december-newsletter-2019 by Durham Freemasons

www.durham2021.org | December 2019 | Issue 23 | Page 1 of 8

Durham 2021 FESTIVAL NEWS A man never stands as tall as when he kneels to help a child. MCF confidential enquiry line: 0800 035 60 90

ÂŁ2,712,768 Target reached but the jobs not done! Message from the Provincial Grand Master Brethren, as we approach the end of year 4 of our 5-year Festival in aid of the Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys, which will end early in 2021, I have just announced that we have passed our original target. We have now raised a total of ÂŁ2,752,675 as at October 31st 2019 This is a phenomenal achievement by the members of our Craft Lodges, Royal Arch Chapters and the other orders and organizations who have given their support Everyone who is contributing to the Festival, in whatever way, should be delighted with what they have achieved so far. I hope you will agree with me, however, that it is our duty to raise as much as we can in the time we have left. Whatever we raise in excess of the original target will be a bonus that we can be proud of. The hard work of our Charity Stewards and of the numerous volunteers who are organising the many and varied fund raising events continue to excite and enthuse our members. I express my sincere appreciation to all of these volunteers, our Charity Stewards, our Hall Ambassadors and particularly the 2021 Festival Team, under the leadership of John Thompson, for their continuing efforts in the work that they do. The Province of Durham committed to a 5 year fundraising campaign and I urge you all to keep on supporting the Festival until our conclusion in 2021. I hope you all become Festival Stewards and continue to make every effort for your lodge to reach its potential. We have exciting events planned for 2020. Please get involved. We have one year left to make a real difference. Once again thank you.

John Arthur Provincial Grand Master

ARE YOU READY? ...FOR OUR 2020 CHALLENGES!

If you fancy getting involved in the 2020 events contact paul.quinn@durham2021.org to register your interest

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www.durham2021.org | December 2019 | Issue 23 | Page 2 of 8

Durham 2021 FESTIVAL NEWS A man never stands as tall as when he kneels to help a child. MCF confidential enquiry line: 0800 035 60 90

Platinum Awards Gold into Platinum Achieving your Gold award for the 2021 Festival is no mean feat but to take it to the next level of Platinum that same evening is to be applauded. This is exactly what St Peter’s lodge, who meet at Burdon Road in Sunderland have done! When Craig Steele, the Assistant Provincial Grand Master, attended to present the Master, Alan Tatters, with St Peter’s Gold certificate, the Charity Steward for the lodge, David Wilson, immediately surprised Craig with an additional cheque taking them straight to Platinum. On Craig’s return visit to present the lodge with their Platinum Award, it was more of a relaxed affair, as all the surprises had been dealt with on the previous occasion. After being welcomed into the lodge by the Master again, Craig was treated to an excellent initiation ceremony for the lodge’s newest member, Sean Walker. At the festive board the certificates and the Provincial Grand Masters crystal award were proudly displayed on the Masters table for all to see. The evening concluded with George Field, the lodge Mentor, presenting Sean Walker with his first step in Freemasonry booklet. Well done to St Peter’s a small but compact lodge with a bright future, who certainly can ‘pack a punch’, when it comes to charitable donations.

Their Charity knows no bounds A wonderful Masonic evening took place on Wednesday 25th September, celebrating the magnificent achievements of Derwent Lodge No 4250, in Chopwell, recognised with the first Full Team Provincial Deputation of the Masonic year. To date, Derwent Lodge has raised in excess of £16,286 towards the Durham 2021 Festival and the Provincial Grand Master John Arthur was delighted on the evening to mark the occasion by awarding Chopwell Lodge with their Platinum Certificate and Award.

This truly has been a team effort, but the job isn’t done. The Province of Durham committed to a 5 year fundraising campaign and I urge you all to keep on supporting the Festival until our conclusion in 2021. The last few months has seen the culmination of our 2019 events with our supporters taking part in the iconic Great North Run and also battling the River Tees in the Dragon Boat Challenge. We have had another successful summer of fun and fundraising. This year we have had over 200 supporters comprising of Freemasons along with their families and friends taking part in numerous challenges to raise the magnificent sum of £70,000. The Festival Team would like to thank all our organizers, support crews and of competitors for once again supporting our 2021 Festival. We now ask you to rest and get ready for our 2020 events which will be launched over the coming months.

John was then given the opportunity to personally thank the Lodge for their outstanding and on-going commitment to the Durham 2021 Festival, alongside other charitable causes. John specifically recognised the work of Ken Cook, The Lodge Charity Steward, alongside Keith Walker and his wife Hilary, who have for many years organised the Lodge’s fund raising Barbeque. Collectively, their wonderful efforts have helped to raise an incredible £54,000 for charities in recent years alone. John then Presented Ken with a well-deserved Platinum Award and following this, Bob Bennie presented a further cheque of £1000 for the 2021 Festival. The presentation also included a cheque for £357 from Paul Mundell, Senior Warden that had been collected from the members of Derwent Lodge via the ‘Smartie Challenge’.

Our Grand Festival Auction is now complete so please ensure you pay for bids as soon as possible to allow us to get them distributed without delay. Early estimations indicate the auction has raised over £9,000

The charitable theme continued at the Festive Board with nearly 100 Freemasons in attendance. Firstly, a cheque for £10,000 was presented on behalf of the members of Derwent Lodge by their Treasurer, Keith Walker, to the Great North Air Ambulance Service. This sum had been raised through the annual Derwent Lodge Barbeque which is supported by the Lodge members, other local Freemasons as well as in the business community. In addition, Durham Benevolence kindly agreed to match fund the £600 proceeds of the raffle to support the work of ‘Walking with the Wounded’ in the future.

Remember the MCF is here to help. If you think they may be able to assist you or someone you know please make the call or contact your Almoner or Benevolent Representative. This can be done very confidentially by contacting the MCF enquiry line: 0800 035 60 90. Thank you all for your continued support.

Many congratulations and thanks to Bob Bennie, Worshipful Master and the members of Derwent Lodge for such a great evening and for deservedly reaching their Platinum Award!

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Who would have thought that after just 3 years 10 months the PGM would be announcing that we have reached our target. Myself and the Festival Team certainly didn’t envisage that, but the constant generosity from our members, their friends and families have ensured this success. Can I thank the Festival Team, our hall ambassadors, our event organisers and the army of Charity Stewards, who work tirelessly in their lodges and to you all for your support with donations.

Derwent Lodge

Durham 2021 Festival

A Message from the Festival Director

John Thompson – Festival Director

Durham 2021

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www.durham2021.org | December 2019 | Issue 23 | Page 3 of 8

Durham 2021 FESTIVAL NEWS A man never stands as tall as when he kneels to help a child. MCF confidential enquiry line: 0800 035 60 90

Gold Awards Lambton Lodge No 375 Lambton Lodge has received the gold award signifying they have raised over £24,000 to hit the lodge target. John Thompson was on hand at their installation meeting to present the certificate to the Worshipful Master Len Hird and the gold pin badge to their hard working charity steward Simon Crowley. Another fine example of a lodge working together to provide much needed funds for the MCF.

Rowland Burdon Lodge Pedalling to Gold As well as representing for the Provincial Grand Master, William Hobson also had the pleasing duty of presenting Rowland Burdon Lodge their Gold award for the 2021 Festival at their Installation night. After being warmly welcomed into the lodge by the outgoing master, Richard Armstrong, William was treated to an excellent ceremony of Installation, led by our own Deputy Provincial Director of Ceremonies, Nigel Fallow, on one of his ‘nights off’. On the second rising William rose to perform another duty, as the West Area Director for the 2021 Festival, presenting the newly installed master, Brian Freear with the lodge’s Gold award. Whilst on his feet, William then asked if the Charity Steward of the lodge, Dennis Bartholomew would come to the pedestal and receive his Gold lapel pin. On receiving his shining new gold lapel pin, Dennis responded to the lodge by thanking the members for all their support.

Eanred Lodge Eanred lodge blasts through the gold target with donations of over £16,500. This lodge is on a mission with platinum firmly set in their sights. Well done everyone. Charity steward Mark Davies proudly receives the certificate on behalf of the lodge

Dennis personally has been a great supporter of the Festival, successfully completing all of the cycling events held by the Province, competing as one of the more senior members. Well done to Rowland Burdon and Dennis who both are sure to continue peddling towards their Platinum.

Lodge of Concord At the Installation meeting of the Lodge of Concord , who meet at Queen Street in Sunderland, the Assistant Provincial Grand Master, Craig Steele attended as the representative of the Provincial Grand Master. After being welcomed into the lodge by John Cox, the outgoing Master, Craig witnessed an exemplary Installation by John and a number of the past masters of the lodge. On the second rising Craig had the privilege of presenting the new master of the lodge, Michael Scouler, with the lodge’s Gold festival award. Whilst on his feet, Craig also took the opportunity to call upon the lodge Charity Steward, David Dorward, to receive the Gold pin badge. At the festive board, Craig congratulated the members of the Lodge of Concord on their achievement and remarked on the number of young master masons in attendance that evening. Craig went on to say ‘’the Lodge certainly has a bright future’’. The usual ‘Queen Street’ festivities continued throughout the evening with a host of toasts and responses associated with the Installation leading to a nice touch at the end of the night, with the new master, Michael Scouler , presenting Craig Steele and his DC, Richard Vipond, with a bouquet of flowers each, to take home for their wives.

Durham 2021 Festival

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Durham 2021

Did you know? The Masonic Charitable Foundation now offer a FREE Will writing service to all Freemasons and their families. Having a good Will is so important and this professional service is provided through the Goodwill Partnership.

For more details visit the MCF website. https://mcf.org.uk/legacy/

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www.durham2021.org | December 2019 | Issue 23 | Page 4 of 8

Durham 2021 FESTIVAL NEWS A man never stands as tall as when he kneels to help a child. MCF confidential enquiry line: 0800 035 60 90

Winlaton St Paul On Thursday the 3rd October 2019, almost eighty Freemasons attended Dunston Masonic Hall to see a third generation mason, Stuart J Major, take the chair of Winlaton St Pauls Lodge No. 8931. After a successful ceremony in which Master David Patterson installed Stuart into the Chair, officers for the year were invested before Stuart handed over a donation for the 2021 Festival raised from sponsorship received from his taking part in both the 2019 Manchester and Great North Runs to the Provincial Representative George Clark. The combined total for the two events enabled the lodge to qualify for the 2021 Festival Gold Award. Alan Davidson, Lodge Charity Steward received the Gold Award from George who congratulated Alan for his hard work and the Brethren of the Lodge for their continued generosity in supporting the Festival. After the Lodge was closed the Brethren retired to a lively Festive Board to partake of an excellent five course meal.

St Paul Lodge Masons across the Province of Durham have been busy in 2019 continuing the superb works of previous years in raising funds towards the 2021 Festival. This year has seen a wider range of fund-raising events and the Festival Team has started a series of 5 supporter evenings to advertise the great work done this year and to allow fellow local masons to give recognition for their efforts. The first event took place on Thursday 3rd October at St Paul Lodge in Jarrow. Festival Director John Thompson fronted up the presentation prepared by Gavin Rowell and Steven Piercy with short video footage interspersed with descriptions of the events and then those who took part and were present were invited to stand and receive a token of recognition.

Lodge of Fraternity The September regular meeting at the Lodge of Fraternity, who meet in Stockton, was a night of celebration for its members. The Assistant Provincial Grand Master, Gordon Brewis, attended the meeting and in the second rising addressed the Worshipful Master, Michael Allred, and Charity Steward, Kristopher Lord, at the front of the lodge. Gordon informed the brethren that the lodge had achieved the gold award for meeting the target of £13,824 for the 2021 festival and that it was down to the hard work and extraordinary efforts of the lodge members and in particular the Charity Steward to achieve the target. Gordon presented a gold certificate to Michael and also a gold lapel pin to Kristopher for him to wear with immediate effect. Gordon also pointed out that the lodge had achieved the target with 18 months still left to go to the end of the festival. He asked the members of the lodge not to stop their efforts and to continue raising money in the hope to achieve the platinum award which is 133% of the assigned target. Gordon thanked the members for their continued efforts.

St Paul Lodge has been particularly busy and successful in their fund-raising efforts and were duly recognised with the award of the Festival Gold Award to their Charity Steward, Gavin Rowell, to wear on behalf of his lodge. Reigning Master David George emphasised their efforts with a further donation of £200 for John Thompson to take back to the office and send on to the MCF. So, where does the money go? We in Durham are a net recipient of grants from the MCF, with worthy causes and local masons being awarded more than we, as a province. 170 masons alone have benefited this year and as a closing comment for those thinking they shouldn’t apply to the fund, quoting to themselves the saying that “there is always someone worse off than you” well sometimes there isn’t so please do not hold back from applying when you are in need.

Charity Stewards Conferences

11th January 2020, 10am Shiney Row Masonic Hall & 1st February 2020, 10am, FerryHill Masonic Hall We will be hosting 2 charity stewards Conferences in the New Year. Whilst these are predominately for the Charity Stewards, all are welcome. We have the MCF Fund Raising Manger Paul Crockett at our January event. You will get the opportunity to meet Andrew Thompson our Provincial Charity Steward and to learn about our exciting 2020 events.

Tickets are free and can be booked online www.durhamfreemasons.org and click on the link to the conferences

Durham 2021 Festival

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Durham 2021

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www.durham2021.org | December 2019 | Issue 23 | Page 5 of 8

Durham 2021 FESTIVAL NEWS A man never stands as tall as when he kneels to help a child. MCF confidential enquiry line: 0800 035 60 90

Silver Awards Indaba Lodge Mike Smithies ventured to one our scouting lodges to recognize Indaba Lodge and their fantastic efforts in reaching the silver award. Mike also took the opportunity to acknowledge Graham Wharton for his fundraising efforts in selling his Jams and chutneys in aid of the festival by presenting him with this years supporter medal.

Together we’ve achieved so much Please Don’t Stop Now! If you have a direct debit running to support the Festival please consider letting it run until the end of the Festival. We still have a year of fundraising to go. Please continue to support your lodge and the Festival, to ensure the much need support from the Masonic Charitable Foundation can continue. .

The team take a trip to the Rowlandson lodge

St Catherine’s Lodge 5393

Another enjoyable evening at The Rowlandson Lodge at their installation when the PGM’s representative Gavin Rowell presented the silver award to their Charity Steward John Scott, supported by the festival team of John Thompson, Paul Quinn and Mike Cockerton.

Another pleasing duty for John Thompson to present the silver award to John Barnett the Charity Steward of St Catherine’s Lodge 5393. We’ll done to everyone in raising £10,000 for our festival.

Spirt of Rugby William Baty attended Spirit of Rugby No. 9910 in August representing the PGM and Officers of PGL at their Annual Installation. A raucous evening in the Festive Board, reflective of the Lodges connection with their sport, was preceded by a very good Ceremony of Installation upstairs at Chester-le-Street. This saw WBro. Kieran Fyland going into the Chair as the fifth WM of this, the newest Lodge in our Province. Bill was delighted and overwhelmed to receive donations from a Lodge and Charity Steward who work hard to support our Festival and many other initiatives. Bill graciously thanked everyone for their continued support and wished them well on their quest for gold?

Lodge Awards Due to member generosity and involvement in fundraising events, many Lodges are looking towards their next target award. We are very keen to respond to a new award without delay and to ensure that a presentation can given within the lodge. Gold awards will usually been done by a senior member of the executive team and Platinum awards will be done by the PGM or his Deputy

168 Bronze Awards

113 Silver Awards

63 Gold Award

23 Platinum Award

Durham 2021 Festival

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www.durham2021.org | December 2019 | Issue 23 | Page 6 of 8

Durham 2021 FESTIVAL NEWS A man never stands as tall as when he kneels to help a child. MCF confidential enquiry line: 0800 035 60 90

Durham Dragons all Fired up

Our Scottish Supporter

4 Teams from the Province of Durham competed in the 3rd Tees Dragon Boat Festival which took place on Sunday 1st September 2019, raising money for the Durham 2021 Festival.

Gavin Rowell whilst in Edinburgh popped in to see Stuart Robertson and presented him with his Durham 2019 Supporters Medal in aid of the Durham 2021 Festival.

Each Dragon Boat can carry a maximum of 16 rowers plus one drummer and is steered by a helmsman provided by the event operators. The format of the event involves each team competing in 3 races, with the 4 fastest teams then competing in the final. This year 20 teams took part. Our Teams were The Chester le Street Masonic Dragons 1 & 2, The Billingham & Castle Eden Freemasons Dragon Boat Squad and the Paddling Pedallers, a team drawn largely from those who completed this year’s 3 Province Charity Cycle Ride. Whilst the weather conditions were far from perfect, our teams met the conditions undeterred and with a smile on their faces. Incredibly, 3 of our Teams, CLS 2, the Pedallers and Billingham & Castle Eden managed to hold off the competition and reach the Final. In fact we also had the 5th fastest time from CLS 1, who only missed out on a place in the final by 4 hundredths of a second. As the 4 boats lined up on the start line the Masonic Teams knew that Dave’s Dragons were the team to beat. There was also however some healthy rivalry between our squads as they all competed for the top spot. In what proved an amazingly close race (apart from Dave’s Dragons who, as expected, left the other 3 teams in their wake) it was the Pedallers’ who managed to steal second place with their fastest time of the day, 1 min 2 seconds, beating Billingham & Castle Eden by a very short nose and with CLS 2 very close behind. After cheering their competitors and receiving their trophies from the Mayor of Stockton there was just time for our teams to cheer all of the supporters who had turned up, particularly those from Billingham who had manned a TLC Teddies stall throughout the day.

Freemasonry in the community at its most enjoyable – well done to all involved.

Stuart is a Scottish Mason who has joined our cycling events and raised money for the Masonic Charitable Foundation. Many thanks to Stuart and all our supporters for making it another fantastic year.

Many Thanks These are just some of the very generous donations received since the last newsletter. Durham Benevolence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £25,000 Universities Lodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £20,000 Rowland Burdon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .£11,000 Agricola Lodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .£7,741 Darlington Lodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £3,900 Cumberland & Westmoreland . . . . . . . . . £2,000 Earl of Durham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £1274 Derwent Lodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £1,357 St Bede . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £1,000 Heugh Lodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £1,000 Westoe Lodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £750 Hadrian Lodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £550 Indaba Lodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £500 Jurists Lodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £500 Beacon Lodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .£800 Hammurabi Lodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £500 Gateshead Fell Lodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £500 Hudson Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £500 Ryton Holy Cross . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £450 Gyrwy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .£400 Avalon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .£400 Whitworth Lodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £300 Lumley lodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £300 Johnstonian lodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £300 St Aidans Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £250 Babington Boulton Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . £100 Willington Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £100 MTSFC fishing Charity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £65

Durham 2021 Festival

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www.durham2021.org | December 2019 | Issue 23 | Page 7 of 8

Durham 2021 FESTIVAL NEWS A man never stands as tall as when he kneels to help a child. MCF confidential enquiry line: 0800 035 60 90

A Big Thank You In the last month we have taken the opportunity to reunite our supporters from our 2019 events at a series of lodge meetings. Firstly, at St Paul Lodge as we celebrated their Gold target, then onto Eanred in Billingham, also to acknowledge the lodge reaching target and a further visit to Lodge of Progress in Chester Le Street. We have further visits to Corinthian and Elvet lodge in the coming weeks. Each of our supporters received a 2019 supporters medal as a token of appreciation for taking part, organizing or volunteering. Our events don’t just happen and with the exception of our sky dive, which involved jumping out of perfectly good working plane, can take many months to prepare and train for. We thank you all for your time and efforts, for making our events fun and for giving us the chance to make so many new friends. 2020 will be the final chance to raise funds and have fun for the Festival so please consider taking part in our exciting events that will be launched soon.

Lodge of Progress

Eanred Lodge

St Paul Lodge

Proudly wearing their supporters medals

Well done Jason Durham Mason Jason Heels accompanied by his friends took on the challenge which is Hadrian’s Wall, over a period of 4 days and 80 miles Jason raised over £1,000 for the MCF and his lodge Marquess of Granby. Well done Jason

A run in the sun for Durham Freemasons Tyneside was bathed in sunshine on Sunday the 8th September to welcome some 57,000 runners from across the globe eager to take part in the world’s greatest half marathon. Once again amongst the throng of participants were Durham Freemasons proudly pounding the tarmac to raise over £7,500 in donations and pledges for the 2021 Festival, all wearing their distinctive MCF Festival shirts. Along with the Durham contingent were many more of our brethren, friends and family who were raising funds for individual charities and we of course equally applaud their efforts, and congratulate all on having successfully completed the gruelling 13.1-mile transition from Newcastle to the South Shields coast, where thousands of spectators applauded their triumphant efforts. We now look forward to September 2020 when the GNR celebrates its 40th Anniversary. To mark this milestone in the history of the iconic event we as a Province are hoping to encourage 40 Durham Masons to enter. Sign up to the reminder service to be the first to get our updates for 2020. http://grtrun.org/JqKCJF And tell Paul Quinn you’ve done it at paulquinn@durham2021.org

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“As a society, taking care of our own mental health and wellbeing is not always our number one priority – at least, that’s how it was for me.” The latest issue of Better Lives is now available, and this time we’re focusing on how the MCF is supporting positive mental health and wellbeing.

Read Better Lives online: http://ow.ly/APcN50wLOzd

Feeling inspired to take on #GreatNorthRun 2020?

Durham 2021 Festival

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Durham 2021

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www.durham2021.org | December 2019 | Issue 23 | Page 8 of 8

Durham 2021 FESTIVAL NEWS A man never stands as tall as when he kneels to help a child. MCF confidential enquiry line: 0800 035 60 90

Overview of our work in 2018/2019 Durham Members

Durham 2021 Festival

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Durham 2021

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