The exciting and new Country Pursuits Lodge of West Lancashire No.6615 is now in the second half of its first year as a specialist country pursuits lodge, attracting new brethren to its commendable current membership of 55, through a programme of specialist countryside related talks and Masonic ritual.
With a strapline of ‘Enjoyment and Participation’ the lodge encourages members to share ideas and particular interests whilst suggesting the names of individuals and organisations that may be able to attend one of the lodge’s three business meetings, which will rotate around various lodge rooms across the Province.
The next meeting will be Friday 29 September 2023 at Wyrebank, Garstang and the guest speaker is the Deputy Provincial Grand Master for Cumberland and Westmorland who will educate, inform and entertain all in attendance regarding ‘My other hobby’. This promises to be a well-attended and fascinating session. Please contact the secretary, Chris Tittley, at chris.tittley@gmail.com for further details and booking information.
The WM of Country Pursuits Lodge of West Lancashire is Mike Casey, who had a brilliant idea of taking the West Lancashire Provincial trailer to the Lancashire Game and Country Festival at Garstang for members of the lodge to staff the trailer for the two-day event. Being blessed with glorious weather on both days and with an abundance of leaflets and flyers, the members spoke to many brethren/visitors to the stand letting them know the background and heritage of this particular specialist lodge.
For some interested gentlemen and their families, it was an explanation of what Freemasonry is all about. On the second day of the festival the details of a potential candidate for Freemasonry were passed through to the membership officer of the group nearest to his home. Over both days the generated interest was satisfying with follow ups planned to hopefully enable their first step into the enjoyment of Freemasonry.
Mike Casey commented: “This was a very successful venture for us; meeting brethren and other visitors to the trailer, some from foreign countries, as far away as Australia, who were holidaying in the area. A number of visitors were from neighbouring Provinces who geographically live very close to West Lancashire and expressed a wish to attend our lodge sessions at Garstang in September, Morecambe in November and beyond.
It is up to us now to publicise the speaker sessions well to enable what many visitors commented, as a need for ‘cross pollination’ across Provincial boundaries. Additionally, we were delighted to receive commitments to speak at our future meetings from the Game Keepers Welfare Trust and The Forest of Bowland Moorland Group; both being neighbour exhibitors next to our trailer throughout the Country and Game Fair weekend.
Mike added: “I am sure that this initiative with the Provincial trailer will become a regular annual favourite for our lodge and our communities across the Province of West Lancashire’.
Article by John Topping, Publicity Officer. Pictures by Mike Casey.