Well the first month of the new Masonic Year/Season is now over. And as I posted before, I will not be running my “Year of a Busy Mason” this year because in theory I will not be as busy this year as I normally am due to the following.

• Quit Wynnstay Chapter (4 meetings, 4 rehearsals, 2 committee meetings a year),
• Quit Wrexhamian Lodge (8 meetings, 8 rehearsals, 4 committee meetings) a year.
• Quit being the Assistant Provincial Grand Mentor in Craft and Royal Arch (Lots of work over the year).
• Quit being a member of the Provincial Pathway Team.
• Quit being a NWAMS committee member (Lots of work over the year).
• Stood down as Secretary of MLIM.

So that is at least 30 evenings a year (a whole month), not to mention all the other work. All to say, I will not be running my normal yearly meeting posts this year. Saying that. Month one of the new season so far has included.

• Committee Meeting = 2
• Rehearsals = 4
• SRIA Meetings = 2
• Rose Croix Meeting = 2
• Craft Meeting = 3

It is so good that I am not going to be busy this year.

Over the last three days (M-T-W) I have been out at three different meetings, and oddly of three different orders. If you add this to the two installation meetings, of two orders, over two days (F-S) that I just had, it makes me query my belief that this year will be a lot quieter than any over the last decade, and so to not do the Year of a Busy Mason this year.

Monday (Craft)

Monday evening was the rehearsals for the Installation meeting of the Maesgwyn Lodge of Installed Masters. Any time we have to do ritual with the Installed masters it is a laugh because the members are all past masters, and come from a collection of different lodges. This melting pot of members has the interesting side affect that everyone’s ritual is slightly different, and of course everyone thinks they are doing it the correct way. It makes it interesting for the DC.

Luckily I am but the Secretary, so I just have to organise the event and sort out all the paperwork. I get to stand back and ignore the ritual stuff.

Tuesday (S.R.I.A.)

Tuesday was the meeting of Bishop Wilkins College Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (S.R.I.A.) which was held over the border in England. Again I was the Secretary so had the paperwork and administration to sort out. I also stood in on the evening as the Celebrant (master). We had a grade four ceremony and a paper. Then to thank my hard work I had an extra pie during the festive board, since a couple of people had to drop out at the last minute and the catering staff brought out the spare pies for us to share.

Wednesday (Royal Arch)

Wednesday was a short notice extra month early rehearsal meeting for Wrexhamian Chapter, along with a committee meeting. The committee meeting made sense, but the rehearsal was a bit pointless since two of the three principles had not even looked at the work yet since the meeting is a month away, and the incoming J has not looked either. Plus they were not going to rehearse the inner workings. So I am not sure why it was called as a rehearsal and not just a committee meeting. We did head to the pub after for a few drinks.

The season has really started with a vengeance. In the last two days I have attended two installations (Technically one was an enthronement).

Installation one.
On Friday evening Robert Lomas invited me to visit Mold Lodge’s Installation. I normally can not make this meeting because the second Friday in September is the meeting of Valle Crucis Chapter, but this year we have moved our Chapter meeting and I was available. I enjoy visiting Mold Lodge, the Lodge room has lots of interesting artifacts, and the people are very friendly. I believe there were over 40 people in attendance, the ceremony was good and the conversation at the festive board was enjoyable.

Alas I did not win the raffle, the Goddess of Luck and Raffles still hates me. I had a strip of numbers 140 to 144. The winning numbers were 139 and 145. I swear she is now openly mocking me.

Enthronement two.
After getting home late Friday evening, I was back up and suited early Saturday morning to head out to Rhyl for the Enthronement meeting of Rhodri Fawr Rose Croix Chapter. This was another enjoyable meeting. I like Rhodri Fawr because it is the Past Sovereign Chapter, and so the members come from all over North Wales, this means you get to see people you do not see very often.

Again the meal was excellent, but then both Masonic Halls have the same caterer and Ian never fails to provide.

As an aside, I realise I have meeting coming up on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday of this coming week, then Monday, Tuesday, Friday of the following. And I am not doing the Year of a Busy Mason this year due to not being so busy.

The masonic year has ended!

So the second year of a a busy Mason has come to an end, and how busy did it turn out to be? Well I went to 42 meetings of which 10 were visits across 13 Masonic Halls. I attended 16 rehearsals, 9 committee meetings, 4 AGM’s and 2 special events. I did unfortunately have to miss 2 meetings, and 5 rehearsals.  So all together 74 events, which is what happens when you get a busy year and the “It’s only 8 nights a year” goes out the window.

I now get a couple of months holiday from all things Masonic. Apart from some papers to write, and work as the Provincial Secretary that will come up.

This will probably be my last blog series on this topic because next year should be a lot quieter. I have resigned from one of my Royal Arch chapters (4 meetings, 4 rehearsals, 2 committee meetings), I will be resigning from a Lodge after the summer break (8 meetings, 8 rehearsals, 4 committee meetings) so that frees up 30 nights a year. Not to mention stepping down as the Assistant Provincial Grand Mentor in Craft and Royal Arch, Provincial Pathway Team member, and a NWAMS committee member, along with active roles like Secretary of MLIM. My next year is set to be a lot less busy.

The Masonic year tends to run from September until June, with July and August being our summer break. There are of course exceptions to every rule, and we do have the occasional summer meeting, but the majority runs from September-June.

To continue the trend I started last year, I have decided to blog a record of all my meetings this year, to give people an idea of what a busy Masonic year is like. I should point out that the average commitment to Freemasonry is a lot less than what I will be recording. I just imagined it may be of interest to some people. There are a lot of Freemasons who without visiting just have around eight meetings, and eight rehearsals a year.

So come along with me on a journey.

The masonic year has ended!

So the year of a a busy Mason has come to an end, and how busy did it turn out to be? Well I went to 41 meetings of which 9 were visits across 15 Masonic Halls. I attended 20 rehearsals, 11 committee meetings, 5 AGM’s and 2 social events. I did unfortunately have to miss 3 meetings, 4 rehearsals, and 2 committee meetings.  So all together 79 events, which is what happens when you get a busy year and the “It’s only 8 nights a year” goes out the window.

But it was a great year, I stood down form some roles, stayed in others, and got some new ones.

I now get a couple of months holiday from all things Masonic. Unless you count the Secretary and Director of Studies work that can pop up at any time during the year.

The Masonic year tends to run from September until June, with July and August being our summer break. There are of course exceptions to every rule, and we do have the occasional summer meeting, but the majority runs from September-June.

This coming year is looking like it could be a very busy year for me, especially since I have had several events already and the year has not officially started yet. So far this month I have had committee meetings for The Maesgwyn Lodge of Installed Masters, Wrexhamian Chapter, and Wrexhamian Lodge, as well as rehearsals for Wrexhamian Chapter.

I have therefore decided to blog a record of all my meetings this year, to give people an idea of what a busy Masonic year is like. I should point out that, this will be as I have already stated a busy year for me, and the average commitment to Freemasonry is a lot less than what I will be recording. I just imagined it may be of interest to some people. There are a lot of Freemasons who without visiting just have around eight meetings, and eight rehearsals a year.

So come along with me on a journey.