FVNews Daily  
No. 154. Thursday, December 17, 2020

• From the Communications and Marketing Volunteer Action Team

• Email: editor@FVNews.com.au or Ash@Long.com.au
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What’s On (15 listings)
UPDATED DAILY.

Please notify us about your event. 
Please include date, time, talk details, attire, and a link.
Email: editor@FVNews.com.au

Thursday, December 17

• 7pm. Prospect Hill Mark Lodge. Talk: Peter White, ‘Walking the Kokoda Track – A Personal Experience’. Dress: Lodge Officers: collar and tie, Visitors: smart casual. LINK Meeting ID: 857 0379 5106. Passcode: 951227
• 7.30pm. Albert Victor Lodge. LINK
Friday, December 18
• 12 Noon. Bairnsdale Daylight Lodge. Christmas Luncheon. At Nicholson Hotel. Jim Jolly, 0427 458 833.

• 7.30pm. Seavic Lodge. Talk: Barry Minster , Grand Lodge Almoner, ‘A Life in the Media, Football, and a Grand Almoner’s reflections on the COVID-19 lockdown’. LINK Meeting ID: 838 8337 7083. Passcode: 169616

Saturday, December 19
• 1pm.Sunshine Wisdom Lodge. End of Year Late Lunch Celebration. Lunch served at 2pm. At Green Gully Soccer Club. Adults, $49; Children, Free. Booking: www.trybooking.com

• 6pm.Lowan Lodge. Christmas Party. At Rhys and Lem’s house/garden. RSVP 0410 232 996. 

Sunday, December 20

• All Day. Ivanhoe Grammarians Lodge. Sausage Sizzle. At Bunnings Mernda
• 11am. Lodge Walhalla. Working Bee.

Monday, December 21

• 7.30pm. Good Companions Lodge. Partners in the South Christmas Dinner Meeting. At Mulgrave Country Club. (No Lodge Meeting)
• 7.30pm.St Andrews In The South, Geelong Holy Royal Arch Chapter. Talk: Arthur Williams, ‘The story of the Temple in Jerusalem – from Solomon to Herod’. Meeting ID: 844 1793 3448. Passcode: 180 471
• 7.30pm. Williamstown Chapter. Talk: Ian Brown, ‘Who Were The Three Principals?’ LINK Meeting ID: 869 0109 9049. Passcode: 75

Saturday, December 26
• All Day. Union Lodge of North Gippsland. Bunnings Bairnsdale Sausage Sizzle.

Sunday, December 27
• 7.30pm. Masonic Festival of St John. Speakers: Neil Morse, John Molnar, Richard Elkington, Ari Indra. LINK Meeting ID: 858 0585 9809. Passcode: 466048

Sunday, January 3
• 8am-5pm. Ivanhoe Grammarians Lodge. Sausage Sizzle. At Bunnings Mernda
Monday, January 18
• 7.30pm. United Wimmera Mark and Royal Ark Mariner Lodges Combined Meeting (Zoom). Talk: Len Lacey, new year theme. RSVP by EMAIL by Fri., Dec. 18 to Len Baker.

Videos

• Who Was Hiram Abiff? (06:44) WATCH
• Manchester Masons: Doing It In Style. (00:12) WATCH
• Hail Eternal By Whose Aid. (01:41) WATCH

Vale Geoffrey Armstrong

• We regret to advise of the passing to the Grand Lodge Above of Very Worshipful Bro. Geoffrey James Armstrong PGIWkgs, He died on December 15, and was a member of Kensington Lodge No. 77 since June 1951. Mick Wane advises that funeral arrangements are yet to be confirmed.

Vale Robert Ormerod

• We regret to advise of the passing to the Grand Lodge Above of Robert (Bobby) Ormerod – father of (the late) George, and grandfather of Rob and Sean. He died at Gregory Lodge in Flemington, aged 97. His service will be held on Monday (Dec. 21) at 10.15am. (With thanks to Barry Minster, Grand Almoner)

Business Meeting – Part 2 tonight (Thu.)

• The second part of the Business Meeting of Freemasons Victoria will be streamed at 7.30pm tonight (Thu.). An email will be sent at 7.30pm to members with a LINK to the meeting, The meeting will be led by Grand Secretary Garry Runge. The agenda includes Confirmation of Minutes, Reports, Applications, a Notice of Motion by Garry Sebo, updates by Peter Gurr (Chapter) and Peter Julier (Mark), and a Eulogy.
• The Business Meeting Booklet can be viewed HERE
• If you do not receive a link by email at 7.30pm, visit https://freemasonsvic.org.au and click Member Login. Click Events from the main menu. Click Quarterly

Business Meeting – Part 1 (Wed.)

• Last night (Wed.) saw Part 1 of the Business Meeting of Freemasons Victoria streamed. Dr Simon Longstaff of The Ethics Centre delivered a report about Freemasons Victoria. His video can be viewed HERE. Grand Master Richard Elkington’s response can also be viewed HERE.
• An unredacted copy of The Ethics Centre report can be viewed HERE. The text of Richard Elkington’s can be viewed HERE

Board of General Purposes Dis-Establishes
• The Freemasons Victoria Board of General Purposes met on Tuesday night (Dec. 15) and considered the recommendations of The Ethics Centre. The Board, on the motion of President Myles King, voted to dis-establish, effective immediately. Board members no longer hold their positions. The Board delegated its powers and authorities to the Grand Master. An interim Masonic Governing Council will operate on a caretaker basis, with no new initiatives, until the matter is brought to the floor of Grand Lodge early in the New Year. The Council is due to have its first meeting today (Thu.). Its membership includes the Grand Master, Deputy Grand Master, Grand Treasurer and Grand Registrar. Further details will be circulated to members over coming weeks.

Freemasonry at Work in Geelong
• Bob Pullin writes: “A brother in Geelong became incapacitated through an illness and was unable to tend his garden, lawn etc. Brethren from Epicurean and St Andrews in the South Lodges, organised a team of members to go and have a working bee in the garden of this brother. A fine example of Freemasonry at work.”

60-Year Mark Jewel to Bob Burns
• Past Grand Masters Garry Sebo and Hillel Benedykt were in attendance for the presentation at Sandringham Mark Lodge of a jewel to mark 60 years service by Bruce Burns.

Communications Success at Hamilton
• Peter Barrand tells of Ray Wilson of the Hamilton Grange Lodge organising free publicity in the Hamilton Spectator newspaper, with a challenge for others to secure similar promotion for Freemasonry in their local newspapers. Peter writes: ““Now that the good news is out and we can start cleaning our Masonic Centres, let’s make the next year one where Freemasonry is always in the news. With everything we do, take a photo, write a paragraph and send it to your local newspaper. We don’t have to be handing out money all the time, get some human-interest stories going; show the region that we are just ordinary blokes in an extraordinary organisation. 
• “Now is a great time to start; take a shot of someone with a mop and bucket, write about the excitement of getting back to Lodge meetings, being able to fund-raise for charities again and what face-to-face contact does for our mental health, there are plenty of things to write about. Cultivate a relationship with one or more of your local reporters and try for, at a minimum, an article per month, or better still, one a week or one a fortnight. Good luck and please pass on a copy of anything that gets published.”

World News
• “Hundreds of children stuck in emergency accommodation in the West Midlands after fleeing violence at home will receive a little extra help this Christmas thanks to the Freemasons,” reports the Express and Star, Birmingham (UK). “The organisation has donated £7500 to the Buddy Bag Foundation, which provides back packs filled with home comforts to children forced into hotels and B&Bs by domestic violence.
• “The foundation recently issued a challenge to businesses across the Midlands to help pack 30 bags each after it emerged that hundreds of children had been stuck in temporary accommodation for months amid the coronavirus crisis. A rise in domestic violence meant that refuges were full and the only alternative was to put families up in hotels and B&Bs.” LINK

FVNews
• There were no editions of FVNews Daily on Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday, December 14-15-16. FVNews Daily will soon be taking a publishing break over the Christmas-New Year break to enable our volunteer team to take some time off.

New Subscribers

• We are building FVNews to be a vital daily guide to Masonry in Victoria. You can have your free copy emailed to your inbox. Use the ‘Subscribe’ option at www.FVNews.com.au We welcome Peter Harris

Sincere thanks

• Amongst those who assisted with contributions to this edition of FVNews Daily have been: Craig Spendlove and Peter Barrand
 

Please Send Your Summons
• Lodges can assist by sending emails about every lodge meeting and event to editor@FVNews.com.au – please include us on your Lodge Summons mailing list.

Famous Freemasons
•  Hiram Abiff Hiram Abiff is a name of utmost significance in the world of Freemasonry. He is widely regarded as the man who inspired the secret fraternity of Freemasonry into being. He is referred to in Masonic lodges across the world, and his history is an interesting one.
• “We understand that Hiram Abiff was, in fact, the chief architect, or at least one of the leading masons employed by King Solomon to build his grand temple in Jerusalem. If Hiram was one of those involved with constructing King Solomon’s temple and helped start Freemasonry, then the secret society is older than modern Christianity and Islam.” READ MORE

Masonic Knowledge
•  “Side talks during meetings are frowned upon. The lodge room is a meeting point for Brothers who are working to make the best stones for God’s spiritual temple. The lodge room is a Temple for God who is the Supreme Architect of the Universe.

• “It is considered bad manners to have side talks in a church, synagogue or mosque during services and so is the same in the Masonic lodge. It is distracting, and it shows disrespect for lodge proceedings. The lodge room is for learning the ways of the Master Architect and not a room for socialising. Silence is expected of all. Even whispering is not permitted.” – bricksmasons.com

Masonic Wisdom
• “The Ethics Centre says that trying to have volunteer Freemasons manage intricate commercial undertakings is an impossible challenge. This is not a criticism of the volunteer Board members, but a clear statement that the structure is impossibly out of date.” – GM’s report to members of Freemasons Victoria.

The Last Word
• “This is the moment that we start again.” – Richard Elkington, Grand Master of Freemasons Victoria

INFORMATION TO KNOW
FVNews is published by Bro. Ash Long, Chair of the Communications and Marketing Volunteer Action Team of Freemasons Victoria. 
Phone: 0450 399 932.
Web: www.FVNews.com.au 
Email: editor@FVNews.com.au

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