Brethren of Makerfield Lodge No 2155 in the Wigan and Leigh Group held their annual Olde English Night this February. Brethren from Marquis of Lorne Lodge No 1354 in the group have always done a reciprocal visit for many years for this Olde English Night event, many members of Makerfield Lodge will be returning the same in April. They had a good number of members, with 35 dinning.
Phil Kearns is the master of the lodge, the lodge steward Ryan Murphy had a go at inner guard and gave an excellent example of commitment to learning in a very short time, Neil Burdess was the senior warden and Tony Roe acted as junior warden. The lodge on this occasion opened and closed as quickly as possible so as not to keep the non-Masonic guests waiting for the occasion to start to unfold for the Olde English Night.
After the necessary lodge business, the lodge was then closed in peace and harmony with the usual speedy dash to put away the lodge furniture to get to see those none Masons awaiting to see plenty of fun, food and raffles that awaited them.
Colin Thorne was the fines master with his bell ringing constantly. Along went the usual chaos of banter and laughter that always helps everybody enjoy the evening. The lodge DC Tony Roe had a quiet night from the preliminaries, as the evening ran by itself with the tremendous help from Colin, who did the quizzes and raffle and, on many occasions, loved to poke fun at everyone in an attempt get them to pay a fine, usually £1 a time,
This was an excellent way of generating money for the Leigh Masonic Hall building and various charities, for example, brethren were fined for not having a beard, owning none English vehicles, and using their phone at the meeting.
There was a decent array of gifts to be won with the usual assortment of wine and spirits, to tablets with many other prize options. The total amount of monies from the event came in at £330 raised downstairs with 35 dining. All in all, a very enjoyable and productive evening.
