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Delightful
ceremony to watch
Bold Lodge No 7583 had great pleasure in offering a very warm welcome to Assistant
Provincial Grand Master Ian Boswell to their installation ceremony. Ian was accompanied by Brian Crossley PrDGDC, who performed
his role in a very professional manner. Also present to witness the occasion was Widnes Group Chairman David Redhead and two
other Grand Officers, Tony Tallon and Edward Hughes along with a large number of Provincial Officers, three visiting masters
and brethren.
Before the ceremony started the outgoing master, David Berrington, performed a very pleasant duty
in presenting a number of cheques to various charities and organisations. £250 went to Marie Curie Hospice, £100
to RNLI, £250 to Friends of Ecclesholme, £360 to Widnes Masonic Hall Development Fund and £100 to Northern
Police Convalescent Home. David also pointed out that during the year Bold Lodge had donated £400 to Halton Haven Hospice
and £136 to West Lancashire Freemasons’ Charity.
We were then reminded through a reading of The Charges
of a Freemason, part one, given by David Hockin, (lodge Chaplain), to be ever mindful of what Masonry is all about and who
we serve.
The installation ceremony then got underway as Edward Hughes presented master elect, Barry Horabin to
the installing master David Berrington. David then went on to install Barry into the chair of King Solomon following the emulation
ritual in an excellent manner. His control on the proceedings was masterful and his presentation to Barry of the working tools
of the three degrees was flawless.
Next it was Barry’s turn to take control of proceedings and appoint and
invest his officers for the ensuing year. As Barry is no stranger to the master’s chair or installation proceedings,
he was master in 2005 and followed this as ADC then DC; he conducted this part of the ceremony superbly.
At the
end of the ceremony, Ian congratulated Barry on becoming WM again and delivered congratulations and best wishes from the Provincial
Grand Master. Ian said: “It has been an excellent ceremony and delightful to watch. I would also like to congratulate
David, who has worked very hard to produce an excellent ceremony.”
With all the installation proceedings
complete, it was down to the dining room were 50 brethren enjoyed a delicious five course meal with wine.
In
his response to the toast to his health, Ian said how pleased he was to be back in Widnes and reminisced a little about his
days at Wade Deacon School. He then said: “The ceremony had been ably conducted by David and that all who had taken
part deserved credit.”
Ian then mentioned the need to look after new members by providing training, mentoring
and keeping their interest going. With this in mind, a new lodge position is to be introduced next year, that of Lodge Mentoring
Coordinator, it will have a jewel of two chisels in saltire. It will be the responsibility of the person in this role to establish
a ‘buddy system’ for each new member.
The next topic Ian talked about was charity and he said that
WLFC is not getting the funds to use to get and deserves all the support it can get to continue its good work. The Masonic
Halls Appeal also requires as much support as it can get from members in order to keep the halls open.
Concluding,
Ian said: “It’s been a very festive, festive board and I have enjoyed the warmth of the hospitality of Bold Lodge
and as Christmas is not far off I would like to wish everybody a very happy Christmas.”
Following the Masters’
Song, which was sung exceptionally well by Doug Fraser, accompanied by the proficiency of Dennis Myers on piano, David had
the great pleasure of transferring the ‘owl’ over to Barry. The owl, which is a tradition with Widnes lodges,
is a badge that WM’s must wear at all meetings they attend. If a WM is caught without his badge he must pay a fine and
this money goes to charity. Barry thanked David for the owl and said that he is really looking forward to his year in office
and doing a third degree ceremony in March with a good possibility of an initiation at some point.
 Pictured
on the left, Ian Boswell, congratulating Barry Horabin on becoming WM.
Pictured
in the centre of the back row is Barry Horabin with all his officers for the ensuing year.
Pictured
left to right are; Edward Hughes, Tony Tallon, Barry Horabin and David Redhead.
Widnes
Mason reaches milestone for blood donations
Four Widnes residents were among those honoured for rolling up their sleeves to help save lives at a recent awards ceremony
held by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT). Each blood donation can potentially save the lives of up to three people, so since
the four residents started donating, they could have helped prevent the deaths of around 1,000 patients in local hospitals.
David Berrington, Master of Bold Lodge No 7583,
was presented with a special crystal decanter for reaching 100 blood donations; a rare milestone which is reached by just
1% of blood donors. David, who is now 60, started giving blood when he was 18 and has also given over 100 platelet donations.
He said; “It is up to everybody to give blood or there might not be any there if you need it for yourself. My father
was a donor and he inspired me to give as he gave regularly over many years and I thought he was wonderful for giving to others
without a thought for himself. My mother was a nurse and she told of the wonderful thing of giving blood to help others who
needed it, thus saving their lives.”
As
part of his blood donating activities, David spent time on the heart panel, where he gave blood for people who were having
heart operations and on the children panel when he gave blood for children who were having major surgery.
The three other local residents; Raymond English, Ann Davidson and Chris
Nicholls, were each presented with a commemorative crystal plate for making more than 75 blood donations apiece.
53 year old Widnes Fellowship Centre volunteer Mr English
first started giving blood after seeing an appeal in the Widnes Weekly News, which alerted him to a shortage of donors. He
had the following advice for local people who are thinking about becoming donors: "Giving blood is not painful
or even uncomfortable and it could save someone's life."
Meanwhile, Mrs Davidson, who is 63, has been giving blood for 38 years and said she would urge other people
to start donating because "it's such an easy way to save a life".
Mr Nicholls, who has been donating for 41 years and is 59 years old, said: "It doesn't
take long to donate and is painless, but most of all could save lives."
The four dedicated donors were presented with their awards by grateful blood recipient Paul Rice
during a prestigious ceremony at the Marriott Hotel in Liverpool city centre.
Paul, who works as the chief executive of Liverpool's Commercial District, was diagnosed with
a rare form of blood cancer called myelodysplasia last year after a routine trip to the opticians. Since then, he has received
countless blood and platelet transfusions, along with a bone marrow transplant earlier this year.
Speaking at the ceremony, he expressed his gratitude to the long-standing
blood donors in attendance and pointed out that without people like them regularly giving blood, the treatment he received
at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital would not have been possible. He said: "I can't praise highly enough the
staff at the Royal, I received incredible care. But no matter how good all those professional medical staff are, I wouldn't
be standing here now if it wasn't for people like you. I tried to sit down and work out how many units of blood I've
had but I just lost count."
Barbara Blanche,
NHSBT's Lead Donor Relations Manager for the North West, was at the ceremony. She said: "It was a pleasure to thank
our dedicated donors from the Merseyside area in this way. Paul's story was a very moving one and I think our donors were
really touched by his gratitude. It's wonderful that we can call on people who have dedicated themselves to giving blood
over so many years. However, in order to maintain blood stocks we need a staggering 230,000 new donors every year, so it would
be great to see more young people across Merseyside becoming the life-savers of the future by making an appointment to attend
a local session."
Anyone aged over 17, weighing
more than 50 kg (7 stone 12 lbs) and in general good health could potentially start saving lives by becoming a blood donor.
For details of sessions in your area or to book an appointment call 0300 123 23 23 or visit www.blood.co.uk
 Pictured
left to right; Chris Nicholls, David Berrington, Raymond English and Ann Davidson.
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