East Lancashire District Meeting
Brethren, apologies from your West Lancashire Rochdale correspondent for the delay in reporting on the recent East Lancashire District meeting. Not very professional I admit, but, along with my wife and a couple of friends, I took a sabbatical for a few days in the sunny climes of Llandudno. The main purpose of the visit was to go to the local ‘Venue Cymru’ to watch David Essex would you believe, he of the ‘Rock on’ fame, well remembered by those of a certain vintage. Although well past his three score and ten, David came across really well to a packed audience. There is life in us old dogs yet!
Putting that to one side, Saturday, 10th September 2022 was the date of the East Lancashire District Meeting in the land of the midnight sun, aka Rochdale. A large number of Brethren set off from various parts of West Lancashire, hoping to meet up with our esteemed District Grand Prefect at Rochdale MH. However, our DGP’s sat nav must have broken down, apparently, he took a wrong turning somewhere on the M62. Not much later I received a WhatsApp message from him, together with a scenic photograph (see above) showing where he ended up, definitely not Rochdale. How did he make the mistake, I don’t know, it’s all Greek to me! I think we’ll have to have a whip round to get his sat nav upgraded.
Never mind, the fort was well and truly held by our DepDGP, Mark Barton, who was able to rally the troops from West Lancashire for a good showing at the meeting. Mind you, I could detect the influence of our DGP on Mark, which I’ll mention later.
Like many towns in Lancashire, Rochdale has a long, honourable history commencing with a mention in the ‘Doomsday Book’. It is better known in recent history for its cotton and textile mills, and as the town in which the origins of the Co-operative Society began. The latter achievement, and description, fits the Allied Masonic Degrees very well, as the ‘modern’ version is also a child of the 19th Century, and close cooperation has been the watch word in its development.
We met up at Rochdale Masonic Hall, a stone-built building constructed around 1927. Its solid stone construction is fronted by Georgian style windows and a delightful pillared entrance. As you enter, its quite austere outward appearance gives way to a warm, well arranged interior reception areas and ballroom / dining area.
We met up in the bar area, greeting old friends and new, refreshed ourselves with gradely bacon barms, and a cuppa. You can’t get this sort of fayre in Greece - unless the DGP can prove otherwise?
The Rochdale Masonic Hall Lodge room is well appointed with plenty of masonic symbolism decorating the walls, a really excellent hall in which to hold the meeting. A good attendance set the atmosphere from the start, and a warm applause met the distinguished guests, and subsequently the District Grand Prefect, RW Brother Mervyn Frank Wilson, and his team. The death of Her Most Gracious Majesty, who has been an ever present for most of us, was honoured by the assembly standing in impeccable silence in her memory.
The meeting followed the usual pattern for these events, and when the DGP came to the point of welcoming guests, there was a discernible disappointment etched on his face as our DepDGP gave apologies on behalf of the absent DGP for West Lancashire. Far be it for me to promote a conspiracy theory, but I wonder if RW Brother Mervyn believed the bit about Paul taking a wrong turning on the M62? Perhaps he was already planning revenge at the next West Lancashire District Meeting? Only time will tell, watch this space for the next instalment!
The meeting over, a photograph of some of the West Lancashire contingent present was taken by your correspondent.  I noticed later that some of the Brethren, who have a foot in both of the East and West Lancashire Districts, had missed the photo call. A Brother speculated (not me Your Honour) that perhaps the revenge of RW Bro Mervyn had already commenced? Surely not!
Prior to the commencement of the Festive Board, Our DepDGP, in the absence of the DGP, continued the well established tradition of buying a drink for West Lancashire Brethren present. Cheers Mark, but, as mentioned earlier, Paul’s influence was very tangible – no doubles, and if you have a foot in both the Lancashire camps, you can only have a half! Truly half a chip off the old block?
The Festive board was a feast of the sort of food your doctor would strongly advise you against eating. This consisted of a starter comprising of a full horseshoe type black pudding with mustard sauce, delicious! Such a delicacy was followed by a main course of Lancashire Rag Pudding accompanied by dripping fried chips and ‘Lancashire Caviar’ (aka mushy peas). The only way I can explain the Rag Pudding is that it is a flatter version of a steak pudding, or, as it is better known in the Coccium area, a ‘Babbies Yed’. This cholesterol inducing concoction being partially redeemed for us health conscious reprobates by a fruit salad dessert, which will help me to have a reasonable clear conscience when I next meet up with my doctor.
There was one thing that should be mentioned from all the toasting and speechifying which followed the Festive Board, this was the toast proposed by the District SW to the DGP. The toast seemed to be well researched and presented. Now, I couldn’t hear all that clearly, so apologise for any inconsistences to what was actually said, but there seemed to be a reference to the DGP of East Lancashire being a champion in ‘ferret legging’. Some of you may be familiar with this sporting pastime, emanating apparently from colliers of Yorkshire pits. This sport comprises of stuffing a ferret down a proponent’s trousers, which are tied around the ankles and waist to prevent the ferret escaping. The one who keeps the ferret in his (or her??) trousers for the longest is declared the winner. The microphone was a bit crackly, but it sounded to me that Mervyn is considering making a suggestion to the Grand Master that such an annual competition be held for all the DGP’s before Grand Council, what a picture that would paint! The prize for the best ‘ferret legging’ DGP – what else but a year’s supply of Lancashire Rag Pudding, with the runner up receiving a two years supply. There you go, a daily improvement in Masonic knowledge without charge!
And so, speeches concluded it was time for us to wend our way back to whence we came after a very happy and successful meeting. Hopefully, our DGP will have found his way back to the M62 by the time this has been published (unless he has been detained by a ferret legging competition); and perhaps, with a bit of diplomacy, East and West Lancashire will avoid any collateral damage resulting from his absence from the meeting?
Yours in sport,
 
Report and Photos from 'The Rochdale Hornet'