NEWSLETTER 36 Repro - Masonic Province of Yorkshire, West Riding

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NEWSLETTER 36 Repro 11/5/07 11:45 AM Page 38 MINI BUS HELPS BEAT THE WEATHER THE annual Connaught Court garden fete at Fulford, York was a real cause for celebration this year despite atrocious weather forcing the big gala event indoors. Heavy rainfall leading up to the big day threatened a real dampener on proceedings but the months of planning were not wasted as staff and residents switched the entertainment and fundraising inside. And everyone was able to celebrate and acknowledge the work of the Friends of Connaught Court who saw the culmination of concerted effort bring its just reward as they presented a new mini bus to the home. The thrill of the residents – who are aged Freemasons, their wives or widows – their comments of appreciation and an eagerness to sit and identify their future seating position was all that was needed to acknowledge the time and effort given by committee members of the Friends. Lodges and Chapters in the Provinces of Yorkshire, West Riding, North and East Ridings and Lincolnshire played their part by the £1 donations to the fliers for the annual fete so that many Brethren can identify with the raising of £40,000 to complete the mini bus purchase. This year’s event, which raised some £2,400, was officially opened by R W Bro G Walkerley-Smith, Provincial Grand Master for Lincolnshire, while the mini 36 THE VENUE BOWERS MILL BARKISLAND EXHIBITIONS CHARITY FUNCTIONS DINNER DANCES WEDDINGS CORPORATE EVENTS LADIES NIGHTS PLUS LOTS MORE !!! CONTACT: Graham Wells on 01422 310927 e mail: dickinson-property@btinternet.co.uk Journey begins . . . the mini bus provided by Friends of Connaught Court, pictured outside Tapton Masonic Hall, Sheffield before it was taken to the Home at Fulford, York bus was officially handed over to Mr Peter Gray, chief executive of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institute which is responsible for running the home, by W Bro Stuart McDonald on behalf of the Friends. The Friends will continue to help provide "sweets and treats" which have included the purchase of a widescreen TV, Video Player and payments for organists, clergy, Christmas gifts and other niceties which so many of us take for granted. They will be grateful for everyone’s support. • Editor’s note: Connaught Court is the largest residential home in the country run by the RMBI, providing care rooms and respite facilities within the adjacent Fred Crosland House. It was officially opened in September, 1971 by HRH The Duchess of Kent, the culmination of a cherished ambition by members of the Yorkshire West Riding Charity Executive, led by its then chairman and subsequent Provincial Grand Master R W Bro Fred Crosland and the Province’s Grand Secretary, W Bro Kenneth Hirst. W Bro Norman H Fowler, who himself was to become Provincial Grand Master, was the architect and he was able to match his great professional skills with those of a deep and abiding interest in Masonic charities.
NEWSLETTER 36 Repro 11/5/07 11:45 AM Page 39 SURPRISE £10,000 BEQUEST FOR HOME THE Connaught Court retirement home at Fulford near York is the beneficiary of a surprise bequest by the widow of a former member of the Lodge of Charity No 4105. When Mrs Nellie Gill, a resident at the home and widow of the late Bro Francis Cawthra Gill, passed away earlier this year she generously bequeathed £10,000 to the Lodge, which presented the legacy to Mrs Margaret Cade, house manager at Connaught Court. Bro Francis Gill met his wife Nellie at a social function at the Lodge of Charity and she created a fund in his memory to provide flowers at the Installation each October. Picture shows Lodge of Charity Master W Bro Alan Miller, centre, and Almoner W Bro Michael Woodward, making the presentation to Mrs Cade. • Two residents at the home, Miss Christine Elam and Mrs Bessie Slater, celebrated their 100th birthdays during September and accepted the congratulations and best wishes of all their friends at Connaught Court. THE CELEBRATION SUITE The ideal location for: – WEDDINGS – (Licensed for Weddings under the Marriage Act 1994) – PARTIES – – SEMINARS & CONFERENCES – For full details of the facilities and services available contact: THE HARROGATE MASONIC HALL Station Avenue, HARROGATE HG1 5NE Telephone: (01423) 504473 THE BROKEN COLUMN W Bro Ian P Booth, of the Rugby Football Lodge No 9811, explains . . . AMONG the various items of equipment of a Masonic Lodge there is, or there should be, a small wooden box surmounted by a rounded pillar with an irregularly finished top surface clearly indicating a breakoff. This is known as the "Broken Column" and is used as a charity collecting box. Freemasons may often have wondered at the particular superstructure, which gives the box its name, and failed fully, to comprehend the symbolism of its meaning. It is, of course, commonplace that a column is a long, round pillar of wood, stone or metal composed of a base, a shaft and a capital, used perpendicularly to support, as well as adorn, a building, whose construction varies in the different orders of Architecture. Among the Hebrews columns, or pillars, were used, metaphorically, to signify princes or nobles, as if they were the pillars of a state. Thus, in Psalm XI, 3, the passage, reading in our translation. "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do"? is, in the original "when the columns are overthrown" i.e. when the firm supporters of what is right and good have perished. Similarly, the passage in Isaiah XIX, 10, should read, "Her (Egypt's) columns are broken down", that is, the nobles of her state. In Freemasonry, columns have a symbolic signification as the supports of a Lodge; in some Constitutions of the Order they are known as the Columns of Wisdom, Strength and Beauty, symbolising King Solomon, Hiram, King of Tyre, and Hiram Abif, respectively. The Broken Column is emblematic of the fall of one of these three chief supporters of the Craft. The use of a column or pillar as a monument erected over a tomb was a very ancient custom, and a very significant symbol of the character and spirit of the person interred. The Broken Column has been adopted in speculative Freemasonry to remind us, not only of those of our Brethren who have been called to the Grand Lodge above before the fullness of time, but more particularly of those Brethren who have become broken in health, fortune and spirit. It serves also as a reminder of the necessities of widows and orphans of departed Brethren, whose welfare it is our privilege, as well as duty, to safeguard to the utmost of our ability. 37
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NEWSLETTER 36 Repro - Masonic Province of Yorkshire, West Riding

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