The Provincial Grand Master and his Deputation visited Darlington Mark Lodge on 8th January 2020. The Lodge saw this as a perfect occasion to do something a little bit different. Darlington Mark did a Mark Mastermind.
The Lodge has its Warrant dated 28 November 1878 which makes this one of the founding lodges of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Durham. They were delighted to welcome the Provincial Grand Master of Durham and a Deputation of his Officers. They also invited three prominent Grand Officers from the deputation to form a team of ‘quiz masters’ willing and able to answer every question without difficulty! This especially so when the subject matter of the quiz was to have a strong masonic historical connection!
There were three teams of three brethren. They were invited to take their seats in front of the SW Wicket under the direction of the quiz master Steven A.Newell.
The first team from the Darlington lodge is Michael Lambird, Morris Bartle, and Tony Davis. The second team from Steadfast Mark Lodge is Ian Ogden, Tony Bird, Phil Etherington. The third team is made up by David Hanson, Trevor Lynn and Denovan Wilson. All were ‘volunteered’ and eager to take part if a little nervous of the forthcoming interrogation. To add to the atmosphere, the large assembly of brethren in the temple were rooting for their teams to be victorious.
After having explained the rules of the quiz to the teams, the quiz master was ready to start with his first question. It did not take long for the contestants to understand that this was not going to be easy! They soon wished that their knowledge of latin was stronger, that history can be vague and dates and places were very important. Nevertheless, they gave as good as they got and points were soon awarded. The questions ranged over a wide area of masonic subject matter. It was proving to be very informative to the audience as well as the contestants.
There was not much in it, but the Grand Officers decided that it would be polite not to be show offs. They didn’t want to leave the others behind too much, they were happy with the 11 points awarded. Of course we believed them! The team from Steadfast just piped them to silver medal position. Therefore the winning team was the Darlington lodge who gained a few more points. An excellent result acclaimed with loud applause from the brethren, all pleased that they weren’t being asked the questions.
Every one really enjoyed the meeting, which had a lot of laughter and good humour. It was a terrific way to have a great time amongst friends and perhaps learn a bit more Masonic knowledge. After the meeting 55 diners enjoyed a fantastic meal and several brethren went home with a raffle prize to boot. The PGM congratulated the Lodge for having the courage to try something a bit different for the enjoyment of the brethren.