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Latest News and Blog Posts from Wayne “Pendragon” Owens.
Memories of the Day – Trip to Vote
This popped up on my Facebook Memories for the day.
Storm Darragh
Storm Darragh has hit the UK in full forth!
The road I live on is blocked in both directions by fallen trees, the road is a river, and around the corner a powerline is sparking dangerously. It is chaos out there, I hope everyone is safe.
Personally I am trapped by blocked roads, so I am unable to get to the Provincial AGM, but I am making the most of it by watching Wales get battered.
The storm got worse, and then the power went out around 11am Saturday morning!
I was not worried about the power cut, they are understandable in bad weather. I did start getting worried when I heard about the live powerline down across the road on my road, and even more so when I saw the burnt out junction box on a nearby pole, with burnt through power lines. This was not going to be a short cut!
I then remembered it was winter, and all my heating and lights are electric, and COFFEE! I may have lost it for a short while, in a panic until I remembered I had access to a camping stove, so coffee was sorted. So I busted out the stove, some torches, and a kindle, and sat down to wait.
Sunday came, and there was no sign of the power returning, so I borrowed a generator that I could run occasionally to power the internet and to recharge torches, phones, etc.
At 9pm Sunday I got excited as 4 vehicles full of engineers turned up to work on the blown joint after fixing the downed line. They were there for ages and managed to get power to most the houses in the area. ALAS not mine, but it was a start right?
Right?
Monday came, and I was cold, bored, and longing for power. At 6pm word came over the local gossip system that engineers were working to replace the downed line, and the houses by there were getting power back! Hope returned. At 7pm the four vehicle team turned up to work on the joint affecting me, and I got really excited.
Until! An engineer came into my place to disconnect the house from the meter. It turns out the blown joint also allowed the live power to back-feed via the neutral wire into a few houses. This was spotted all weekend (until they semi fixed the joint Sunday evening) by lights being on in the house, even though there was no electricity, the trips were all off, and the light switch was off.
This back feeding of power could have done serious damage, so the affected houses had to be disconnected as the power supply was repaired, and then a 3rd part engineer would need to come and test the building to make sure it was safe to be reattached to the national grid.
I can tell you that there was a moment of worry while waiting on permission to get power again. Luckily all was well (I guess we wired the place good) and vert late Monday evening permission was give, and power was returned!
I may have randomly turned lights on all over the place just to celebrate winning over darkness!
SRIA – Province of Western Counties and North Wales
Today was the Annual General Meeting of the Province of Western Counties and North Wales SRIA. Members from all over our large Province braved Storm Darragh to head to Cheshire View for the meeting.
Unfortunately, the road I live on was blocked in one direction by three large trees across the road, and the other direction had a tree and live power lines blocking the way. Add to that a massive flood, and I was trapped and unable to attend. I was later trapped, and without power but that is another story.
It was a shame I was not there to support the two colleges I am a member of. It was also a shame to miss my last outing before I stood down as the Provincial Conductor, a role I have held for the last 6 years (I will miss taking the candidates around in the Vault of Adepts). I am sure my replacement will be excited to take over, just as I am excited to take over my new role. I am now the Provincial Secretary, a role I hope I can do to the same standard as the previous two Secretaries.
Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (S.R.I.A.)
The Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (S.R.I.A.) stands as the world’s oldest independent society of Rosicrucian Freemasons, proudly composed of Master Masons from Lodges acknowledged by the United Grand Lodge of England.
Our Colleges are strategically located across the globe, including England, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Wales, France, and Holland. To find the most convenient location for you, please click HERE to access our interactive map of S.R.I.A. College Locations.
For more information on the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, please click on the link to the Societies website, or the Province of Western Counties and North Wales website.
Coronatio Quadrans – “21st Century Alchemy – Alchemy in the Digital Age”
Coronation Lodge No. 2927 has a quarterly Masonic Publication associated with it called Coronatio Quadrans, or CQ for short.
One part of the publication is “Question from the Master” This is where the Lodge’s Worshipful Master asks a esoteric or masonic question to the Lodge Mentor who will answer it in an article in the next edition. After the Mentor answers the question, the “Question” is thrown open to all, and anyone can try and answer it themselves anonymously. The CQ Editors will read all the submissions and pick the best which gets published in CQ.
The Question in the last edition of CQ was “What is the Significance of Portals in Freemasonry?” The question intrigued me,so I decided to throw my hat into the ring and anonymously answer the question. To my shock my entry actually won, and my prize was to write a paper on a topic of my own choosing.
The topic I selected was “21st Century Alchemy – Alchemy in the Digital Age” which is my attempt to answer the question “Who are the modern-day alchemists?”
I first asked myself this question when I needed to wrote a short paper to present upon my going into the chair of Clwyd College. So I decided to expand on this question and turn it into an article for CQ.
You can read a copy of this article HERE -=> CQ – 21st Century Alchemy – Alchemy in the Digital Age
Wrexham, Caergwrle & Dee Valley Lodges & Chapters
The Province of North Wales is broken down into 10 groups, each with a Group Chairman and a selection of Lodges and Chapters that fall into that Group or Area.
For the last few years Group 8 has been shrinking due to Lodges and Chapters closing, or moving to different Halls. During the same time Group 7 has been growing, mostly due to the relocation of lodges from Group 8. It was therefore decided, that since both Group 7 & 8’s chairmen were stepping down this year, that the two groups would merge together and create a supergroup with a new Group Chairman. (It made sense since most the people in the Group were in both groups anyway due to locational closeness)
Since September the new Super-Group has been in existence and this evening a bunch of us met up to plan what we are going to do moving onwards. There are a lot of plans moving forward.
BBW – Talk for the Lodge of Rhuddlan Castle
Today Nev, Hugh, and Myself went along to the White Table meeting of The Lodge of Rhuddlan Castle, to give a presentation on Blood Bikes Wales.
It was a well attended meeting, with a large number of Masons, and None-Masons (or not yet Masons) in attendance. The Lodge pledged £5657 to the 2028 Festival, £350 to the North Wales Mountain Rescue, and £1,500 to Blood Bikes Wales.
We were then treated to a Gourmet five course meal, in great company, with as much wine and port as we wanted (poor Nev was the designated driver).
It is a hard job, but someone has to do it. #ItsWhatWeDo
Blood Bikes Wales
Blood Bikes Wales is a charity that transports blood, plasma, platelets, samples, vaccines, donor breast-milk & any other urgently required medical items to hospitals at night, weekends and bank holidays. This service is provided completely free of charge, allowing the NHS to divert funds where they are needed most.
Our riders are a hardy bunch that operate in all but the very worst weather.
Coronatio Quadrans – Who am I?
Who am I?
This is a deep and complicated question, and one I ask myself almost as often as other people ask me “Who are you?”. Normally in these situations I simply answer “I am Me!” which while being technically a correct answer, does not actually answer the question.
This time my normal answer is not good enough. I have been informed by “The Editors” of Coronatio Quadrans that along with submitting my paper for their next edition, I must also supply a brief “bio” so that the readers of the magazine can find out who I am.
This had the affect of both crushing my ego because how can they not know who I am? Don’t they know who I am? I am IMPORTANT! It also had the issue of me now needing to write a simple bio. Now I know you dear reader are thinking that can not be much of an issue, after all I have had a personal website since the very early 90s, I am all over the place and many sites need you to put a simple bio in.
Well you are correct, but again “The Editors” would not allow me to put any of my normal ones on. I asked AI who I was, and it came up with lots of information about me, some of which I did not know. I do now have to write three of the books it claimed I have written because the topics sounded interesting.
I procrastinated for weeks, until I finally settled down to write something that was not too rubbish, and this is what I came up with.
W.Bro. Wayne Owens PProvSGD
Wayne is a polymath who was born at a very early age and, quite impressively, has not died yet-something he considers to be a notable achievement. He joined Llannerch Lodge in 2006 and has been deeply involved in Freemasonry ever since. Wayne is a member of Wrexhamian Lodge, the Maesgwyn Lodge of Installed Masters, and the Provincial Grand Stewards Lodge of North Wales.
In 2011, Wayne became the Master of Llannerch Lodge and has spent eleven of the ensuring thirteen years in one chair or another. He is the Secretary of the Maesgwyn Lodge of Installed Masters, and Bishop Wilkins College SRIA.
His commitment to Masonry in North Wales is extensive. He was a founding member of the Widows Sons North Wales chapter, served as the Provincial Webmaster for five years, and has been the Assistant Provincial Mentor since 2021. Additionally, Wayne is an active member of the North Wales Association of Masonic Study and been giving talks across several provinces since 2017.
Wayne is also a fervent supporter of the Blood Bikes Wales charity, dedicating his time and effort to this vital cause.
wayne-owens.uk
X: @Wayne_Pen_Owens
A Secret Flowering of Skill and Genius
This evening I went along to Mold Masonic Hall to attend the Daniel Owen Festival English lecture by Robert Lomas titled “A Secret Flowering of Skill and Genius, about how Daniel came to write Y Dreflan.“
It covered the time between Daniel coming back to Mold from Bala, his accident, and the start of his writing career.
It was an enjoyable talk, and the Mold lodges managed to raise some money for charity.
In 1881, Daniel Owen’s wrote his first original novel which was originally published in chapters in Y Drysorfa during 1879-80. In the 140+ years this important piece of Welsh literature has never been translated into English.
This was a shame, since it prevent newer generations from reading this work, even older Welsh speakers would struggle with the unique Mold Welsh in which Daniel wrote.
Robert Lomas has spent the last two years translating this book, and it is now for the first time available in English. You can pick it up from Amazon, or all sensible book stores.
(I am not just saying this because I wrote an introduction in the book)
The Never-ending Chair
At the recent Installation meeting of Wrexhamian Chapter, we had a slight issue. A friend of mine who was elected to go into the chair of Joshua had to pull out due to some ongoing health issues, which would prevent him being able to take on the role this year. Before his illness got worse, I had told him that I would cover for him, and any meetings he was unable to attend, I would simply stand in on the night. So when we received the news he was unable to take the role this year, I was asked could I save the day and commit myself to three years as J,H & Z. My father was J at the time, so it would also mean I got my father putting me into the three chairs. So it was a no brainer. I accepted!
But this has got me realising a few things.
Since I tool the chair of Bishop Wilkins College in 2018, I have been in at least one chair every year since (at the worst three chairs). Abd it now looks like this will continue for at least three years.
But it gets worse. Since I first ever went into a chair, which was Llannerch Lodges chair way back in 2011, there has only been two years when I have not been in a chair. And one of those I was doing all the ceremonies from the IPM’s spot.
I wonder if that is a record? Especially since I am only in four orders.
| YEAR | CRAFT | ROYAL ARCH | SRIA | ROSE CROIX |
| 2011 | Llannerch Lodge | |||
| 2012 | Llannerch Lodge | |||
| 2013 | ||||
| 2014 | J – Wynnstay Chapter | |||
| 2015 | H – Wynnstay Chapter | |||
| 2016 | Z – Wynnstay Chapter | |||
| 2017 | ||||
| 2018 | Bishop Wilkins College | |||
| 2019 | Bishop Wilkins College | Valle Crucis Chapter | ||
| 2020 | Bishop Wilkins College | Valle Crucis Chapter | ||
| 2021 | Wrexhamian Lodge | Bishop Wilkins College | Valle Crucis Chapter | |
| 2022 | Valle Crucis Chapter | |||
| 2023 | Clwyd College | |||
| 2024 | J – Wrexhamian Chapter |
Year of a Busy Mason [2] The first Month
Well the first month of the Masonic season has now ended.
As I look back on September, I am reminded why I started the “Year of a Busy Mason” last year. September is always a busy month. At least this year I have not visited anywhere yet, although that will change soon.
I have been to 6 meetings over 3 orders in 4 Masonic Halls, On top of that there has been 5 rehearsals, and 2 committee meeting. Which if my math is correct equals 12 evening (2 events were on the same day) which makes you think about the joke that masonry is just 8 evenings a year.