The concept of a ladder is familiar to many and is used to describe the progression of a Mason through his apprenticeship towards becoming master of his lodge. Each job representing the individual rungs of a ladder from inner guard to deacon, warden and eventually reaching the top of the ladder becoming master of the lodge and a master in the Craft.
For many people, asking them their favourite job on the ladder would be a hard choice between deacon and warden, with a quick straw poll revealing an unscientific bias towards a deacon as the favourite role in the lodge. The two deacons of Adelphi Lodge No 6819, David Beckett and Darren Fulton, junior and senior deacon respectively would obviously agree with this sentiment.
The occasion this meeting was for the passing of entered apprentice Joe Lynch to his second degree, with the brethren of Adelphi Lodge, assembled at the Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool for the ceremony. The lodge was duly opened by WM Tom Smith, who presided for the first part of the ceremony.
Joe was expertly conducted around the lodge room by senior deacon Darren, and having exited the lodge for a short period, was the cue for assistant director of ceremonies, Paul Shirley, to step into the chair of King Solomon for the next part of the ceremony. Darren conducted Joe superbly, with Paul Shirley and his wardens, Colin Higginson, and Tom Murphy, senior and junior respectively, providing an exemplar of how to conduct a second degree ceremony.
Having been passed to the degree of a fellow craft Freemason, it was time for Joe to receive the working tools, however, SD Darren proceeded to deliver the long version of the working tools to a fellow craft Freemason in a perfect manner. This in turn, was then followed by JD, David Beckett who stepped forward and delivered a perfect rendition of the explanation of the tracing board of the second degree.
Joe may not yet realise it, but the example of the two deacons in delivering ritual to such a high standard was very much appreciated by all those who had the pleasure of listening and observing the very hard work they had both put in to crafting such a polished performance. It was very clear from the two deacons that they enjoy their Freemasonry very much and that the role of a deacon is obviously a favourite. Now they only must wait, to become wardens to see if that opinion still holds true.