On The Level

Issue No. 6

May 2020

Fraternal Greetings to all Brethren of the Province

For a printer friendly PDF copy click here

Unfortunately the last months of my term as Provincial Grand Master came to an abrupt end due to the ongoing issues with coronavirus. This will be my last newsletter as Provincial Grand Master.

Firstly and importantly I would like to thank all the Lodges in the Province for the manner in which they dealt with the issues of the coronavirus. All Lodges closed down as soon as they were advised to by Grand Lodge and Provincial Grand Lodge and premises closed up. Unfortunately all fundraising events, which are usually happening during the recess have had to be cancelled. These included the Reigning Masters Degree and the Annual Fishing, Golf and Bowling days.

Grand Lodge has kept us informed and has been issuing regular updates and advice and these are and will continue to be posted on the Provinces Facebook page and web site.

On a more upbeat note there were several events prior to and even during the closedown.

275th Anniversary

On Saturday 15^th February the Province held its 275^th Anniversary Celebrations. An excellent re-dedication ceremony was held within the premises of Lodge Zetland and was conducted by Grand Lodge headed by Most Worshipful Grand Master Mason Brother William Ramsay McGhee and the Office Bearers of Grand Lodge. This was followed by a celebration Dinner in the Grangemouth Town Hall where the Brethren enjoyed a fine meal followed by fine and amusing speeches. I would at this time thank all assisted in making this event so successful with particular thanks to Provincial Grand Secretary Brother Nicol Scobbie for his input. It was a great privilege to be Provincial Grand Master on this occasion.

There are on the web site some images and a couple of short videos of the day.

2020 AGM

On Saturday 29^th February we held the Annual General Meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge again in Lodge Zetland and I had the privilege and pleasure of installing the Provincial Office Bearers for the ensuing year and I would congratulate them and wish them all well in their respective Offices.

275th Divine Service

The following day Sunday 1^st March we held a Divine Service to commemorate the 275^th Anniversary. The Service was held in Denny Old Parish Church, Duke Street Denny, was hosted by Lodge St. Andrew (Denny & Loanhead) No. 176 and conducted by Brother The Reverend Canon Joseph J. Morrow, Past Grand Master.

The grateful thanks of all goes to all those who assisted to making the Thanksgiving Service a most memorable occasion.

The after service goodies were provided by Lodge St. Andrew (Denny & Loanhead) No. 176. including the ladies of the Lodge and grateful thanks also goes to them.

Lottery/Raffle

Thank you again for the backing that you have given to the Provincial Raffle and 275^th Lottery. Even though the 275^th Celebrations are over it is proposed to keep the fund Lottery going and no doubt in due course it will be renamed and I hope that you will continue to support it. Numbers for the Lottery may be obtained from Brother William Reid at billyreid1303@btinternet.com.

A draw was to take place at the April Communication, however, due to the meetings cancellation, I made the draw at home. The winners were as follows.

Awards in the Province

Several special presentations have taken place since my last Newsletter. Past Master Brother Allan T Leishman of Lodge St John Falkirk No 16 received Distinguished Service Membership in recognition of his services to Lodge St John Falkirk in particular and Freemasonry in general. At a subsequent meeting, I had the pleasure of presenting him with the Honorary Grand Rank of Substitute Master, for his services to Provincial Grand Lodge. At the same meeting I received Honorary Membership of Lodge St John, Falkirk.

At the Annual Visit to Lodge Strathendrick, Balfron No 780 on Thursday 12^th March 2020, I presented Brother Robert Anderson, Past Master of Lodge Buchanan Killearn No 1419 and Brother John Gault Past Master of Lodge Strathendrick, Balfron No.780 both with the Honorary Provincial Grand Rank of Junior Deacon.

Travelling Gavel

The Travelling Gavel was still being pursued and since my last newsletter it has been to Lodge 139, and is now at Lodge Bannockburn 312 where, hopefully, when the current situation is resolved the Lodges will again be chasing after it.

The current location of the gavel can always be found on the Provincial Grand Lodge website www.pgls.co.uk.

Annual Installations

Unfortunately the last two Installations had to be cancelled and will be re-arranged as soon as possible. There are some images and a video of the images on the web site of all of the Installations at www.pgls.co.uk.

Strathcarron Hospice Challenge

Brother Lenny McComb, Past Master of Lodge Slamannan No 484, PG Junior Chaplain, ran an initiative to raise funds for Strathcarron Hospice. He asked all 23 Lodges within the Province to run an event of their choice and add it to special fund which will accumulate all the monies. The total amount was then donated as a lump sum to Strathcarron Hospice.

A short and restricted presentation took place on the 15^th May 2020 where a cheque was handed over to Strathcarron. The original target was £10.000, however due to the efforts of all Lodges in the Province and some personal donations the final

My personal thanks must go to each & every Lodge/Brother that contributed to this fantastic sum of money.

NHS Donation

As a small thank you from the Province, I suggested, and approved a donation of £500 to the NHS. During the ensuing days a number of Lodges and individuals added to this and we ended up with a total of £1350.

A cheque for £ 1,050.00 was deposited with them earlier this month. On advice from the NHS Fundraiser, £350.00 went to the procurement of Night Wear and £700.00 for Well Being Packs for the Staff. The remaining £300.00 will be disbursed in the West of the Province.

I take this opportunity to offer a huge "thank you" to all parties that contributed this £1,350.00 to this most worthwhile cause.

Website

Brother Graeme Russell is always looking for articles for the web site and FB group to keep it interesting and fresh not only for you Brethren, but also for those of the general public who may come across the work we do. Anything therefore of interest should be sent to Bro Graeme and/or Provincial Grand Secretary for possible inclusion. stirlingshireweb@blueyonder.co.uk and/or n.scobbie@btinternet.com.

Grand Lodge Round Up

Coronavirus

As I said previously Grand Lodge has and hopefully will continue to issue updates as and when appropriate and I would thank The Grand Master Mason for these updates and his and Grand Lodges invaluable advise and guidance.

Members Database

I understand that Grand Lodge were about to revise the Members database after the consultations they ran last year, but this has been postponed. Grand Lodge have however run a number of workshops with the administrative Brethren on Zoom and a number of Brethren in the Province have been involved. Grand Lodge have issued a number of videos which show how the system works and if anyone wants to view them please contact your Lodge Secretary who has the information.

Constitution and Laws

A review of the Constitution and Laws was to be discussed at recent Communications but this has also been postponed.

Grand Lodge Events

Grand Lodge Divine Service

Grand Lodge was to hold a Divine Service at Glasgow Cathedral on Sunday 29^th March 2020 however this was also cancelled.

New Provincial Grand Master

Brother Gordon Sewell’s Installation as Provincial Grand Master and the Installation of the Commissioned Office Bearers was due to take place in the Dobbie Hall, Larbert on Saturday 20^th June 2020. Grand Lodge have decided to install a number of Provincial Grand Masters’ in one ceremony at Grand Lodge provisionally in October.

Full details of this event have yet to be finalised and will be issued in due course.

PGL Roll Book

The Provincial Grand Lodge Roll Book has been issued by Provincial Grand Secretary along with a schedule of Installations and Provincial Grand Lodge visitations and communications. This has been issued in the hope that meetings can resume. We will try to keep all Brethren up to date via social media and the web site with any changes to these dates. I would ask all Lodge Secretaries to keep Provincial Grand Secretary and Brother Graeme Russell, who is our Webmaster and Facebook Admin aware of any changes in order that we can reach as many Brethren as possible.

Thanks

Brethren

The ‘sands of time’ come to mind. In two short weeks my Commission as Provincial Grand Master of this Province will come to an end. It will be a strange ending for the present team and a strange start to the new team, but we do wish them well.

I would take this opportunity of thanking the Commissioned Office Bearers, Brothers Gordon Sewell, Sandy Thomson, Brian Wright, Nicol Scobbie, Alan Leishman, Lenny McComb and Past Chaplain, Alex Montgomery, for their support, commitment and personnel assistance. It was a privilege to lead such a team. A great deal of work was done behind the scenes, sometimes thankless.

I would thank the Office Bearers of Provincial Grand Lodge, past and present, for their support and assistance and of course the Lodges and the Brethren of the Lodges for their support, friendship and help. It was very much appreciated.

A special thanks to Provincial Grand Secretary, Brother Nicol Scobbie, Provincial Grand Webmaster and Editor of the Provincial Grand Masters Blog, Brother Graeme Russell, and all those who assisted in any way, and not forgetting the input from Past Provincial Grand Masters, Brothers Andy McKinnon, Jock McKenzie and Colin Wyse.

It has been a tremendous experience Brethren.

Thank you one and all.

Fraternal Regards.

Brother Alistair T. Marshall
Provincial Grand Master