From the East
January 7th, 2009Brethren, Salutations! And welcome to the year 2009. My favorite saying is: “the only real constant in the universe is change.” As you all should know Amwell lodge has a new Worshipful Master (me). It’s my very first time at bat in the East, so please be kind. We also have a new lineup for the lodge officers (see the revised list on the back page of this Trestle- Board.)
For those of you, who did not attend the open installation on December 21 2008, check to see if you are an officer in the lodge. We had to use 3 proxies as “stand ins” to complete the ceremony. (I knew of one but not the other two.) If it is the case that you changed your mind and do not want to be an officer of the lodge, I need to know immediately. There is no harm or foul if you have changed your mind. I don’t believe in making someone do something they don’t want to do, and I still want you to attend lodge meetings.
During our first meeting of the year in January, one of my key goals will be to organize all of the committees. There will be a few new ones this year. I plan on setting realistic timeframes and deadlines where possible. I also do not consider it to be correct form to have a single brother as a committee, so let’s all get involved here on this issue.
A further goal will be to bring in 12 new candidates during the course of the year. We will talk about how to do this in the January meeting. I think it is a realistic goal, but it will require every one of you to assist on this. Brother Horton and I have a new petition for the January meeting, so that brings the tally down to 11. We also have some Master Masons from other lodges that want to petition for dual membership. (They don’t count however, for the quota of 12…)
I also want to remind everyone that we have 2 candidates waiting for the Fellow Craft degree. In general I plan on doing all degrees as emergent meetings. I feel that to piggyback onto our normal business meeting results in a very long and unacceptable night. So far as are two candidates are concerned, I have planned on their Fellow Craft degrees on February 23rd, and Master Mason degrees on March 30th.
For the Master Mason degree, I am looking into bringing in the “Kilties”. The Kilties are a Masonic degree team, which specializes in conferring the Master Mason Degree in full Scottish Highland Dress. As I understand it however they only due the second section, so our officers will still be responsible for the first half.
We may also be collaborating with another lodge in the district with their two candidates for the Master Mason degree. The idea is that they will take their degrees at our lodge with our two candidates. This means we will be doing four candidates at once! In the “Days of Yore” (or at least Page 2 of prior to my raising in 1996) I understand it was a common practice to do multiple candidates on a single night. As we all now know, other than the one-day classes, this is now a rare event. So, this should be exciting to witness and I also expect a good turnout from other lodges to watch this
event. (Brother Horton, should we cater, or can you handle the food requirement for this event? This is a lot to ask of you.)
So, hopefully everyone can see we have a lot to do in the beginning of 2009. The officers should be aware that we will continue our Monday practices, in order to maintain a constant pace on the degree work. Also, the officers need to regularly attend the DLI meetings. I have already received some “heat” on this issue from the district officers.
Remember, be on the square! Take care, and God Bless you all.
J.R. Worshipful Master Amwell Lodge #12
