Brethren
With the Meetings of Lancaster Lodge and Chapter last week celebrating the 21st Anniversary of the Consecration we have now come to the end of our Masonic Season. It has generally been a good year with All three lodges increasing in numbers including Discoveries where several members resigned because of the upset within the lodge who have now applied to rejoin. I am sure that the Lodge will once again be back to its former happy atmosphere after the recent disruption. I hope that the Chapter will now also have some Exaltees as Lancaster has, three consecutive meetings with Exaltations and another and several joining members in the pipeline. And eighteen months ago several Companions were for closing as the Chapter was struggling so much.
We had a most enjoyable meeting at Prince Henry the Navigator Lodge in April when the Junior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Finland was present with a Past Acting Senior Grand Warden and several other Finns, both members and visitors, one of them about to become a member.
As you can see it was not typical Portuguese spring weather! However, we hope that it will be next week when Keith, Peter Wilkinson, Paul Nicholson and I are sailing to Gibraltar for the Annual Festival of District Grand Lodge.
The week after our trip from Porto was the Annual Investiture of UGLE and I had the pleasure of seeing both Keith Lloyd invested as a PAGDC and at Grand Chapter next day, David Phillips as PGStdBr. Unfortunately, unlike sailing, Grand Lodge does not allow photos in the Grand Temple!
I went to England earlier this month to visit The Lodge of the Oldest Ally, which meets in Daventry and Cascais where I was elected an Honorary Member and then to my mother lodge three days later for the 40th Anniversary of my Initiation and Tony Jordan has this month also celebrated his 50th Anniversary. I think we are now classified as Golden Oldies.
Brethren, I wish you all a very happy summer break and look forward to our resumption of Masonic duties in September.
Rob Levitt