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Latest News and Blog Posts from Wayne “Pendragon” Owens.
Christmas at Buckley Lodge
This evening was my first visit to Buckley Lodge, who now meet at the Masonic Hall in Mold.
I have been planning on visiting this Lodge for a very-very long time, because I always wanted to see the Masonic Hall in Buckley.
NEVER PUT THINGS OFF!
By the time I actually got around to visiting the Lodge, the Hall in Buckley had been closed down, and the Lodge had moved to the Mold Masonic Hall. So I learnt a very important lesson, I had put off something I wanted to do for so long I was then unable to ever do it.
I would probably still be planning to visit if it wasn’t for getting a phone call from Dr Robert Lomas. He called me up the week before to say he would be traveling past the area on the 1st December and was planning to visit Buckley Lodge, and did I want to go along with him.
It was an enjoyable evening, with an interesting Talk on several “Worthy Masons” followed by their Christmas Festive Board. This was filled with lots of singing and Christmas Cheer. Including the best version of the 12 Days of Christmas that I have ever seen done at a Lodge meeting.
It was also my First (but by no means last) Christmas meal of the season.
A Talk at Dinorben Lodge – Widows Sons
This evening I had a little trip out to the coast out by Colwyn Bay to visit Dinorben Lodge for the first time.
I had been booked to give a talk on behalf of the North Wales Association of Masonic Study (NWAMS). The NWAMS was formed 60 years ago for the purposes of nurturing and fostering Masonic research through the dissemina-tion of Masonic Knowledge throughout the Province particularly as regards symbolism, history and esoteric meaning. The Association achieves this through its team of approved Lecturers and by supporting re-search by individuals or groups. I have been an approved NWAMS Lecturer since 2021, although I have been giving talks to Lodges since 2017,
The talk the Lodge had selected this time was titled “Widows Sons – Outlaw Bikers or Masonic Ambassadors”, which was a bit of a coincidence since last month my book of the same name was the Number one Freemasonry book on the UK and US Amazons.
It was a very enjoyable meeting in what has to be the largest Lodge room in North Wales, followed by a lovely meal at the local cricket club.
Widows Sons
The Widows Sons are quite simply a motorcycle-riding club. We are a non-brand specific riding Association so no matter what brand of motorcycle you ride, so long as you are a Master Mason in good standing you are welcome as a member.
We also have associate membership open to non-riding Masons. We are an internationally based group of independent Masons who have joined together to simply share the thrill of riding with other members of our fraternity.
We are not a 1% club. We are just a social riding club, which happens to have set one of its membership requirements to include being a Master Mason in good standing.
Masonic Charity AGM
This morning I popped along to sunny Rhyl to attend the AGM for the North Wales Freemasons Charity.
The North Wales Freemasons Charity is the new name for The North Wales Masonic Benevolent Association (NWMBA). It was founded in 1871 and has been helping charitable causes ever since. And like all long established charitable organisations it has to have annual meetings, and appoint officers.
It was interesting to get a report on all the good done over the last 12 months, and one of the trustees of the MCF was up to give a presentation on what they do (Which is a lot, in case you were wondering.).
I went along to assist my father, who is the Charity steward of both Wrexhamian Lodge, and Wrexhamian Chapter. He decided being two people allowed him to have a PA go with him to take notes. He did pay me for my time with a pint (Yes I am easy).
A very rare photo from an event. My father did not make it into the picture, but I did.
BBW – Donation from Royal Denbigh Lodge
This evening a small group of Blood Bikers went to visit Royal Denbigh Lodge for their Installation. Royal Denbigh meet at the Denbigh Masonic Hall, so it was a nice change to go visit there.
This was my first visit of the year, and what a visit it was. The meeting was enjoyable, and it was made special because their old treasurer who had been a member for many years was finally going into the chair since he now had the free time to do it.
The food was excellent, but then Ian cooks for that hall as well. I believe he must hold the record for most Masonic Halls catered.
The members of Royal Denbigh Lodge even presented us (The visiting Blood Bikers, Welsh-Nev, Hugh, and Myself) with a donation of £250 for Blood Bikes Wales.
You will notice while it is may be my personal blog, that Welsh-Nev is in most of the photographs included. He has a thing about being in every photograph ever taken, and I tend to be the person who ends up taking the photographs.
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.
BBW – Donation from Group 6
This morning Nev, Hugh, and myself popped along to Farfield Hall to meet up with some representatives from North Wales Freemasons Group 6, who had raised £400 for Blood Bikes Wales from their recent very successful Bavarian Night.
Thank you to everyone in Group 6 who were involved in this event.
(I have not included this in the Year of a Busy Mason series since I am here as a Blood Bikes Wales person and not a Mason.)
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.
Happy Halloween (2023)
Halloween is one of the oldest surviving holidays, its origins going back thousands of years. Hundreds of years ago in what is now Great Britain and Northern France, lived the Celts (A friendly bunch of People). The Celts were Nature Worshippers, and had many different gods, The Sun God being one of the most common ones, since the sun dictated when they would work,rest and play. The Celtic New Year was on November 1st. It was celebrated every year with a festival and marked the end of the “season of the sun” and the beginning of “the season of darkness and cold.”
On October 31st after the crops were all harvested and stored for the long winter the cooking fires in the homes would be extinguished. The Druids, the Celtic priests, would meet and light new fires and offer sacrifices of crops and animals. As they danced around the the fires, the season of the sun passed and the season of darkness would begin.
When the morning arrived the Druids would give an ember from their fires to each family who would then take them home to start new cooking fires. These fires would keep the homes warm and free from evil spirits.
The November 1st festival was called Samhain (pronounced “sow-en”). The festival would last for 3 days. Many people would parade in costumes made from the skins and heads of their animals. This festival would become the first Halloween.
By some small quirk of fate, the 3 day festival has significant meaning to me, As I was born at some point during the 3 days (oct 31/Nov 2) I’m not sure when, so I tend to celebrate for the 3 days, And class the middle (Nov 1) as my birthday..
So Happy Halloween, Merry New Year, Happy Samhain, and any other greeting you wish!!!
Never send a boy to do a woman’s job
Today is “Ada Lovelace Day“.
It is an international day of blogging (videologging, podcasting, comic drawing etc.!) to draw attention to the achievements of women in technology and science.
Women’s contributions often go unacknowledged, their innovations seldom mentioned, their faces rarely recognised. We want you to tell the world about these unsung heroines, whatever they do.
I decided to take part in helping to promote the achievements of women in fields they do not normally get the credit the deserve in. Deciding to take part was easy, its the actual doing something about it that’s hard. I have spent the last four hours trying to decide who to write about.
Its easy to say “I was not influenced or inspired by particular woman to the point I can post about it“, Yet the more I consider it, the more stupid that statement is. Part of my job entails writing Programs, Scripts, etc. And The first computer Programmer was a lady, and a Lady lady at that. Lady Ada Lovelace (Who today’s named after.)
So who to pick? I then considered maybe using a Character from TV/Film that’s a role model showing you can be cool, feminine, and geeky. Only I could not decide on one of them, either. I have decided to face the fact that I’m useless.
So Instead I will just Raise a pint, and tip my hat to a lost community. “Female Hackers”
Raven Alder, a network administrator at Maryland-based company Intermedia, was utterly boggled by an unexpected question at a hacker convention where she’d just presented a paper. “A reporter asked me how it felt to be the world’s first female hacker,” she recalled. “What the hell?” she spluttered in response. She knew of many other women hackers at the conference, and she was certainly not the first. But the reporter’s question revealed the dilemma facing most women hackers today.
EvilGrrl, a member of the notorious GhettoHackers crew (who won Capture the Flag three years running at Defcon), has noticed this “not existing” problem too. “At conferences, lots of people assume I’m somebody’s girlfriend,” she said, laughing. “I usually just reply that I’m a GhettoHacker and no, I’m not a girlfriend.”
So lets all the Men take a step back, and take today to acknowledge our Female counterparts.
Any in the North Wales area let me know, I’ll get you a pint (or drink of choice)
NOTE: The Title of the Post is a quote from the Character “Acid Burn” from the film Hackers. I’ve never really considered it before, But she really is a poor example of Women in Technology. Looking back on the film, she was the only female in the hacking community shown. I believe in the clips at the end, where the worlds hackers unite, there’s possibly a female hacker shown. Amongst the main group and extended community she is the only one, The other female characters are mothers, or Bimbos. So I appologise, its just that I like the Character, Like the Quote, and Like the Young Angelina Jolie.
Masonic day trip to the sea
Today it was the Provincial Chapter & Craft AGM at Venue Cymru Llandudno.
Since this year I am Active Chapter Officer I had to be there early for the last minute rehearsals. This meant I had to get up at super silly o’clock to make sure I was suited up and in Llandudno for 8am rehearsals. So we are talking so early people are actually on their way home from their night out.
Also this year for the first time we were using electronic tickets for admission, so as soon as rehearsals were over I jumped into my Provincial Steward role, to man the main doors and scan everyone in as they turned up, which was a fun new experience for all, especially those who did not even know what a QR code was.
At 10 it was time to line up with the other officers to parade into the meeting before the Provincial Grand Chapter opened. As the Provincial Grand Sojourner I had to actually take part in the opening, and closing of Provincial Grand Chapter. This was the first time I have ever had more to do than parade in and out, and take people up to receive honours. Ok, all I had to do was open and close the bible at the correct moment, but it still counts!
After the Chapter AGM, I had planned to meet up with some fellow Wrexhamian Lodge members who were only coming to the afternoons Craft AGM so we could grab lunch together. Their timing was perfect, since they were just walking from the car as I paraded out of the AGM. So I was able to get out of the regalia and go grab some lunch with them. After lunch we decided to grab a pint at the bar, where I got some free sandwiches for helping out man the doors during the day.
After the lunch break, I Jumped back into the Stewards role for scanning tickets in the afternoons attendees for the Provincial Grand Lodge AGM. Since I have no active role in the PGL I got to just sit back and enjoy the meeting, and then helped collect alms before the meeting ended.
After the AGM’s were finished for another year, I met up again with the Wrexhamian Members to travel home together. We thought it would be rude, not to stop at a pub for some drinks on the way home, to celebrate a good day. I have noticed most my Masonic stories end up with “we had a pint”, I would like to state we are not all alcoholics, it is just a coincidence.
It was a very long day, I was at the event from 8am until 6pm. But, it was a fun long day where I got to meet up with people I often only see at the annual AGM.
BBW – Donation from Sams Cafe
This morning I popped along with some other members of Blood Bikes Wales to Sam’s Cafe to collect the money raised at their Blood Bikes Wales charity day.
While there they were given an additional £35 bringing this years total raised to £690.
This is the second year Sam’s Cafe have held an event to raise money for Blood Bikes Wales, so if you are passing pop in and have a coffee and say thanks.
And a special thanks goes to Hugh for helping to organise it and again running the raffle, and managing to get a bunch of bikers to try their best to win a massive teddy bear.
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.
I am always glad to help
On my way home from work I stopped off at the local Co-Op for a loaf of bread. As I was leaving the store I spotted one of those people who like to hang out with clipboards and hassle ordinary folk as they try and go about their daily lives. My normal response to them is to give off a “Don’t even think about it” Vibe and walk right past without even acknowledging their existence.
As I got almost to the door the heavens opened with a torrential downpour. ‘Shit. I’m going to get drenched, maybe if I wait five min’s it will ease off’ I thought. So I smiled at the clipboard wielding woman and decided to help her out.
Woman: “Hi. Can you spare a bit of your time to help us out?”
WO: *looks out at rain* “why not… Go for it….”
Woman: “ok” *looks at survey form* “How often would you say you shop at this store? Daily? Several times a week? weekly? How often, roughly?”
WO: *starts counting on fingers, 1, 2, 3, 4….* “Roughly? Say once every five years”
Woman: *looks confused at form* “err. Ok. I’ll put down once a month. And why did you choose to shop at this store today? Price of Items? Availability? Good Parking, Size of store?”
WO: “There was a crash in Tesco’s car-park, I would have been ages trying to get in there to park!”
Woman: “errr….ummm… OK. if you do not mind me asking about how much was your shopping today?”
WO: *raises loaf and looks for price tag* “£1.40”
Woman: “Did you find the store had all the dairy products you wanted?”
WO: *Raises loaf and looks at it quizzically* “Not applicable”
Woman: “Did you find the store had all the meat products you wanted?”
WO: *Raises loaf and looks at it quizzically* “Not applicable”
Woman: *starting to look a bit confused* “Did you find the store had all the fresh baked products you wanted?”
WO: *Raises loaf and looks at it quizzically* “Bread counts as baked right? SO Yes”
Woman: “Did you find all the Beer or Spirits you ……”
WO: *Raises loaf and wiggles it*
Woman: “Right, I’ll just put not applicable to all these” *crosses off loads of entry’s on the form* “OK. as you were walking about the store today on a scale of 0-10 how did you find the amount of stuff on the shelves?”
WO: *Looks behind the Woman at the section of the store with completely empty shelves* “It’s probably not wise to ask that question while standing in front of the part the store where they are changing all the shelves around”
Woman: “err I’ll put Not applicable to that as well” *starts to randomly answer questions herself* “OK, were you able to find everything you wanted today?”
WO: *Raises loaf and pokes it* “YES!!! Yes I was!”
Woman: *slowly starting to back away from the entrance* “Thank you for your time… err its very important to us and we appreciate it… Have a good day… Bye!!”
WO: *Waves with the loaf of bread*
I think my feedback will be appreciated and help towards improving the store. I should have been paid. Or at least offered a 10% discount on my days shopping.