Jan 2007

Home
Up

'This page has been approved by the United Grand Lodge of England’

[January 2007] [February 2007] [March 2007] [April 2007] [May 2007} [June 2007] [July 2007]

[August 2007] [September 2007] [October 2007][November 2007] [December 2007]

MESSAGE FOR JANUARY 2007

ANOTHER YEAR ROLLS BY -

Let me first of all wish all my Brethren and Visitors to this site a Very Happy, Prosperous and ‘Healthy’ New Year.

The years now seem to be roll by so swiftly that events need to be captured and savoured lest they be erased from memory because of their swift transit through our consciousness.

This last year was completely absorbed in our Masonic District by the construction and dedication of the Cornwallis Home for assisted Living. We took a conscious decision to first complete every aspect of its construction before accepting Residents; as we wanted to avoid any disturbance to them, by continuing site work after their taking up residence therein, and also to demonstrate that the project was complete in every aspect. There were many amongst us who had reservations about the completion of this prestigious Charity initiative but we felt we owed it to those who had invested confidence in us to deliver an acceptable result. This list included our PATRONS who had contributed the initial corpus with which we bought the land, eight years ago, the Grand Charity which gave us a grant, and the many Brethren of our District who had contributed their mite and muscle to it. Above all, we had to deliver on the promises made to Most Wor. Bro. Fiennes Lord Cornwallis, when he turned the first sod for the Home in 1998, and indeed graciously lent his illustrious name to the Home. The Cornwallises did us the honour of dedicating and declaring it open on the 6^th of December, and within the first few weeks of this month we shall be fully operational.

As I said at the Opening Ceremony, we need to feel our way into the management of this facility as it combines the hard infrastructural components of a normal Hostelry with the special needs and soft skills that a residence for Senior Citizens demands.

So we look forward to the coming year with some trepidation to ensure that the Masonry, literally speaking that represents the outer envelope of the Cornwallis Home, will be filled within, with the compassion and care that our fraternal obligations lay down as imperatives.

We hope, by the time this year rolls by, that we would have taken our first steps in this direction and have made some progress to achieve the required experience in the administration of our Home for assisted living – the first in the English Craft outside England and Wales. In the meanwhile may the GAOTU bless all our initiatives during this year as He has done in ages past.