Hands across the border...
Brethren: Welcome to my February 2023 Newsletter
This month there is plenty happening within our jurisdiction and it’s great to see our regional representatives out there supporting their local lodges. There will be plenty to do this year and I will be looking to our reps for support.
My plans are, of course, to continue supporting local lodges when and where I can, but I also need to do some work in the background this year as we continue to develop and refine our technology.
The bones of the new system are now in place, but this year we will refine and develop it so that the system works for us rather than us working for it. We can’t just develop a system for today, it needs to support us well into the future and, while this is a challenge the end benefits will be far reaching as we create a future that will save money, time and effort.
Hands across the Border
Our Hands across the Border event on the New South Wales and Queensland border was a great success and I must congratulate all those involved. The weekend involved various masonic activities and included wives, partners, and friends, which made for an all-inclusive and pretty special event. It was great to have our Deputy Grand Master RW Bro Khris Albano, our Grand Director of Ceremonies RW Bro Troy Gara, our Senior Grand Warden RW Bro Arnel Landicho and many members of our Ceremonial Team in attendance.
There should be more of this kind of activity in and around the jurisdiction; we are all masons and we are all Craft masons. It was great to give and receive the support of our friends. Well done to those involved in preparing what was a magical weekend of just plain friendship. I believe that last weekend laid a platform for the future, and I will certainly get behind and support more of these special inclusive events.
If you’ve got a function coming up, I wish you well with your plans, make it big, these are exciting times.
Out and About
The Grand Ceremonial team and I have already started the year with a visit to Lodge Gowrie of Canberra and we will be representing our jurisdiction in Tassie this week. I am excited to be able to witness my good friend Luke Wood become the next Grand Master of Tasmania. Luke and I have known each other for many years, and I am sure he will lead Freemasonry in Tasmania with honour and dignity during his term. We have a strong contingent of NSW & ACT Freemasons heading to Tassie and I welcome anyone that wants to join our delegation.
The Grand Ceremonial Team and I will ramp up our visitations as we move into March with Installations at the Cedars Lodge, Tweed Daylight, Lake Macquarie and Lodge Independent Lewis. With the Grand Communication on the 8th of March, it makes for a busy month.
Freemason magazine
You will have received your December edition of Freemason magazine, which can also be viewed at FreemasonNSW.com
In this issue: Improving fitness, Speaking your mind, Membership process update, A Start in Life, Keep your money safe, Test your knowledge, Laws of Succession, Farewell Queen Elizabeth, Rainbow Girls International, Grand Lodge re-installation, Beyond the Craft, Motorcycles in Wallsend, Going overseas, Helping kids’ choir, and much more
New Members
Imet with the Grand Secretary and our head of membership RW Bro Garry Sayers recently and it was made clear that we’ve got a large number of new initiates that have recently joined, and an even larger number that are about to join our ranks. On behalf of all NSW and ACT Freemasons, a very warm welcome, and we all look forward to supporting you as you embark on what I am sure will be an incredible masonic journey.
Grand Communication
Ireally hope that you and your partner can join us at the Grand Communication to celebrate the this busy and exciting year for Freemasonry in our jurisdiction. There will be entertainment for the ladies during the Communication and then we will join them for a pleasant night of entertainment and friendship at the banquet.
I look forward to seeing you there. If you can’t make it in person, you can still be a part of the communication by watching the proceedings online HERE
Well, that’s about it for this month, but I must, again, thank you for your help and efforts with the Grand Master’s Disaster Relief Appeal. Plans are underway to assist those in Engowrie and Windsor and to deliver more help to Lismore. What you have achieved is pretty special. Please take care, and I look forward to seeing you soon as we move through what I am sure will be another exciting masonic year.
Regards
Les Hicks Grand Master Humility – Kindness – Generosity
Changes
To allow us to publish a more current Quarterly Communication report, we are now publishing the Freemason in January, April, July and October.
Deadline for submissions is one month before publication date so why not get your story in the next issue? There’s still time! All you need to do is send an email to news@ masons.org.au. It doesn’t have to be perfect but if you get the facts to us with a few pictures, we can use it.
We are also introducing a Classified section and some smaller/less expensive ad sizes to make it easier for smaller businesses to advertise in the Freemason More detail in your April Freemason Magazine.