My Year In The Grand West

This was one of my first daytime lodges, and certainly my first not only held in the morning but in a morning suit (courtesy of RWBro Peter Sialtsis), and at this meeting, which was the annual Installation and Investiture of Officers of Corinthian Lodge 330, I first met RWBro Mark Kapitan in Aldershot and then together we drove to London for a 10am opening, with current Grand Chaplain RWBro Tom Haight sitting at the Secretary's desk; also joining us was RWBro Roy Hardy, the Grand Registrar, in the beautiful Blue Room at the Dufferin Temple. Online it is stated that Corinthian Lodge No. 330 enjoys a lengthy history that is intertwined locally  with Middlesex County that had voted for the incorporation of London East as a Village in May, 1874, with Adelaide Street being the dividing line between London and London East. (Lilleys Corners was the Post Office up to this time, located at the corner of Dundas and Adelaide Streets. This building was erected in 1867, and is still standin...

On September 17, I visited Temple Lodge No 597 to watch the ceremony of Lowering The Lights, which was solemn, as it was in fact the last meeting for Temple Lodge, which had formed 98 years ago shortly after The Great War had concluded. The Grand Master, MWBro David Cameron, was also joined in the East by Past Grand Master and Grand Secretary, MWBro Garry Dowling, as well as the DDGM for London East District, our Grand Director of Ceremonies, Grand Chaplain, Grand Registrar and Grand Junior Warden. The subject of shutting down a lodge forever, and going dark, is still controversial among the brethren in general, but in this case, as was told to me by a Past Master this evening, they had indeed enjoyed initiating quite a few EAs over the past several years, but these men had accepted employment outside of London and thus simply could no longer attend meetings regularly or, most crtiically, commit to the responsibilities of an officer of the lodge. The members, after much discussion, ...