Why Freemasonry? A new member describes a journey of trepidation and reward
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February 5, 2023
A bottle of gin and fifty pairs of boxer shorts is an unusual combination of gifts – but were nevertheless well received when Roy Hilton took them to the Caribbean island of Grenada.
The boxers had been requested by members of the island’s Conception Lodge 8346, of which Roy is a member, as part of members’ ongoing support for Father Mallaghan’s Home for Boys. Said Roy, also a member of Boston’s Pilgrim Fathers Lodge: “I’d asked if there was anything the home needed, expecting him to say something like pencils or writing equipment. It turned out that there was a desperate need for small and medium pairs of boxers, which I was happy to take.”
On the journey the boxers were ideal padding to protect a bottle of Tyle’s Toast gin in Roy’s suitcase, distilled by our own Matt Felgate from Lincoln.
Roy’s visit to Grenada was less of a visit and more of a homecoming; having joined the Conception Lodge in 2020 he hadn’t been able to visit it until now because of Covid.
He added: “I’d taken the gin to mark the occasion of my ‘homecoming’ to present to the Master Rocky Alexander at the festive board.” And whilst that particular spirit is boosting our Festival funds at home, the Grenadian brethren have organised the bottling to a 12-year-old rum to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Conception Lodge, which will be sold to help with fundraising for a new Masonic centre on the island.
Roy added: “On the night the business of the Lodge included normal agenda items, the raising of Bro. James and the announcement by Deputy District Grand Master Dr. Lutz Amechi of the ‘new’ rum.
“It’s to be called Conception Libation Rum, and having already made suitable space in my suitcase I was more than happy to relieve them of a bottle. (I might even share it with a few of the brethren of Pilgrim Fathers!)
“At the festive board there were visitors from other Caribbean Islands, a brother from Quebec and one from Hertfordshire who is following my footsteps in joining Conception 8346. The Wardens were tasked with ensuring that every brother was suitably “fully” charged before the toasts commenced, but a degree of reloading had to take place! At the end of the night, about 12.30, the Tyler rose, took his place beside the master and then the brethren stood, and in unison, recited The Tyler’s Toast.
“Did I say the end of the night? What then followed was what they call “After the Tyler’s Toast”, but that is a longer enjoyable story, for another day. Needless to say, it was, perhaps, another hour or two before I arrived home!”
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- The fundraising rum
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- Roy hands the Tyler’s Toast gin to Conception Lodge Master Rocky Alexander
