Elgar Lodge Consecrated

Sir Edward Elgar Lodge No. 9837 has been consecrated at the Winter Gardens in Margate. Many of the founders are musically inclined, being involved in the East Kent Provincial Choir.
     This is the 150th anniversary of Elgar’s birth and he is considered by many the quintessential English composer who has a connection with East Kent, his father being born in Dover.
     Even those who do not consider classical music amongst their interests will have heard of the Enigma Variations, Nimrod and Land of Hope and Glory from the Pomp and Circumstance Marches.
     The consecration ceremony was conducted by the Provincial Grand Master, Michael Robin Bailey.

George Waits 70 Years

In a Liverpool initiation ceremony, George Paterson, aged 92, has been initiated into Compass Lodge No. 7052, although he first had the opportunity to join the Craft in 1938 Unfortunately, his friend who was to propose him, died suddenly. Because Freemasonry was less open at that time, he did not know who to contact and so never joined, something he has regretted over the years.
     He struck up a friendship with neighbour Stephen Faulkner, a mason, and so George joined the fraternity 70 years after first being invited to join.

Top Soccer Referee Dies

People from the world of football and beyond have been saddened by the death of former top referee Jim Finney, 83, who has died at Hereford County Hospital. The funeral was followed by a reception at the Masonic Hall in Hereford.
     An active Freemason, he was initiated into Hereford’s Cantilupe Lodge No. 4083 in 1962 and was Master in 1984.
     He took charge of the 1962 FA Cup Final between Tottenham Hotspur and Burnley, was appointed a linesman in the First European Nations Cup Final in Paris in 1960, and in 1963 was referee during the Scotland v Austria game at Hampden Park.
     He was selected as one of the English referees for the 1966 World Cup and officiated at the 1971 League Cup Final at Wembley.
     Injuries suffered in a road accident prevented him for refereeing the European Cup Final in the same year and ended his career.

Hereford Cathedral Fund Supported

Cantilupe Lodge in Hereford has given £3,000 to the Dean of Hereford, The Very Revd. Michael Tavinor, towards the refurbishment and improvement to the stonework around the base of St. Thomas Cantilupe Shrine at Hereford Cathedral.
     The Dean received two cheques, each for £1,500 from Cantilupe Lodge and Chapter, and also from The Revd. David Bowen, Deputy Provincial Grand Master of Herefordshire, on behalf of the Province.

John's Home-Made Chapter Tapestry

There are not many Chapters able to display tracing boards at their meetings, but that used by Huntcliff Chapter No. 4539, Province of North East Ridings, Yorkshire, has been designed by one of its members.
     John Shevels, who for many years crafted tapestry as a hobby to be used for wall decorations at his home and as gifts to family and close friends, decided to make a Chapter tapestry framed behind non-reflective glass and measuring 38 inches x 23inches.
     The design is based on two sources – a tracing board he saw at a Chapter in Beverley, North Yorkshire, and the same theme which he saw in a masonic magazine. It depicts Chapter artefacts and the vault, which features in the Exaltation ceremony.
     Production of this tapestry demanded considerable patience and time, and starting in 1997 it took him eight and a half years, with some 100 stitches per square inch – 87,400 stitches in total.
     The finished work is displayed at each Chapter meeting. John Shevels has also made tapestry pictures of the three Craft tracing boards for his Redcar lodge.

MQ Volvo Competition Winner

Dr Pijush Ray of Shakespeare Lodge No. 284, Province of Warwickshire, has won a £500 donation to his favourite charity, the Masonic Samaritan Fund, in the Volvo competition in MQ magazine (now part of Freemasonry Today). Many thanks to Volvo for their generous sponsorship of this competition and thanks also to all those who entered.

Cornwall Research

Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery are involved in a large project on a collection previously owned by Sir John St. Aubyn, the fifth baronet (1758-1839) and Provincial Grand Master for Cornwall from 1785 until his death.
     The City Gallery secured a grant from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to enable its natural history department to conduct a variety of work on his herbarium and mineral collection and to research his life.
     An exhibition is planned at the end of the project, and anyone who has any information about Sir John should contact the museum on 01752 304765 or email st.aubyn@plymouth.gov.uk and visit the web site at www.plymouth.gov.uk

Scottish Appeal for Organ Funds

The Grand Master Mason of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, Sir Archibald Orr Ewing, has launched an appeal to raise funds for the restoration of the organ at Freemasons’ Hall, Edinburgh.
     The organ was built in 1913 by the Sheffield-based firm, Brindley and Foster. Of its type, it is now unique in Scotland and only a handful exist, entirely in their original form, throughout Europe.

Cornerstone Society

2008 CONFERENCE

The Cornerstone Society’s 2008 conference, Quest for the Lost Word, will be held at Freemasons’ Hall, London on Saturday, 29 November, with registration starting at 12.45 pm.
     The speakers will be Professor John Grange: With the Centre, Professor Thierry Zarcone (CNRS, Paris): Muslim Fascination with Freemasonry: Historic and Ritualistic Perspectives, Dr Henrik Bogdan (Gothenburg University): The Quest for the Lost Word and Tom Bergroth (Grand Marshall of the Swedish Order): The Swedish Rite.
     Tickets are £16.50 each for the conference only (with light refreshments). Dinner at the New Connaught Rooms, £29 is excluding wine (total cost £45.50).
     Application forms and full details can be found at www.cornerstonesociety.com.
     For further information, email secretary@cornerstonesociety.com or write to Mark St John Qualter, Secretary, The Cornerstone Society, 13 Victoria Road, Lytham St Annes, Lancashire FY8 1LE, enclosing a SAE.

Quatuor Coronati

Members (not below Master Mason) and lodges in the Correspondence Circle are invited to the next lodge meeting on Thursday, 26 June at 5pm at Freemasons’ Hall, London.
     The talk is George Cooke – an Anglo-American Interlude by R B Khambatta, a former District Grand Master for Pakistan. Cooke emigrated to the US from England and was appointed Grand Lodge representative to the Grand Lodge of New York.
     His interesting and controversial career, both masonically and professionally, finally led to his expulsion from the English Grand Lodge, in 1869.
     At the meeting on 11 September, the talk will be An Historical Outline of Freemasonry on the Internet by Trevor McKeown, editor of the Masonic Bulletin of the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon.
     The Installation meeting is on 13 November.
     Email: quatuorcoronati@tiscali.co.uk www.quatuorcoronati.com

Canonbury Masonic Research Centre

Tenth International Conference (25-26 October 2008)

Freemasonry and the Sciences: Natural and Supernatural. An international list of speakers, including Professor Andrew Prescott (University of Wales, Lampeter), Professor Charles Porset (Sorbonne University, Paris), Dr Andreas Önnerfors (Director, Centre for Research into Freemasonry, Sheffield University) and Dr Fabio Venzi (Grand Master, Regular Grand Lodge of Italy).
     Registration forms from www.canonbury.ac.uk Weekend conference fee £78 (£8.50 per day lunch optional).

Programme of Public Lectures
     15 October: Alan Armstrong (Prior, Christian Contemplative Order of Dionysis and Paul): The Secret Garden of the Soul. An Introduction to Kabbalah.
     19 November: Philippa Faulkes (author): The Mason Magician (The Life and Death of Count Cagliostro and his Egyptian Rite).
     Entry fee £7. Make cheques payable to ‘Canonbury Masonic Research Centre’ and send to CMRC, c/o The Canonbury Academy, 6 Canonbury Place, London N1 2NQ.
     All enquiries: Carole McGilvery 020 7226 6256.
     Email: mcgilvery@canonbury.ac.uk www.canonbury.ac.uk

Spanish Symposium

A symposium Spanish Freemasonry: repression and exile , will be held in Almeria from 8-10 October 2009. The event will be the twelfth International Symposium on the history of Hispanic Freemasonry organised by the CEHME (Centro de Estudios Históricos de la Masoneria Española), based at Zaragoza University. jmorales@unedragon.org