The team in Straid held one of their breakfasts this morning In the Straid Hall. Even though it was Easter Saturday and a few of the regulars were missing we still had a good turn out of families and friends supporting the fund raising efforts in Straid. As usual we had Brethren present from Islandmagee, Larne, Moyarget and the Ballyclare / Doagh regions all present. Mary provided us all with a good, tasty breakfast and Tom kept the coffee / tea flowing. And as it turned out, we had a good supply of tasty buns available, left over from last Sunday’s Charity service.
Amongst those present was our old friend Billy Beattie from The Belfast Widows and Charity fund. I was particularly pleased to see the Islandmagee contingent with us again and it gave us the opportunity to advise those present of their new library, currently under construction in their Lodge-Room, where they will be able to display and loan out a large selection of Masonic titles left to the Lodge by their late member Wor Bro Paddy MacDonnell. And from the number of books received from Paddy’s Masonic library, they will keep the Islandmagee Brethren in reading material for some considerable time to come.
We were reminded that the next management meeting of the Belfast Widows and Charity fund will take place on the evening of Friday the 25th April at 7.30pm. As usual, there was plenty of discussion on various matters Masonic including some surprise about the American reporter, who turned up in Grand Lodge and proceeded to film an interview without giving details to Grand Lodge before filming was carried out. I suspect that this matter will be subject to considerable review in the weeks ahead.
So Brethren, so many of you miss the opportunity to participate in these fortnightly breakfasts, where so much of interest is shared with all present. I hope many of you turn out on Easter Monday to support the annual breakfast held in the Red hall Lodge-room in Ballycarry from 8.00am to 12.00 Noon. And as always, they are raising funds for Hope Hose in Browns Bay, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, and their own Lodge Building Funds. Sadly, for the first time in many years, I will not be able to attend this year but hope that many of you will make it and give your support to these most important local charities.
Robert Bashford