new website. They were all faultless in their most professional and meaningful delivery. We can’t thank them enough.

The picture we took for the front page of this our website

Our Master/ IPM did a brilliant job, the working tools where all presented word perfectly and our new Master completed the ceremony in the most professional and friendly manor, it really was the most happy event.

We also had impressive support from our many visitors who travelled from far and wide to support us and this really made the difference to the atmosphere within the lodge and later at the festive board.

Most of our visitors were able to stay for this picture

The provincial team were also delighted to receive a further cheque from Mitton Lodge in support of our province’s 2022 appeal of £2022. We all find out if we managed to make our challenging target in about 4 weeks.

Our festive board was again delicious and the many toasts and speeches all went down so well. It truly was a celebration of progression and brotherly support.

If you think you might enjoy masonry, do please get in touch and we can meet up for a coffee/beer and give you an overview of what we are all about. As well as a contact-us-page we also have lots of other information, including videos and podcasts on this our website.

Monday 6^th March was our penultimate meeting of the season at Mitton Lodge in Stourport. We were holding a passing ceremony for one of your recent initiates, everyone was up to scratch on their ritual, and we were ready to go.

A few days earlier our lodge mentor was chatting to our brother and learnt that he probably wasn’t going to be able to make the meeting. Oh no, not a demonstration, I hear you all cry out, well no.

Having received written approval, Mitton Lodge was going to pass a brother from a different lodge, our friend, Wyche Lodge. Many of our brethren are members of both so our WM (and there DC) and our secatary (and their WM) jointly, with the assistance of brethren from both lodges, excellently carried out this ceremony.

We had our IG present the extended version of the Working Tools for his first time. He was truly amazing, word perfect, a good steady pace, good voice inflection and he didn’t need a single prompt, really, not one.

We also had our SD present the tracing board, which was again, simply outstanding. I had heard him previously do the extended version but happily, as we were all getting a bit peckish, he had been asked to keep it to the standard version.

Due to unfortunate circumstances, we also many brethren being asked to cover roles at very short notice and again they were all brilliant.

It was also such happy occasion, everyone was so positive about the evening.

Our festive board was again delicious. As it was our WM’s last evening as WM, we all assisted in singing of the WM’s song, ably led by one of our brothers. We thanked our WM for all he had manged to achieve during his year and ended with a toasted to him.

And next month, yes, the installation of our new WM and we only went and got allocated the Provisional A team!

Wed, 8th March 2023

Ladies Lunch

This last Sunday our WM hosted his Ladies Lunch at the Crown and Sandys in Ombersley. It was such a wonderfully happy and relaxed affair. Everyone seemed so pleased to attend our first non-masonic social event since COVID restrictions were lifted.

Many of the brothers had also invited their family and friends and this made the lunch a truly multi-generational event and was so much better for it. It was also very well supported by members of Wyche Lodge, our WM’s mother lodge, and to which our WM is still a very active member.

Everyone looked so well turned-out and there was this delightful hum of chatting and laughing around the, full to capacity, Orangery. The food was impressive, particularly for the amount of people being served at once, the company was captivating and at the end of the lunch the WM presented the Ladies with a beautiful gift.

The raffle, in aid of the WM wife’s preferred charity, Smile Train, which helps families, supporters and medical professionals transform the lives of babies born with cleft lips and palates. The raffle made a generous amount. This may be partly due the very friendly and enthusiastic ticket selling techniques.

Everyone retired replete and having had such a wonderful lunch, so we need a huge well-done and thank-you to everyone involved in its organisation and the team at the Crown and Sandys.