Well – it’s been a while!
Happily, Freemasonry is back to almost normal now, which means I’ve been very busy – both with Lodge business and with the online community. So this will be a longer than usual update starting with the goings-on at Oak Tree – now a Farnham Lodge.
We Are Now Officially A Farnham Lodge
At long last, all the necessary paperwork is complete and our move to become a Farnham Lodge is finalised.
Great news for us, it’s nice to have a new home – and such a fine one as well. The other Lodges have been very supportive, especially Castle Lodge who sent a good number to our Installation in December. Of course, we reciprocated and attended a special evening of theirs on 7th January.
December Installation
The Installation meeting is where a new Worshipful Master is installed – it’s often the biggest and longest meeting of the year as there’s a lot to get through. Unfortunately for us, the outgoing WM tested positive for Covid on the morning of the meeting. But the other senior members of the Lodge came together at very short notice and the ceremony went really well. We were wonderfully supported by visiting Brethren and managed to seat 32 for the festive board – the most I’ve seen at an Oak Tree meeting.
On a personal level, I progressed from Junior to Senior Deacon and was also appointed as the new Lodge Membership Officer – which I’m really excited about. There’s a question about Progression on the Q&A page.
Straight into January
Our next meeting took place just 4 weeks later, so didn’t leave time to rehearse any rituals. Instead, I was asked to give my presentation on William Hogarth, which was well-received by all those present. I also had the opportunity to take the place of the Junior Warden at the Festive Board which was fun.
The Year Ahead
Part of the plan for moving to Farnham was to attract some new people to join us and we have had a couple of positive leads from people, although they have unfortunately not developed further. Both potential candidates were offered career changes that meant them moving away from the area. That said, we still have two prospective new members and are hoping to be able to initiate one of these at our next meeting in April.
This will be the first new member for a few years so everyone is now busy learning lines!
Part Two
That covers most of the Oak Tree business over the past few months. Now I’ll go over some of the online activities that have taken place. While in-person Freemasonry began to come back to life in the second half of last year, on-line activity continued to run at a pace the whole time.
The Masonic Circle 2021 group (that I’m a member of) hosted nearly 30 talks from Masonic authors and scholars including; [add book links]
- Prof Andrew Prescott
- Julian Rees
- Mike Neville
- Tony Baker
- Craig Weightman
- Rabie Jarmakani (DGM Lebanon)
- Randy Saunders (Whence Came You Podcast)
- Dr Massoud El Baini
In addition, the Saturday morning learning circles continued once per month. Here, the attendees take turns making short presentations to each other on Masonic topics. This helps with getting skilled at presenting as well as encouraging people to research and question principles, symbols or meanings in Freemasonry. It was for this group that I originally created the Hogarth presentation.
Being Mindful
The other on-line activity that I wanted to share is my Mindful Mason project.
I have set up social media accounts (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter) for ‘The Mindful Mason’ where I post a mixture of funny masonic memes and also positive/ inspiring quotes on life, philosophy and living well. To date I have just over 1000 followers on FB and over 700 on Instagram and Twitter. So if you like a funny meme or a mindful theme then do give The Mindful Mason a follow!
The Year Ahead
There are a lot of possibilities for the year ahead including the new candidate. We’re planning to have some social events and also try and drum up some new members by speaking with people in the town itself (once the weather gets warmer).
On a personal level, it is confirmed that I’ll be taking my next step in Freemasonry by joining the Royal Arch in March. There will be a post about this nearer the time.
I also have plans for a few more general blog posts on Freemasonry including what to say if your wife is concerned about you becoming a Mason!
Happy New Year!