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...

It was the 150th anniversary celebration at Zeradatha Lodge No 220 in Uxbridge last night, and I learnt three things while sitting in the East, other than the members have met in various locations and currently meet in a temple that was built in 1962. The lodge was formed in 1869 shortly after both the Civil War and Confederation had taken place. Since forming, they remain a vibrant lodge, its members still tightly woven with the community in general and Uxbridge specifically.  History abounds in the lodge - from the huge painted scrolls (measuring over 7 feet in width and nearly 400 feet in length) to the Vimy Gavel and and Lt Col Sam Sharpe, DSO , who is a true Canadian hero. Sharpe was not only a proud member of the Zeradatha Lodge, but he was also a Member of Parliament, and only one of two who has ever gone to war while sitting in parliament and he was re-eleted to office while serving overseas. He helped to recruit an entire battalion from the Uxbridge area, who eventually...