Members and visitors of Hand and Heart Lodge No 4109 were most honoured and delighted to welcome the Provincial Grand Master, Mark Matthews, to their February lodge meeting. He was there as a thank you to Ezra McGowan for his devoted service as Provincial Junior Grand Warden over the last year. He also had the opportunity to witness an excellent and moving ceremony as a father initiated his son into the lodge.
Mark was accompanied by his deputy, Frank Umbers and AProvGM Peter Schofield, together with a plethora of grand and Provincial grand officers, including Patrick Walsh, Chairman of the Trafford Group, Provincial Deputy Grand Director of Ceremonies Peter Littlehales and Provincial Senior Grand Warden John Reynolds.
In front of a very full lodge room, lodge secretary Ian Wood read a dispensation highlighting the reasons why the meeting was held at Swinton Masonic Hall instead of the usual meeting place at Urmston. A brief silence was then held for former group chairman and general Masonic stalwart Brian Hayes, who had sadly moved to the Grand Lodge above the previous weekend.
Master of the lodge Rick Wiles then greeted Mark, welcoming him to the lodge and offered him the gavel asking if he would like to conduct the ceremony. Mark, of course accepted but then, politely declined to conduct the ceremony handing the gavel back to Rick who then opened the lodge and efficiently conducted the initial business as per the summons, up to the point where he offered the chair to lodge DC David Scase who was about to initiate his son Philip into the lodge.
The ceremony was then performed almost flawlessly with David being at times clearly filled with emotion. Ezra McGowan, having previously initiated both his sons into the lodge acted sympathetically as junior deacon for the ceremony and lead Philip round the lodge room in a very dignified manner. At the end of it all, Philip was thoroughly initiated into Freemasonry and into Hand and Heart Lodge, and although at the time Philip was not sure who it was, he was congratulated by Mark who afterwards introduced himself as the Provincial Grand Master.
On completion of the initiation ceremony, Rick resumed the chair and at the first rising, rose to present a cheque to Mark, made out to the West Lancashire Freemasons’ Charity for the sum of £500. Mark thanked the lodge, generously praising all those who had taken part in the ceremony and commented on the generosity of lodge thanking them on behalf of all those who we may never know, but would eventually benefit from the donation.
During the festive board, Mark gave a heartfelt response to his toast, offering his own congratulations to both Ezra, David, Philip and the other lodge members, saying he thoroughly enjoyed the meeting and hoped that the master and brethren would continue to have a happy and fruitful year.
Mark went on mention the natural progression of taking Masonry to the next level by joining the Royal Arch and also the ‘Light Blue Clubs’ which were being started up in the area and the high hopes he had for such a good and positive step and was then presented with gifts for both him and his wife. Finally, after a fine meal in a relaxed atmosphere a really excellent evening drew to a close in peace and harmony.