November 2022 Trestle Board
Greetings Brethren!
November is here already! My how time flies. Only two months until we celebrate another new year!
October was a busy but not easy month. I picked up a bug sometime in September and by the beginning of October I was enjoying a bout of pneumonia. I missed several events due to this that I had been eagerly anticipating including our October Stated. Brother Allen stepped up and conducted the meeting most efficiently supported by our brother officers and members. Thanks Huey and all who assisted! At the meeting a positive vote was taken on another petition so we have another EA Degree coming soon. This one will be conferred by Brother Shawn Bryar. Bro. Shawn is working hard on ritual to be ready for his upcoming duties.
On October 13th the Eastern Star held an open house and they are following up with another similar event this month on the second Thursday of November, 10th, at 6:30 PM. To quote “Masons and their eligible females interested in finding out about us (Eastern Star) and our Order are welcome to come to our next meeting. We will be having a potluck on the second Thursday of November at 6:30. They do not need to bring food!”
On the 15th I was forced to forgo a visit to St. Tammany No. 5 for a meeting of the Original Lodges of Virginia. This was a Table Lodge meeting to discuss future Annual gatherings of the Original Lodges. it was reported that the meeting went well and that future table Lodges will be held. More to come on that subject.
By October 19th I was well enough to preside over the examination and raising of Brother Robert Joseph Hunter to the sublime Degree of Master mason. We congratulate brother Hunter on this, once in a lifetime, achievement and welcome him as a fellow Master Mason!
October 22nd saw two major Masonic events. The first was the Annual Multi-Jurisdictional Conferral of the Royal Arch degrees which was held this year in Delaware. The second was the Fall ReUnion of the Scottish Rite. I understand that 9 were passed to the 32nd Degree at the Richmond Valley event which was held at the Acca Shrine as the Richmond Temple has been sold. This event was somewhat overshadowed by the passing of Illustrious Bob Carpenter, 33 Degree IGH who was Secretary at Richmond for many years. He will be sadly missed.
The month was closed out with the District ritual school at Fredericksburg on the 25th where several Senior Wardens were awarded their Wardens Certificates for the coming year – congratulations to them all! This was followed by a meeting of the incoming Masters for 2023 conducted by the incoming DDGM Worshipful Bro. Dan Thompson, The meeting was very productive and informative and I think 2023 promises to be a good year for Masonic District No. 8.
That all brings us to today, November 1, 2023. November is a busy month in Virginia Masonry as we have both the Grand Annual Communication and the Royal Arch Grand Annual Convocation. Also this month is the Grand Master’s annual visit to Fredericksburg No. 4 which will be augmented this year by a coinciding visit from the Royal Order of Scotland. Also the clocks change and Thanksgiving is to be celebrated. Taking all these events in sequence we start this Friday with the Grand Master’s visit to Fredericksburg No. 4. I believe the meeting starts at 7PM.
On the 5th the George Washington Masonic National Memorial is conducting a symposium entitled “Scottish Freemasons in America, 1750–1800. There is a website with information at the following address: https://gwmemorial.org/blogs/news/scottish-masonic-event..
On the 6th of November the CLOCKS CHANGE !!
November 7th we will hold our usual practice session. This will be to practice the conferral of the Entered Apprentice Degree.
Tuesday November 8th is ELECTION DAY. Do your duty as a citizen, we need all the help we can get!
The Grand Annual Communication at the Grand Lodge of Virginia runs from the 9th through the 13th. The Committee on Work will exemplify the EA Degree on the evening of the 9th and the FC and MM Degrees on the 10th. All other details can be found at https://grandlodgeofvirginia.org/grand-annual-communication/
Our November Stated Communication will be held, as usual, at 7:30pm on the Second Monday of the month – November 14th. I hope you will join us. My year is almost over and there are still so many good Masons in this Lodge whom I have yet to meet!
Then, on Thursday November 17th the Royal Arch Grand Convocation begins in Williamsburg and runs through Sunday 20th.
If brother Bryar is ready, and the candidate is available, we may confer the EA Degree on Monday 21st. If not, we will continue to practice and prepare.
The November District school previously scheduled for 22nd has been cancelled due to its proximity to Thanksgiving which occurs on the 24th.
Practice for November 28th is cancelled while the 29th sees the last AMD meeting of the year.
As I said, a busy month!!
We have six Anniversaries this month. Those raised in November include:
WB Tommy Wright 28 years
WB Thomas Napier, Jr. 26 years
Bro. Scott Moser . 24 years
Bro. Jason Satterwhite 6 years
Bro. Mark O’Connor 6 years
Bro. Ted Lambert 6 years
Congratulations !!
We have received two “leads” from the Grand View system which are being pursued. We now have a Lodge Coin available. It is based on Worshipful Joseph Pack’s logo which you see at the top of this email. The second side has information about our first chartered date and our Lodge Motto – did you know that we have one? It is Concordia Benevolencia which loosely translated means kind or generous charity.
Finally, advanced notice that, at our December Stated and Installation, we will have OYSTERS!!
Watch out for notices about this coming soon. We will need a good approximate “head count” so that we are able to provide plenty to all who want them without wasting any by ordering too much. It will be December 12th – MARK YOUR CALENDAR !! Fraternally,
Richard J. Fisher, Master
