Despite the awful weather, I made it over to St John’s Masonic Lodge No 788, Cairncastle to join with the Brethren and their families at their Christmas Charity Breakfast Bap Morning, when they had arranged a whole series of projects to amuse the children, Sausage and Bacon bap, Mince Pies & Shortbread, Coffee, Tea and cold drinks, and that special feature, a visit from Santa. Ballots were on sale to the adults as the Lodge were raising monies for The N.I. Chest, Heart & Stroke Charity, their selected Charity this year.
I had managed to get over about a quarter to ten and met up with many friends from Cairncastle and further afield. Santa landed with his sac and took possession of the Master’s Throne for his time in Lodge. Interestingly enough, I was surprised to see just how many Brethren wanted to sit on his knee, never mind all the children. It seems that a number of the adults had asked Santa for a new Ferrari this year, not quite what I had expected in Cairncastle.
A good team of helpers got the food prepared and presented promptly and efficiently to all the many Lodge Members and Families and of course Visitors as they arrived. The Children and possibly Graham Todd got their scrub off tattoos and enjoyed the other games that were available on the day. One popular item was guessing the number of sweets in a glass bottle, that turned out to be very popular on the day.
When I left around 11.30AM, the event was in full swing with up to seventy adults and children on site. Clearly the whole day was another great success to the Brethren of Cairncastle and I later learned that, to date, this afternoon, the day’s events had raised some £ 700.00 for the N.I. Chest Heart & Stroke Charity.
Robert Bashford