Moseley Lodge of Mark Master Masons No. 925 were delighted and honoured to receive the Provincial Grand Master and a delegation of Provincial and Grand Lodge Officers at their meeting in Birtley on the 21 February 2020.
Due to their commitments, a number of key members of the Provincial team were unable to attend, so Gary Quinn stood in as Provincial DC and David Anderson stood in as Assistant DC, both doing a superb job. Jeff Awdas was brought out of retirement to stand in as Senior Warden and it was great to see him doing the duties again. Also, with a number of the Provincial team members being from Moseley Lodge leaving them a little short, Martin Schoolkate stood in as their Tyler for the night.
The lodge room was pretty full after everyone was seated and the Worshipful Master was delighted to see it so, as he was to give a talk about the connection between Freemasonry and the Mormons. He hoped the brethren would find this slightly unusual topic very interesting. As it happened, one of the brethren afterwards at the festive board, informed the brethren that he determined that one of his family members emigrated to America in the 19th Century and had joined the Mormons, there he became the father of 41 children!
The Provincial Grand Master spoke for all attending when he stated that he found the talk particularly illuminating. He also thanked the Lodge for their generosity in providing donations to both the Mark Benevolent Fund and Centenary Fund. He thanked the Lodge Almoner Dave Benson, for showing that Lodges do think and care about those who are not able to be there or have lost loved ones.
The same evening saw the ‘Travelling Gavel’ change hands when the Ferryhill Lodge of MMM No. 1560 was successful in outnumbering the home team and so became the new guardians of the Gavel. John Nye and his fellow brethren stood in open lodge during the greetings from the visitors to claim their prize. The Travelling Gavel was presented to John Nye by the Worshipful Master of Moseley Lodge, Peter Layton at the Festive Board. Congratulations to the Ferryhill brethren and they now invite all visiting brethren to claim this wonderful prize from them at their next meeting on the 12th March 2020.