Moyarget Masonic Lodge No 280 Installation

My starting point for a busy Masonic year in 2025, began with the Installation of my mother Lodge No 280 Moyarget yesterday afternoon. Our Guest of Honour was Rt Wor Bro George Graham who was delighted to see the Halll filled to capacity. Our meeting began promptly at 3.30pm under Wor Bro Stanley Stewart, our outgoing Master. He had a very busy year with some nine degrees, and a number of charity events raising some £ 5,000.00 for Masonic and non-Masonic charities. Sadly, our afternoon began with a salute to the memory of Rt Wor Bro Noel Millar, a past Assistant Provincial Grand Master of Antrim and Rt Wor Bro Charles Dobbin, Representative of The Grand Lodge of Peru at The Grand Lodge of Ireland, who was also a Past Master and the current Director of Ceremonies in our neighbouring Lodge Ballintoy No 38.

When we reached that point in the ceremony for the Installation of our new Master and Officers for 2025-6, Wor Bro Stewart thanked the Lodge for their support over the past 12 months and then went on to invite Wor Bro Harold Kerr to take up the role of Installing Master. Harold, our Lodge Secretary in Moyarget did an excellent job in the Installation of Wor Bro William Kennedy Jun, as our new Master in Moyarget for2025-6.  Sadly, his father could not be present for the ceremony, as he is currently in hospital.  William, in turn competently installed all his new Officers including the appointment of Stanley Stewart as our new Chrity Stewart, so he can carry on fund raising on behalf of the Lodge in the years ahead.   Rt Wor Bro Gordon Chestnutt stepped down as our Almoner after some 24 years’ service in that post, and the Lodge presented him with a commemorative watch to acknowledge the occasion.  Shortly afterwards, the Lodge was closed and we all set off to The Lodge Hotel in Coleraine for our Installation Dinner.

Despite the fog, we all made it safely there and enjoyed an excellent three course meal, cooked to perfection and efficiently served by the staff on duty. As usual, our new Master was piped in at the start of the evening, and after we had all eaten our fill, the speeches began. Rt Wor Bro George Graham gave a full report on  the order to date, noting the number of Lodges lost in recent years and noting the fact that in Ireland we have in the region of 14,000 members with a further 3000 members in our Irish Constitution Lodges overseas.  He drew our attention to some of the festivities planned to mark our Tercentenary, when on the 24th June 2025 we mark three hundred years of  Freemasonry under the Grand Lodge of Ireland, which will be marked in Dublin, on the day with a major Grand Lodge meeting followed by a banquet that evening. Similar commemorative events will be held in Limerick and Ballymena later in the year. In November 2025 four of our Provincial Grand Masters including Rt Wor Bro John McLernon will retire and, in the case of Antrim the new Provincial Grand Master designate Rt Wor Bro John Edens will be installed as our new Provincial Grand Master of Antrim. We also learned that George himself, intends to step down as Assistant Grand Master of Antrim in June this year, due to further commitments in other branches of the Order.

So Brethren, as you can see, we had a busy Installation and Dinner which has set us all up for an equally busy year in 2025. You will see a few photographs from the day, attached below.         

Robert Bashford.