A Wonderful Evening At Strathmore

Wonderful evening at the 748th meeting of Strathmore Freemasons Lodge.  John David Watts  was due to deliver the annual Hutchinson lecture in May 2020 but while Covid prevented that, the Lodge still donated £500 to Northumbria Blood Bikes which was greatly appreciated as their fundraising activity was also suspended at that time.

The unbounded generosity of the Lodge members astounded him when the Worshipful Master Ted Sanderson presented  another £500 which together with the evenings raffle proceeds means NBB benefit from a huge total donation of £1,216 from the Lodge.

John was was able to take Blood Bike “Durham Mason” so the Brethren could see the bike they purchased in 2017 as part of the 300 year celebration of Freemasonry.

The evening was made even more special as he was not only able to formally present WBro Ben Reed with a certificate to mark his 50 years as a Freemason but also (He suspected due to a 3 line whip by Director of Ceremonies Ian Groves) as most of the 30+ present wore yellow and blue socks in support of his Ukrainian initiative and were invited to make a voluntary donation for the privilege of wearing them (or a larger voluntary fine if they weren’t).

John left at 10pm to join his volunteer colleagues on Blood Bike duty with a great feeling of happiness on how wonderful the Freemasons of Barnard Castle are.

Together we are making a difference