The Annual Parade

Brethren, check your diaries, press your suit, and try to remember where you left your sensible shoes because the Masonic ‘Summer Break’ is nearly over, and our meetings begin again next week.

In the meantime, here is a reminder of an important event taking place in November. The annual Remembrance Day parade will be held in Lyndhurst on Sunday 8th November. We have supported this event for the past few years, and I’m pleased to say our numbers are growing - either through enthusiasm, gentle persuasion, or the promise of a drink afterwards.

Although especially aimed at all Units meeting at the Brockenhurst Masonic Centre, it is of course open to anyone who wishes to attend. It’s an easy walk downhill if we all march in the same direction!

The church at Lyndhurst isn’t big enough to accommodate the various associations and members of the public who attend, so we will congregate across the road outside the Crown Hotel. We meet at 12.00 midday (that’s High Noon, for any cowboys attending) and then join the procession down the High Street to the War Memorial for a brief service and the laying of wreaths. Afterwards, we generally retire to the Working Men’s Club in the High Street for a chat, a drink, and the traditional post-parade discussion about which meeting we will be attending next.

Please attend if you can, and don’t be shy - wear your Masonic collar with pride. If nothing else, it saves people having to guess why such a smartly dressed group has appeared outside the Crown Hotel at lunchtime.