Monday 20th February 2023. A special night for Bronte. Although they do occur it’s not often that you see a Lodge do a double Advancement. This did not deter them to produce a first class ceremony and, it really was first class. V.W.Bro. John E. Vause the Assistant Provincial Grand Master, W.Bro. Mark Holland the Deputy Provincial Grand Director of Ceremonies, W.Bro. Bill Pickles the Senior Past Master and Bro. Stuart Cooper S.D. all members of Haywra Lodge No.525 closely watched the proceedings, I suspect they were there to do a little bit of ‘spying’ much like Marcelo Bielsa used to do while at Leeds United. Although unlike Mercelo both John, Mark, Bill and Stuart were there in plain sight and were warmly welcomed as were all the visitors and, there were plenty. The reason I suspect they were there is that Haywra have a double advancement planned for Tuesday 4th April 2023 and wanted to see how the ceremony would unfold.
It unfolded splendidly and the two acting Deacons for the night W.Bros. Neil Davis and John Boocock were excellent. The choreography superb and would have certainly got a ten from Len on Strictly Come Dancing! They also did a duo for the secrets and it worked wonderfully. The Brothers being advanced Rajis Ali and Kevin Gibson-Ree cannot have failed to be impressed the Worshipful Master Peter Barnes conducted the ceremony expertly.
The food at the Festive board was equally as good but that’s not unusual at Bronte. Plenty of smiles, laugher and banter along the way. Quite rightly in his response to the toast to Province John talked about both the forth coming Provincial meeting and the Festival Finale. The toasts to Kevin and Raji were split. This time W.Bro. Mike Tyson describing himself as a Bull Mastiff steady and slow, as opposed to his candidate Kevin who he described as a Collie who never stopped running and working no matter how many times you threw the stick! W.Bro. Neil Davis in the toast to his candidate mentioned that no matter where he took his candidate Raji he would always know someone. That someone usually being a Provincial Grand Master or a Deputy Provincial Grand Master.
Both John and Neil spoke highly of both newly advanced Brothers saying they really were first class members to have and would fit easily with Bronte as they did with their Craft Lodge working hard and enjoy doing so. The second for both these candidates W.Bro. David Russell agreeing with all that was said.
W.Bro.Stuart Prince who seems to be at every Mark Lodge at present thanked Bronte on behalf of all the visitors for a superb evening and a wonderful ceremony. Making special reference to Neil and John for a great job done.
Andrew Johnson
Communications Manager