At the weekend, our roaming Lodge (Old Roffensian Lodge 8006, home of the East Kent Light Blue Brothers) enjoyed its most recent meeting which was held on this occasion at Sittingbourne Masonic Centre.
The centre was rebuilt from a former stable & consecrated on Sunday 23rd June 1889 by the Provincial Grand Master of Kent, Lord Amherst, an MP for West Kent who married Julia Mann (the only daughter of the 5th Earl of Cornwallis). If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to visit this Lodge, I’m sure all those who attended would very much recommend a visit.
Everyone had a good chit chat with old & new friends before heading upstairs to open & conduct business in the Lodge.
This being the final meeting with W.Bro Andrew Berry in the chair, we would like to say a massive thank you to him for all of his hard work behind the scenes as well as in the Lodge. Andrew’s incredible commitment to the Lodge has been something I think all future Worshipful Masters will do their upmost to uphold. Andrew, the precedent you’ve set has been nothing short of excellent. Well done & thank you.
W.Bro Fraser Gregory has been elected as the Master for the ensuing year. We very much look forward to seeing how Fraser puts his personal stamp on our Lodge.
One of the unique selling points of our Lodge is the nature of its Festive Boards. Our Shepherd Neame Brewery Tour & dinner did not disappoint. The majority of the brethren who attended the lodge travelled in a convoy to Faversham where on arrival they had the opportunity to enjoy the private bar.
After a pint or two the tour commenced & was conducted by two very knowledge & engaging Shepherd Neame employees. As you can imagine, being the UK’s oldest brewer, the history as well as the infrastructure was very interesting. I was blown away by the fact that whilst they produce 50 million pints annually & export to more than 35 countries, at present, they only have 1.2% of the UK market.
At the end of the tour, we returned to the private bar within the visitor centre where three drinks (fair in portion) were presented to us all to discuss & enjoy.
The sampling gave us an excellent opportunity to decide which complimentary drink from the bar we would select before we retired upstairs for our Festive Board which was held in a rather nice private function space.
After dinner a number of us were led by Bro. Antonino to the Corsican bar to sample chestnut beer. I would like to thank Bro. Antonino for his incredible kind gesture of buying the first round for everyone. Some of us then moved on to the Limes where a selection of drinks was enjoyed including sambuca. For everyone remaining, the evening eventually concluded at Wetherspoons.
Thank you to those who joined us & we hope yourself & many more will join us at our future meetings.
Sincerely & Fraternally,
Bro. Steven Ford (Membership Officer)