My Year In The Grand West

The Barton Lodge No 6 is celebrating a unique Masonic milestone this year, as they turn 225 years old, and if it were not for the COVID19 outbreak a few days after this meeting would have enjoyed a wonderful banquet, but on this evening the GJW and I were joined in lodge by the Grand Master, MWBro David Cameron, who had lived across the road from the candidate and watched him grow up, and who now watched him at his Initiation, proudly becoming a Mason. Congratulating the members this evening on joining "The 225 Club" were two members of The Ancient St John's Lodge No 3 who had both travelled from Kingston to enjoy the degree and education that was also provided. As written in an article entitled " Early History of Freemasonry in Upper Canada " by MWBro Freed, PGM, Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario, who says: "The Barton Lodge, No.6 on the register of the Grand Lodge of Canada, was the ninth of those warranted by William Jarvis. Its cha...

On this Wednesday evening, Jan 15, I drove down to Grimsby to meet RWBro Mark Kapitan at his home, and then together we travelled down the road to visit the brethren of Niagara Lodge No. 2 to watch a happy young man enjoy receiving his First Degree and become an Entered Apprentice - joining the other two EAs in the lodge on this evening. Prior to the lodge opening, being gratefully received and watching the ceremony, and as the members gathered, we took the time for a tour of the museum in the building, adorned with a lot of mementos and displaying the historic impact of its members over the 200+ years of activity in the community. The members of the lodge were well-practiced for the ceremony and certainly well-prepared for the evening, and deserved the accolades accorded them by the visiting DDGM and his District Secretary, and the Festive Board afterwards (downstairs in the Art Gallery) featured a wonderful pot of meatballs, accompanying friendly and informative conversat...

On the first Thursday of the new year, 2020, this was Past Master's Night at The Beaches Lodge, and I was asked to sit in the West during the Initiation of our candidate, taking the chair of Bro Eric Boyce - who will be installed in May. It was very much a fun night - as I was sandwiched between WBro Andrew Douris and WBro Derek McNulty - and I'm sure everyone had a great time before, during and after the ceremony. At the banquet, I sat with a four of our lodge's very bright and curious members and the conversation floated from the Masonic Foundation off Ontario and its good works, to ancient megaliths in Japan, and some of the esoteric aspects of Freemasonry, and among the many topics we discussed were the Emerald Tablets and Thoth  as well as the fabled two pillars  ("… according to legend, Thoth preserved his canon of writings inside two great pillars “just before the Great Flood inundated the world.” Thousands of years later, the pillars were rediscovered. Accor...

I was invited to visit Beach Lodge No 639 by my travelling sidekick, our GJW, RWBro Mark Kapitan, and on this evening at the temple in Stoney Creek the brethren were initiating a new member. It was an evening to sit back and enjoy the show. Beach Lodge has a storied history (as - come to think of it - most lodges do) and I presented the lapel pin to the candidate at the conclusion of the degree, and adorning the pin centrally beneath the S&C is a lighthouse, a reminder of their humble beginnings, meeting originally on the strip of beach adjacent to the waterfront. Very active in the district and vibrant, next month the lodge will initiate another Mason, albeit in their new home in Burlington. As was pointed out to me by the GJW, "The Strip was called Burlington Beach back then yet was still in the Hamilton Masonic Districts. We moved from the Beach Blvd in 1971 and went to the Building on Brant Street for 10 years having many PM's still involved from both moves. Then, ...

Every once in a while you find out about a special evening, and this past Friday night on August 16 WBro Steve Spence drove to my place, then together we drove up to meet RWBro Mark Kapitan in King City to then as a trio drive onward to Bracebridge. We arrived after a few hours of engaging conversation while on the road in plenty of time to enjoy a pre-lodge meal before being properly lined up prior to entering, properly presented and offered our respective chairs, which were politely declined. The Grand Junior Warden and I sat in the East. On this special evening indeed, while attending Muskoka Lodge No. 360 on the occasion of their 49th Annual Visitors Night (which began when vacationing members who were in the Muskokas enjoyed a meeting before departing for their homes after a relaxing summer at the cottage) a candidate, Mr McIntyre, was then initiated by his Father, who had assumed the gavel, with his Grandfather sitting as IPM. The DDGM, RWBro R Meadows, also attended, as did ...