Members of the South Eastern Group, along with their wives, partners, families and friends, enjoyed another excellent weekend away in the historic and attractive city of York, taking residence in the very comfortable Wheatlands Lodge Hotel close to one of the walled city’s gateway entrances.
The event, now organised by Ezra McGowan, never ceases to be anything but successful and enjoyable and is now very much part of the group’s Masonic annual calendar timed for the beginning of December.
This year bookings acquired more than half of the whole of the hotel complex. Those who braved the North Yorkshire highways and by-ways were treated to reasonable weather conditions and an excellent weekend away resulting in monies being raised towards the South Eastern Group Fund and on this occasion, making a contribution to a fund organised by Hand and Heart Lodge 4109 member Ray Lord for the relief of the Ukraine.
The ladies of course enjoyed their weekend of relaxed Christmas shopping, ably assisted by their gents similarly taking in the pre-Christmas buzz, sipping mulled wines or the odd few beers, and weaving in and out of the crowds at the Christmas markets and York city centre with its ‘must see’ tiny streets and alley ways.
After many a mile being walked, there was a well-deserved Saturday evening dinner with wines and later, amongst the very lively, jovial atmosphere, the famous ‘Annual Group Quiz’, of which the lucky team winners became recipients of an amazing team prize of not a box but a whole tub of Quality Street.
Due to the continued ongoing success of this event, Ezra has similarly reserved the hotel for a return visit in December 2023 to which anyone wishing to come along will of course be warmly welcomed.
The cultural aspects of the city of York will be well known to many, combining its Roman and Viking heritage with that from the Wars of the Roses and various other historical significances. It has also made a massive contribution to the country’s rail system and chocolate manufacture not to mention its inclusion in the Harry Potter films and the architectural magnificence of its medieval minster, one of the most prominent in the country.
In the recent decades, the economy of York has moved from being dominated by its confectionery and railway related industries to one that provides services and of course on the whole, a busy tourist attraction but all in all, taken with the amazing hospitality of the Wheatlands Lodge Hotel owners, it makes a thoroughly engaging place for a group weekend visit.
