My Year In The Grand West

In August, at the reception held in Kingston for Ancient St John's Lodge, I was approached by WBro Ian Troyer, the President of the Masonic Association of Frontenac District, to participate in their annual Degree Team - and I agreed to do so - and attended Albion Lodge 109 on February 13 to sit in the West and assist the team to pass Bro Alex Rice, who was a very well prepared candidate, as was the whole team, featuring members from across the district. Albion's own SW, Bro Scott Forbes, sat as SD and did a perfect job guiding the Bro Rice - in the presence of his father, Bro Robert Rice. It was a great meeting on several levels, as I was the guest of honour and was certainly treated as such, at the pre-meeting banquet and after the ceremony, when I was handed a package of local items, which I greatly appreciated. I was also able to present Grand Lodge pins to Bro Rice and Bro Son Rice, while telling the brethren present about my own father and my own son, not to mention my ...

After attending the Orientation session in Cambridge and then driving to North Carolina for a week's vacation with the family in late July, it was a pleasure to attend a formal dinner and celebrate the 225th anniversary of Ancient St John's Lodge No 3 along with (pictured) the Grand Master, the Grand Director of Ceremonies and Grand Junior Warden, as well as my wife, and many Masons and their guests from aross Ontario and Quebec, on August 9. The following morning there was a tour of the new lodge building in Kingston, which also included viewing a number of unique historical documents and various portraits - not to mention the GSW regalia of Sir John A Macdonald, and other related artefacts. WBro Dr. Lewis F. Riggs writes, in an article which was published in The Skirret: One of the greatest men in Canadian history, Sir John MacDonald, more than any other person was responsible for the Confederation of the provinces in 1867 to form the Dominion of Canada, as the nati...