from the left Ralf Walker, the three principals and Alan Dunn

MEZ Fred Allewell installed Tom Collins into the chair of Zerubbabel then made an interesting move to Joshua for the third time, while John Trelore took the chair of Haggia, a very busy year for Tom being an acting officer in the craft.

It was 5 years since Ralf represented the Barrow Chapter and he congratulated the Chapter not only on the installation ceremony but the very successful passing of the veils ceremony earlier this year.

A cheque for £300 was presented to Ralf in favour of the 2013 surgeon’s appeal, the robe addresses were delivered by George Manderson, Alan Wilson and Peter Trelore, 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd respectively.

The Charity collection raised £250.50 and the Chapter donated £250 to the Barrow Masonic Building fund.

from the left DC Peter Trelore, the three principals and ADC George Manderson

Most Excellent Zerubbabel Brian Clark retained the office for a second year, with Tony Cassells being installed into the chair of Haggai and Bob Carr Joshua.

from the left Stephen Reid, Tony Cassells, Brian Clark, Bob Carr and Deputy Director of Ceremonies Ian Higham

A cheque for £1225 was presented to Stephen in the favour of the West Lanc’s Freemasons charity, Stephen said it was a delight to see the two younger companions Mike Attard and Peter While deliver the robe addresses.

Stephen commented how great it is to have Bill Walkinshaw, Harry Hughes who had celebrated 60 years in the Royal Arch and Tom Foster 50 years enhancing the companionship in a relaxed Chapter room especially in Barrow the epicentre for Freemasonry.

from the left Rowley Saunders, Alan Jones, Barrie Bray, Ian Bethell and Director of Ceremonies Mike Jenkins

Ian Bethell took the chair for the installation ceremony as the worship Master Scott Deakin has suffered poor health.  Barrie Bray was installed into the chair and presented a cheque to Alan for £1021 in favour of the West Lanc’s Freemasons Charity.

Group Chairman Rowley Saunders thanks Ian for doing such an excellent job of the installation, Rowley also thanked Scott for all his work in a very difficult year.

The acting officers Tom Collins and John Martin

The charity collection raised £341.47 with a further £40 from the Masters in office who were guessing on how long Alan would speak for; the raffle raised £630 which was donated to the Barrow Masonic hall building fund.

Barrie Bray with the menu card

Ken Boom sang the Master Song and congratulations went to the hard working Secretary Craig Foster for producing very interesting menu cards in the form of an apron.

220 guests watched 10 rounds of fights and introduced female boxers for the first time.

Over £6000 was raised on the night through sponsors, ticket sales, selling raffle tickets and auctioning items off, including a Toyota jacked signed by ex F1 driver Ralph Schumacher.

The traditional auction of an ornament horse and cart was won by Bob McMillan who will donate it back for next year’s event.

Money raised will be split between local charities and Masonic charities which will be handed out at a presentation evening later in the year.

1)  To stay at Fairfield Lane, bite the bullet, and undertake all the work needed

2)  To sell Fairfield Lane and purchase a smaller property

3)  To sell Fairfield Lane and rent a smaller property

After considerable work by the Development sub committee, endorsed by the membership, It was resolved to stay at Fairfield Lane and complete all the necessary work over a 3 year period. The Hall finances had a contingency of approximately £50k, which left a £70k shortfall. Instead of putting up the fees by a very substantial amount, I was approached to become the Hall fundraiser so that as much of the shortfall as possible could be raised on a voluntary basis to minimise the annual dues needed from the full membership.

PERSONAL and INDIVIDUAL SPONSORSHIP  (PINS Scheme)

The first need was to set up a core income provider over the 3 year term of the fundraising drive. Using the successful format pioneered by the 2010 festival, the members were all circulated with a request to sign up for £10 per month over a period of 36 months (£360 per member in total) – The target membership “take up” was set at 100 to give a total income of £36k – to date 62 members have supported the scheme with 2/3 new members coming on board each week (current 3 year income £22320 and rising) As a “thank you” to these sponsors we commissioned a lapel badge  

Barrow Masonic Hall Lapel Badge

To date all 5 Lodges, 3 Chapters and a considerable number of Companies and Individuals have sponsored this scheme to the tune of £14500. We still have one £750 pyramid vacant and I will be delighted to hear from anyone who is interested !

Pillar and Triangle Sponsors

 RAISE THE ROOF – SPONSOR A TILE

This is a simple Tile sponsorship at £10 per space for companies or individuals 

It has a potential to raise £4400 – in the first 3 weeks it has raised £850 with a very encouraging take up at all Lodge and Chapter meetings with members and visitors coming back for more “tiles” as time goes on.

Raising the Roof

The considerable generosity of both Barrow Hall Members and visitors to Fairfield Lane has enabled the Hall Committee to complete a full and very expensive update of the electrical wiring in Fairfield Lane, the  installation of a state of the art “L1” Fire alarm system, and a full re roof of the banqueting room and associated flat roofs.  Further alterations to the access doors in the Lodge and Chapter rooms as well as the provision of a full height Fire Door in the Lodge and alterations to the rear stair to do away with the need for an external Fire Escape will be undertaken in the spring and summer.  Further essential work is needed to secure the main roof and front flat roofs.

Future fundraising is in the pipeline – A Sportsman’s Dinner, Raffle and Auction of Sporting Memorabilia is in the advanced planning stage (any sporting items for the auction will be most welcome – please let me know if you have anything)

I Can only finish by thanking everyone who has contributed -  now or in the future – to the Building Fund – You have been magnificent !!   KEEP IT COMING !!!

JL Quiggin – 01229 828531 email jquiggin@aol.com

Geoff Waters (left) presents the cheque on behalf of Brigantes Lodge to Peter Pemberton

Peter’s presentation is designed to raise awareness of the disease and to raise funds for research into treatments and new methods of diagnosis. The presentation is therefore accompanied by the sale of a special lapel badge (which incorporates the square and compasses) and a very informative booklet which at Lonsdale Lodge raised more than £200 for the Campaign.
Geoff, however, is also Master of Brigantes Lodge No 9734 in the Province of Cumberland and Westmorland and at their Christmas meeting, which was attended by over 140 members guests and ladies, the lodge held a raffle with the proceeds being disbursed to charities chosen by the Master’s wife, Laura.
This year the main charity thus chosen was the Prostate Cancer Research Campaign and Geoff was delighted to present Peter with a magnificent cheque in the sum of £530.
Geoff says: “Peter’s message is an important one for us all and Brigantes Lodge is very pleased to be able to support the Campaign. I would encourage any lodge to lend their support to this initiative and possibly ask Peter to come along and give his presentation.”
Peter Pemberton can be contacted on 01772 865057 or by e-mail: pembers@btinternet.com

Annie and Jack

70 people attended, although 83 tickets had been sold, but due to the adverse weather conditions some guests failed to make it.

Jenny Collins

Those who did enjoyed a 2 course carvery meal and were entertainment by Moonlight disco, the evening was organised by the Worshipful Master John Lowther, his good lady Annie ably assisted by Jenny and Tom Collins.

The tombola proved very popular with all the guests and everybody seemed to win something.  Envelopes were provided for the guests to write their names on and to donate a minimum of £1.00, the prize was donated by the hotel which was Sunday lunch for two, the prize was won by Phil Preston of the Newby Bridge Lodge and of course all the guests suggested foul play.

 During the meal raffle tickets were sold by Karen Morgan and Julie Smith, thanks go to them for all their hard work.

Everybody enjoyed an excellent evening with good food, good company and one or two drinks.

The evening raised £420.00 for the Lodge funds.

Many thanks to all concerned.

Phil Preston.

Tom Collins and Phil Preston

The Stewards

The lunch and wine were served by the volunteer stewards, who once again rallied to their plea, these stewards come year after year to assist the caterers to make sure the meal is served up promptly and hot to all.  Jim Atkinson their resident musician and Jeff Dandy performed music for the enjoyable carol singing.

Jim Atkinson and Jeff dandy

Fed Allewell

Group Chairman Rowley Saunders was the honoured guest, all brethren, ladies and gentlemen were suitably wined and dined and had nothing but praise for the outstanding work of the committee in making the annual lunch go with such festive joy. 

Pictured left to right, are: Bill Glassey, Bob Brady, Peter Mason, Tony Cassells and Rowley Saunders.

The Worshipful Master Bob Brady installed his very good friend Tony Cassells into the chair and the working tools were presented and explained by Ken Honeyman 3rd degree, Mick Lacey the long version of the 2nd degree and Frank Keeling the 1st degree.

Sterling Masonic triangular watch.

John Quiggin gave the address to the Master, Alan Dunn the Wardens and Peter Mason the Brethren. A cheque for £250 was presented to Peter in favour of the West Lanc’s Freemasons Charity and £2000 to the Barrow Masonic Hall building fund appeal.

A special mention was made that Roy Hayton had been Organist of the Lodge for the last 17 years to the day.
At the festive board a very special triangular Masonic watch that was very kindly donated by Bob Brady was raffled,

Group Secretary Peter Schofield was the winner and the proceeds £1050 was donated to the Barrow Masonic Hall building fund and West Lanc’s Freemasons Charity.

The raffle raised £251.33 with the Masters in office donating a further £22 that they raised on their swindle for guessing how long Peter Mason would speak for.

Pictured left to right, are: Tony Cassells, Peter Scofield and Bob Brady.

Pictured left to right, are: Charles Floodgate, John Houlding, Michael Davis, David Smith, Rowley Saunders & Kieran Mullan (DC)

The address to the Master was given by David’s son in law Paul Johnson, Owen Osmotherly gave the address to the Wardens and the representative of the Right Worshipful Provincial Grand Master Michael Davis gave the address to the Brethren.

A cheque for £500 was presented to Michael in favour of the West Lanc’s Freemasons Charity.

The festive board was held at the Barrow Masonic Hall with in excess of 120 Brethren attending, Ken Boon sang the Masters Song and the Charity collection raised £406.71 with a further donation of £26.00 from the Masters in office having a sweep on how long Michael Davis would speak for which was indeed longer than any of them had guest.