My Year In The Grand West

Yes, this was a unique night for Zeradatha Lodge. Because it started of with a pre-meeting dinner at a local pub called The Hobby Horse Arms, owned and run by a Mason, and I had the pleasure of sitting with WBro Tim Richardson and sharing stories, due to the fact the lodge's on banquet facilities were rented out for the evening. Following the normal array of toasts and concluding with the JW's traditional toast, we then ventured a minute up the road to the temple. The lodge had een opened prior to dinner and the WM was being returned to the Chair in the East (for a third time), and the IM, WBro Don Kemball, had asked me to sit in the West and also asked RWBro Mark Kapitan to sit in the South and did an excellent job throughout the evening. The first brethren invested were the SW and JW, and the GJW invested the latter, while I invested the former. Zeradatha Lodge was the very first lodge I visited, while still an EA, and while Zeradatha and The Beaches were still in the sam

I was honoured to sit in the West for the Installation of the new WM at Birch Cliff Lodge, on Friday the 13th, WBro George Baraki, and during the Investiture of his Officers for the ensuing twelve moneths, with RWBro Peter Sialtsis doing a great job as the IM this evening at the old East Toronto Masonic Temple, aka Chisholm Temple, in Toronto East District. The Beaches Lodge and Birch Cliff shared the same temple - "our home"  at Queen and Balsam in The Beach - for many decades prior to the erection of the now-sold Scarborough Masonic Temple, where I was initiated, passed and raised, and where both lodges used to also meet. Birch Cliff Lodge was founded in 1922 as a daughter Lodge of Wilson Lodge No. 86, which was located in Toronto and named for William Mercer Wilson, the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Canada in The Province of Ontario. Birch Cliff held their first meeting under "Dispensation" on September 8th, 1922 in a renovated house on Birchcliff A

I together with RWBro Mark Kapitan and RWBro Tom Haight, and VW David Churchill, joined our Grand Master, MWBro David Cameron, and the DDGM for Ontario District, RWBro Grant Parnell, and many other Masons, for the annual Installation of the WM and Investiture of his officers at Jerusalem Lodge No 31 in Bowmanville on December 11. The room was absolutely packed for the ceremony, and was a testament to the amount of travelling done by the members of this vibrant lodge. According to the website , Jerusalem Lodge was chartered in 1849 with the United Grand Lodge of England and numbered 28. Somehow, the warrant was lost, but there is a record of Jerusalem Lodge being transferred to the Grand Lodge of Canada (Ontario) and so Jerusalem Lodge operated as No. 28 under a dispensation from the Grand Lodge of England from June 1849, until the first Charter was received in 1858, then duly renumbered 31. This charter is dated on July 14th, 1858.

On this first Friday night of December, together with RWBro Mark Kapitan, and joined in the East by RWBro Leyland Muss, Member of the Board, and RWBro Gil Carreiro, DDGM, we visited Wexford Lodge who were honouring two of their brethren: VWBro Royce Baker and WBro Ibrahim Washington - the latter received the lodge's Mason of the Year award, while the former was provided his regalia as Grand Steward. After the presentations were made, the lodge was duly closed by the WM, RWBro Gerry Newell, and all brethren then assembled in the banquet room, along with family members and friends, for a libation and their annual festive Christmas dinner, which included a visit from Santa, who helped to distribute the many presents to each member and sell raffle tickets for a pair of Albert Mackey's (quite old but exquisite, and expensive) encyclopaedias ,

On this first Thursday in December, I, along with RWBro Mark Kapitan, RWBro Tom Haight and RWBro Roy Hardy, met at King City to then travel together up the 400 and visit Corinthian Lodge No 96 in Barrie. We sat in our respective chairs and took the lodge up to the 2nd and then the 3rd, and back down again to close. While open in each degree, a piece of Masonic education was delivered, and while in the 3rd, a well-mentored MM proved himself flawlessly. There was no degree work, no installation or investiture, but a simple meeting planned and run by WBro Garry Perkins that was a pleasure to attend - and the room was filled with Masons from across the District... not to mention Grand Lodge officers.

At their December meeting, the annual Installation and Investiture of the Officers of Ionic Lodge was a well-attended and, frankly, efficient meeting - and there were no Past Masters in the lineup. I had not visited this lodge, despite its proximity (meeting at the York Temple), since RWBro Art DiCecco was installed as Master quite a few years ago. Ionic Lodge No  is one of the oldest in Toronto. The history of the lodge, acccording to VWBro Paul Skazin, goes like this: on July 6, 1847, R.W. Bro. Allan Napier MacNab, Provincial Grand Master for the Province of Canada West, Acting under Thomas Dundas, Earl of Zetland, Grand Master of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of England, granted his dispensation for the formation of "The Ionic Lodge," to meet in the City of Toronto. There were seventeen petitioners for the dispensation and were all members of St Andrew’s Lodge which up until then was the only Lodge in Toronto. The first meeting of