Francis Ormond Lodge - Freemasons Victoria

Its too important not to
RWBro Mervyn Hallam, PSGW
Grand Superintendent of Education
In my last article
I pointed out the
importance of the Candidate taking 12
months to complete his apprenticeship
and that the Education Committee and
the BGP agreed that the ‘Masonic Advancement
Education Modules’ which
include the ‘Walk-through’ segments
become mandatory for the Candidate after
each degree ceremony is completed.
These modules will be supervised by
your respective District Education Officer
(DEO) and it is the intention of the
Education Committee to present candidates
(or anyone else that wants to take
part) with a small lapel badge acknowledging
the successful completion of the
Advanced training modules.
For those who attended the September
Quarterly, you are now aware that the
Notice of Motion relating to the exten-
Presenting the Future
The Masonic Motorcycle Association
of Australia Inc. (www.themmaa.
com.au) has been operating since 2001
and currently has five Chapters, with
members in all States and the Northern
Territory. It is a social motorcycling association
with a membership comprised
of Masons and non-Masons, who enjoy
riding as a leisure activity and are committed
to fostering the image of Freemasonry
in the community.
According to WBro Terry Webster,
National President, the MMAA’s Community
Connection Project involves the
sourcing and upgrading of second hand
PCs and presenting fully configured refurbished
systems to community organisations
and people in need. To date the
MMAA has refurbished and issued 106
fully configured systems. Forty have
been given to community organisations,
and the balance distributed to deserving
individuals and families.
WBro Terry said, “We understand the
importance of computers and technology
in today’s educational environment
and have focused on distributing systems
to deserving families with school-aged
children. The feedback from recipients
sion of time between 1 st & 3 rd degrees to
52 weeks was withdrawn and replaced
with a Notice of Motion that incorporates
both that and the mandating of the
‘Masonic Advancement Modules’. This
will be voted on by you at the December
Quarterly and I cannot stress enough the
importance of this motion being ratified.
I have indicated before the importance
of not pushing our new members into office
too soon and we (GM – Education –
Membership Committees and Grand Secretary)
fully appreciate the need in most
Lodges to have MMs to go on so there is
a succession of Masters for the Lodge.
However, that has been happening and
most Lodges (including my own) are really
no better off, we have lasted another
year but are any of us more knowledgeable
as individuals? The Master joined
his Group and represented the Lodge
has been terrific.”
The MMAA is involved in several charitable
projects nationally, but the “Community
Connections Program” is run
by the Victorian Chapter. Through their
Community Connections Program and
in particular the efforts of WBro Greg
Marshall, GSwdB the MMAA have been
able to source computers from a number
of companies. Significant PC donations
were made by Melbourne based Worley
Parsons and Uhde Shedden Australia
Pty.Ltd.
“The success of
this venture has
been made possible
by the generosity
of a number
of Lodges,
Master’s Groups,
and the Board of
Benevolence.”
RWBro Mervyn
Hallam, Grand
Superintendent of
Education thanked
WBro Terry Web-
ster saying, “The
computers will
admirably in the District and sometimes
out of it but is he any more knowledgeable
regarding the understanding of the
ritual, its content, its message? I did a
Walkthrough the 1 st degree’ in a Lodge
in July and the Master was in the chair
for the 5 th time but he said to me afterwards
that he had learned a lot that night.
I found it most uncomfortable when a
brother told me that he didn’t know how
many 1 st degrees he had seen over his
55 years in the Craft but now he understands
the 1 st degree having recently seen
a Walkt-hrough.
At the risk of repeating myself, I cannot
stress the importance of slowing down
the learning period for a candidate and
ensuring he receives the best mentoring
and education we can provide - because
it’s too important not to.
be used in the IT Training Program currently
being developed by the Education
Team and are targeted at Lodge administrators
who have little or no computer
knowledge or experience but they will
also be open to all members of the craft.
The courses will be held in the Education
Administration and Training Centre
recently established on the third floor at
300 Albert Street. This area was previously
the Past Masters’ Annex”. WBro
Mervyn added, “Watch this space for
further details”.
WBro Terry is pictured presenting four computer systems to RWBro
Mervyn Hallam, PSGW GSuptEd