579St Bryde

Virginia Report.

DEC 2003:

My visit to Virginia was at the invitation of Bro. Bill Copenhaver,

Worthy Master of Unity Lodge No. 146 Front Royal and while there attend the Annual Table Lodge meeting and be guest speaker. 

I have been Member of The Civil War Research Lodge No. 1865 in Virginia for about four years and know that many of the Members of Lodges in Virginia are experts in the history of the Civil War, so I wisely thought that the Civil War would not be a good subject to present a Paper on.

I had in mind a history of Masonry in Scotland prior to the formation of the Grand Lodge of Scotland and consulted with our Lodge Secretary, Andrew McAlpine for his advice. I also took the draft Paper to Bro. Bob Cooper, Curator of Grand Lodge Library for editing and finally to Bro. George Kelly, I.P.P.G.M. and member of the Grand Lodge Education Committee for comment. 

Also at this time sent copies to Bill Copenhaver and Wayne Price (who visited 579 in September) for their comment.

All indications were that the Paper was "impressive," the only worry now was, would these Americans understand what I was saying! I decided to print the paper in a similar fashion to The Right Angle and take copies with me. This was done and 120 copies were printed. 

Extra copies were also printed and formed the main part of the  November 2003 issue of The Right Angle. 

In Scotland we do not have Table Lodges, which is essentially the Lodge being opened and adjourned. A Table Lodge opened and everyone sits at dinner with their regalia on. After dinner and various toasts the speaker is introduced, after this the Table Lodge is closed and the Lodge resumed any remaining business is completed then the Lodge is closed.  

Around 95 attended the meeting and I am glad to say that the Paper was very well received with around 30 minutes of questions following. 

As expected many present did not know much about the history

of Masonry in Scotland and some did not know that the Grand Lodge of Scotland and Mother Kilwinning had Chartered Lodges in Virginia!

The Brethren from Unity Lodge made me and my wife Helen very welcome, they arranged visits to the Civil War battlefield at Gettysburg, Winchester Masonic Temple and George Washington Masonic Memorial in Washington.

I am not going to discuss these visits here as I hope to make them into Power Point lectures and hopefully present them in our Lodge at some future date.

Finally, I would like to thank all those who gave advice and encouragement with the preparation of this Paper.

Regards, 

Jim Jack, P.M.