On a wet and windy Monday evening, four members of the Country Pursuits Lodge of West Lancashire No.6615 journeyed north across the county border to visit their namesake lodge, Lodge of Country Pursuits No.9898, in the Province of Cumberland and Westmorland (C&W).
This particular visit was to support their four West Lancashire country pursuits brethren who are also members and officers, of the lodge in Cumberland and Westmorland, namely WM Bob Reeves, junior warden David Jenkinson, director of ceremonies Richard Dennison and inner guard Bob Malcolm.
As in West Lancashire, the C&W lodge is a travelling lodge and on this occasion the brethren had planned to meet at Windermere Masonic Hall. The lodge meeting was skilfully opened by Bob Reeves and the normal lodge business swiftly undertaken. At the appropriate moment, the WM invited his C&W colleague David Holgate to deliver a presentation entitled ‘Coin Collecting’. This was a fascinating insight into the world of Masonic tokens, gold sovereigns and mainly recent English coinage. David has created a large number of folders and sleeves that contain 100s of themed coins, for example; Olympic events 50 pence series, Peter Rabbit 50 pence series and many more. Who would ever imagine that a Kew Gardens 50p in excellent condition would be worth £400? All the coin folders were passed around the lodge for the brethren to examine closely.
John Topping of West Lancashire Country Pursuits said: “The Masonic tokens were extremely attractive coins varying in size, artistic detail and metal composition. By using the lighted magnifiers you could get a closer look at the details on the tokens and coins.”
Following the presentation, David Holgate fielded a number of quite thoughtful questions that certainly demonstrated his in-depth knowledge and experience within the hobby. Bob Reeves thanked David and the lodge responded with a rapturous round of applause.
The festive board followed, where a delightful buffet was enjoyed by all. A raffle helped swell the charity coffers for the lodge, assisted by the kind donations of prizes which included a beautiful antler-headed walking stick created by Bob Reeves.
The toast to the visitors was expertly delivered by David Jenkinson, who referred to an inspirational quote which captures the importance of friendship, and has a hidden Masonic and arguably a hunting ‘country pursuits’ twist; “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” David asked whether anyone knew who had said this quote. Following a few wild guesses, David identified the source of this quotation as King Solomon himself.
The response to this toast was nicely given by Colin Preston (Country Pursuits Lodge of West Lancashire and WM of Scorton Lodge No 5791). The brethren of Country Pursuits Lodge of West Lancashire look forward to a reciprocal visit over the next year.
Report and pictures by John Topping.