FOR MARK MASTER MASONS and ROYAL ARK MARINERS OF SOMERSETIssue 22 Summer 2017 http://www.somersetmarkmason.co.uk

P r o v i n c i a l G r a n d L o d g e 2 0 1 7On Saturday 6th May 2017, the Annual Meeting of ProvincialGrand Lodge took place at its usual venue, The WebbingtonHotel, under the banners of the Fidelity & Unanimity LodgeNo. 348 & Langdale Lodge No. 1615.The meeting was directed with great aplomb by the newProvincial Director of Ceremonies Worshipful Brother MarkGolding.The meeting followed its tried & tested agenda commencingwith the entrance of the host lodge banners accompanied bythe Masters & brethren of their two lodges. All rose again towelcome the visiting dignitaries & guests.To the sound of the organ, all stood to greet & applaud theProvincial Grand Master for Somerset, The Right WorshipfulBrother John Graham Morgan, his Deputy The VeryWorshipful Brother Philip Clifford Voisey & the fullProvincial Team.The opening hymn was sung & Provincial Grand Lodge wasopened in due & proven form.As is now the happy custom, a delegation of Royal ArkMariners was warmly welcomed by the PGM, all Marklodges were separately called upon each rising to voice theirattendance. The Provincial Grand Treasurer gave his report& the accounts were approved, as were the Minutes ofProvincial Grand Lodge held on 7th May 2016.The PGM next re-appointed his Deputy PGM after whichboth took the floor for the main event of the afternoon toappoint & invest the new Officers of Provincial Grand Lodge.Each was greeted & invested individually by the PGM &congratulated by both.The Provincial Grand Master next delivered his annualaddress to Provincial Grand Lodge, which included grateful

thanks on behalf of theProvince to WorshipfulBrother John Smith theProvincial Grand Secretaryon his retirement from thisday. At the conclusion of hisaddress, the PGM wasgreeted with much applause.His next happy duty was tomeet & welcome personallythose brethren who hadjoined our Mark Degreeover the last 12 months &present them each with a souvenir tiepin.The PGM next requested the Provincial Director ofCeremonies to escort W. Brother Ian Cox & Brother ChrisDyer to him. Much to their obvious surprise each wascongratulated & presented with Grand Patron & PatronCollarets respectively in recognition of their generousdonations to the Mark Benevolent Fund.The closing Hymn was sung, Worshipful Brother MarkGolding called the meeting to order & Provincial Grand Lodgewas closed in due form, after which The PGM & his Deputyescorted by the new Provincial Team & visiting dignitariesretired from the assembly.The ladies who had accompanied the brethren had beenentertained during the afternoon by Mr. David Garmston fromBBC Points West, they then joined their menfolk for awelcome drink before making their way to the dining roomfor a happy Festive Board & as is always expected, minimumspeeches & maximum enjoyment!…Copy/pics,Ed. More pictures page 7

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S o r r y H e r b e r tF u l l e r L o d g e

Dear Readers,I have been rightlytaken to task byeagle-eyed brethrenfor a mistake onpage two of issue21, the springedition of yourTriangle Magazine.It described thepresentation of the Travelling Ark to ourProvincial Grand Master at the Royal ArkMariners Assembly on 3rd September 2016.My apologies must go to the WorshipfulCommander & Brethren of the Herbert FullerLodge, Number 128, meeting at Wincanton, (thepresenting Lodge) for calling them theWorshipful Master & Brethren of the IrwinLodge Number 119, meeting at Keynsham!I have produced 18 editions of the Triangle &often wonder if they are read from cover to cover?I now know they are & apologise for reading thewrong page in the RAM section of the MasonicReference Book.Patrick Morrisey, Editor.PS. A hair-Shirt (large) has now been ordered!A hair shirt is a coarse garment intended to beworn next to the skin, keeping the wearer in astate of discomfort and constant awareness ofthe shirt's presence.

Mark Provincial

Team Dinner

On Friday 21st April 2017 to Mark a very successful & busy year forthe current 2016/17 Mark Provincial Team the ‘end-of-term’dinner tookplace at the Isle of Wedmore Golf Club.On arrival each member & his lady was greeted by our Provincial GrandMaster John with his Deputy Philip & their ladies.The room soon filled & with the bar becoming very busy, the quiet &polite atmosphere soon gave way to loud conversation & laughter.Eventually all were called to order by the Provincial Grand Director ofCeremonies Mark Golding who called upon the Provincial Deputy GrandChaplain Geff Ifill for the benefit of Grace.The dinner was beautifully prepared, leisurely served, the wine flowed(sensibly!) & a relaxed & happy time was had by all. PGM John visited& greeted each table in turn with his usual happy & personal involvementwith all his Officers of the year. One of our brethren was unable to bewith us on this special occasion, W. Brother Mike Fazackerley who washospitalised a short while ago. W. Brother Ian McDonald had prepareda card which went around the tables for all present to wish him well fora restful recovery from his surgery.The formal part of the evening came when allrose for the Loyal Toast presented by PGM John.Who again rose to thank his team for all their hardwork over the last 11 months, with special thanksto the ladies for their constant support. John alsolooked forward to the forthcoming AnnualProvincial Meeting at the Webbington Hotel onSaturday 6th May 2017. There to again thank hispresent Team publically & greet & congratulatehis new team members…. copy/pics…Ed.

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Such a busy time at Eldon Mark

At their February Meeting, Worshipful Master David Mason onbehalf of Eldon Mark, welcomed the Provincial Grand Master,John Graham Morgan, His Deputy VWBrother Philip Voisey &Past Deputy PGM, VWBrother Patrick Parker.After Lodge business, all rose to welcome the Worshipful Master,David Marriott Officers & Brethren of the Hallam Lodge on theirFraternal Visit.This was shortly followed by a similar team of brethren from theElse Lodge, at Weston-super-Mare headed by Worshipful MasterChris Avery to deliver the Travelling Keystone.This special evening ended with a talk given by Assistant DCPeter Harris entitled, “A Potted History of the Masons Marks”.W.Brother Peter described his paper as a short history, but it wasobvious that a great deal of work & research had gone into hisinvestigation. Examples of over 120 Masons Marks were passedaround the lodge & similar patterns from Cathedrals, Abbeys &Churches all over the country, (including 12 from India) weredescribed & compared. Marks not only identified each Mason’swork, but were used to position the stone in its proper place inthe overall plan of the building.A comment from our PGM at the splendid Festive Board thatfollowed the meeting, “Thanks to Peter, we have all made anadvancement in Masonic Knowledge this evening”, summed upan evening of pleasure, friendship & appreciation.Copy/pics…Ed.

Did you know?

“ 3 4 8 ” K e e p s i t i n t h e F a m i l y

The old saying “Keep it in the family” certainly applied to thetwo Fidelity and Unanimity Lodges in Taunton recently. Duringthe month of January, two well-known Taunton Masons had thepleasure of seeing their sons enter their respective lodges. Firstly,in Mid-January at our Royal Ark Mariner Lodge, Bro KevinNeagle of 348 Mark Lodge, the son of W.Bro Colin Neagle wasadvanced into the Degree.Unfortunately at the very last minute W.Bro Colin was unable toattend due to Illness, but with the PGM present The WorshipfulCommander W.Bro Nigel Handbury advanced Bro Kevin andwelcomed him into the Lodge.On the last day of January W.Bro Les Johnson had the pleasureof seeing his son Bro. Simon advanced into the Mark Degree. Ahighlight for Simon was having the Secrets presented to him byhis father. The Lodge in turn were proud that W.Bro Les carriedout this ritual at the age of 91.At the festive board Les told the story of when, many years ago,he was Chairman of the Hall Committee. Simon, not yet aMason, used to come in and help him lay out the Temple for thedifferent degrees that were meeting, so he knew the layout of thelodge but had no idea what ritual went on. He found that out onthe night!Once again the PGM, along with the DPGM were in attendancewith members of the Provincial Team, and a most enjoyableevening ensued.We now await Bro. Simon to consider joining Royal ArkMariners when we can truly say we,

“Kept it in the family”.

Copy/pics……W.Bro Rod Green.Top pic…RAM.RWBro. John Morgan, Bro. Kevin, WBro. Nigel Handbury, WC.BTM pic…Mark.RWBro. John joined by Bro. Simon,W. Bro. Les & W. Bro PatHitchcock-W. Master.

Has anyone ever noticed thatour Provincial Grand Master’sJewel set at the bottom of hischain of office, displays the

Square & Compasses fixed inthe Fellowcraft position?

Item taken from the Summer 2010edition of the Triangle Magazine

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P r o v i n c i a l 6 0 0 C l u b W i n n e r sEach Draw takes place at a different lodge each month.

The winning numbers are selected electronically.Prizes are:- 1st £150, 2nd £100,

3rd & 4th £50.

January1 s t W. Bro. Bob Day 1548

“ W. Bro. Nei l Dashfield 191 “ W. Bro. Jimmy Evans 571 “ W. Bro. Garry Mackenzie 102

February1 s t W. Bro. Mike Skyrme 102“ Mrs. Valerie Stone 1912“ Bro. G. Turner 1652“ W. Bro. Nevil le Harrison 162

March 1 s t Mrs. Lynne O’Malley-White 781

“ Mrs. Sue Lyons 155 “ Bro. Richard Ferris 177 “ Master Alex Wynne 128

April 1 s t Bro. Chris Cronin 730

“ Bro. Phil Reed 1548 “ W. Bro. T. Quartermaine TI “ Mrs. Sandra Carter 155

In her song ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ Joni Mitchell sang“Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t knowwhat you’ve got ‘till it’s gone”. I have thoughtsomething similar many times over the past fewmonths whilst taking over the reins from mypredecessor, W. Bro. John Smith. We owe Johna big debt of gratitude for his work in keepingthe administration of our Province runningsmoothly.On a personal note, I would sincerely thank bothJohn and our PGM RW. Bro. John Morgan forall their assistance and guidance during thesummer during the change-over, as well as all

the lodge Secretaries and Scribes with whom it has been such a pleasureto work during my past 5 years as Deputy Provincial Secretary.

Secretaries / Scribes and Directors of Ceremonies Meeting.A meeting has been arranged for Thursday 24th August 2017 at WedmoreMasonic Hall commencing at 7pm. The meeting will be chaired by theProvincial Grand Master. I would encourage all Secretaries/Scribes andtheir Assistants to attend if possible. Whilst the format is as usual, thereare some new items to be considered, and the occasion provides a usefulopportunity for the Provincial Executive to keep in touch with the viewsof Lodge officers. Meeting will be followed by light refreshment.

Provincial Grand Assembly of Royal Ark Mariners.The Provincial Grand Assembly of Royal Ark Mariners will be held atthe Webbington Hotel on Saturday 2nd September 2017 at 10.45am.This very popular meeting is open to all Royal Ark Mariners, and theProvincial Grand Master is anxious that the Commanders of each Lodgetogether with their Wardens attend wearing their collars of office. As inprevious years, all members Elevated since the last Assembly will receivea personal invitation from the Provincial Grand Master and will beallocated reserved seating. Brethren promoted to Provincial RAM GrandRank will receive their collarette. The Assembly will be followed by aLuncheon, to which the ladies are invited. Summons and luncheonbooking forms are available from Lodge Scribes and may also bedownloaded from the web site.

Almoners and Charity Stewards Meeting.A meeting for Lodge Almoners and Charity Stewards will be held onFriday 3rd November 2017 at Wedmore Masonic Hall commencing at7pm, followed by light refreshment. Further information will be sent toall Lodge Secretaries and Scribes in due course.

Provincial Ties and Tokens.Provincial Mark & RAM ties and Mark Tokens can be obtained fromthe Provincial Grand Secretary via your Lodge Secretary.

P r o v i n c i a l S e c r e t a r y ’ s C o r n e r

T h e E l s e L o d g e h a s

‘Somewhere to Go’, (StG) is a drop-in service in Weston-super-Marefor homeless people, including those who sleep rough & those at riskof homelessness. The help includes, breakfast, lunch, tea & coffee,showers, & a clothing store. Hopefully they can then be helped bythe many volunteers to find their place back in society.This is the charity chosen by Chris Avery, Master of Else. I askedChris the reason why he chose this particle group to help.“I've been loosely involved with food collections and fund raising ina small way through the Church, but when I went into the chair ofElse I saw it as a good opportunity to make a difference. The chequewas for £736.50, The lodge quiz night that will follow soon will, Ihope, help to swell this total.In some ways what StG do is a fair reflection of what the Mark degreeteaches us about ‘the stone that the builders rejected’"Copy/pic,Ed.

The picture shows Joan Eales manager of the drop-incentre, Chris Avery & Mike Cooper, Chairman of StG.

For the latest information and form downloads, visit

Finally, the editor of The Triangle W. Bro. Pat Morrisey alwayswelcomes articles about and photos of events within your Lodges.

Provincial Grand Secretary

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Exactly a century after he was born on 7th April 1917, James(Jim) Allen, in some style, was able to celebrate the wonderfuloccasion of his 100th Birthday with his dear wife Pauline andfamily at their home in Higher Ansford, Castle Cary,Somerset. Along with 3 other Masonic friends, WBros TonyWilcox, Steve McCarthy and John Allan, I was very pleasedto attend a morning reception at their home in the companyof a small group of friends and relations, for nibbles, birthdaycake and a glass of “bubbly”.Unbeknown to us they had received another similar sizedgroup earlier that morning and, indeed, had other groupscoming after lunch and, for those at work during the week, afinal gathering the next day on Saturday 8th.I was privileged and delighted to hand over a scroll certificatefrom Mark Grand Lodge signed by the Most WorshipfulGrand Master, HRH Prince Michael of Kent, and by the GrandSecretary, celebrating Jim’s very special birthday, and hislong service to the Mark Degree. In addition, we presented acertificate in similar vein from Right Worshipful Brother JohnGraham Morgan the Mark Provincial Grand Master forSomerset, where Jim is a very popular and much respectedelder statesman in both the Mark Degree, as a Past ProvincialGrand Senior Warden and a Past Master, and HonoraryMember of Science Mark Lodge no.128 at Wincanton, as wellas being a holder of Provincial Royal Ark Mariner GrandRank as a Past Commander of Herbert Fuller RAM LodgeNo.128 also in Wincanton.Commencing his working life as a Civilian Officer in theNavy Department of the Ministry of Defence in the ChathamDockyard, in Kent, Jim went on to serve in several areasincluding Gibraltar, Malta, and at the Naval Law Departmentin London, during which time he achieved several promotions.On his retirement, after almost 40 years’ service, in 1977, hewas the Civilian Administration Officer at RNAS Yeovilton,in Somerset with the additional appointment as the Adviseron Civilian Matters to the Flag Officer Naval Air Command.As a Freemason, at the time of writing, Jim has enjoyed a longand distinguished career extending almost 70 years. He wasinitiated in Brownrigg Lodge of UnityNo.1424 in East Kent on 16th October1947, where he remained a member until30th September 1998 - some 50 years. Hejoined Union of Malta Lodge No. 407, inMalta, on 1st January 1958, and, in whatmust be a record, was installed asWorshipful Master two months later! Jimwas made an Honorary Member of thatLodge in 2014.On moving to Somerset, Jim joined RoyalClarence Lodge No.976 at Bruton in 1975,where he was a member for 17 years.Subsequently, he joined SomersetProvincial Grand Stewards LodgeNo.9189 on 19th May 1990 and wasinstalled as its Master in October 2000.Made a Provincial Grand Steward in EastKent in 1955, he was later appointed PastProvincial Junior Grand Warden inSomerset in 1991.

W.Brother James Joseph Vincent Allen100th Birthday Celebrations

Exalted into the Holy Royal Arch Chapter in BrownriggChapter No.1424 in October 1948, he was Most ExcellentZerubbabel some 19 years later; he joined the WilliamKingston Chapter No. 407 in October 1981. At Provinciallevel, in Hants and Isle of Wight, he was appointed PastProvincial Grand Standard Bearer in 1975, and promotedProvincial Grand Registrar in 2003.At his birthday party, we presented Jim with signed cardsfrom the Science Mark and Herbert Fuller RAM Lodges, fromthe Mark PGM and the 2016/2017 Provincial Mark team, aswell as Royal Naval Lodge No.2761 in Yeovil. Amongst themultitude of those others he had received was the a veryspecial one from Her Majesty the Queen, one from theSecretary of State for Work and Pensions, and also cards fromSomerset Provincial Grand Stewards Lodge and from Unionof Malta Lodge.Jim and Pauline were certainly delighted to receive the twospecial Masonic Certificates and clearly appreciated all thewarm greetings extended to them by their Masonic friends onthis very special day. Although these days Jim is a bit limitedin his personal mobility, this is not so when he climbs aboardhis ‘all-weather’ scooter and is a sight well known locally ashe scoots around the town. Indeed, throughout our visit –standing all the time – it was amazing to see how well helooked for a sprightly 100-year-old.Copy by……Mike Waterman 16th April 2017.Pictures courtesy…Jane Russell.

A now well established event in the Provincial Calendar

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As a happy & personal welcome, the new Officers of the2017/2018 Provincial Team, travelled with their ladies toPortbury to the home & garden of our Deputy PGM PhilVoisey & his lady Gill for a now well established event in theProvincial Calendar, the Annual Summer BBQ.Co-hosting this special day was our PGM John, who togetherwith his lady Wendy welcome all as they arrived with awelcome drink of their choice. Planning for all eventualities,be it rain or shine, the marquee was in position as were thetables & chairs & of course the drinks table!Very soon the buzz of conversation & laughter grew louder,old friends met & new friendships were made helped no doubtby wine, beer & drinks to suit everyone.

Soon the BBQ was at full swing as Philips son Craig, assistedby his two 4 legged helpers, cooked beef-burgers, chicken,sausages & lamb chops accompanied with a variety of salads!But wait! There followed a wonderful selection of dessertsprepared by Gill & Wendy, meringues, fruit salad, apple tart,to name but a few!Sincere thanks to John, Phil, Wendy, Gill, Craig & Carolinewas voiced by all, and the happy faces & laughter that the dayproduced & the appreciation from all present has withoutdoubt formed a bond between the Officers that will ensurethat the forthcoming Provincial year will be a pleasure &happy experience for them all.Copy/pics…Ed.

The Marquee comes

down helped by many

hands, supervised by

the ladies!

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Thackeray RAM welcomes Mark Masons

Bill Stag, Tony Syms, PGM John, Andy Lyle, Chris Cronin & Ian Hill

Overview of the Paper given by Right Worshipful Brother JohnGraham Morgan, Provincial Grand Master for Somerset, toMark Master Masons who were invited to the Thackeray Lodgeof Royal Ark Mariners meeting at Clevedon.The Degree of Royal Ark Mariner, although worked under theauthority of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons, andrequiring every candidate to be a Mark Master Mason, has no

Annua l Prov inc ia l Mee t ing P ic tu re Ga l le ry

historical connection whatsoever with that Degree, It standsentirely alone and totally unrelated to any other Degree inFreemasonry.Elevation into the Royal Ark Mariner Degree commemorates theprovidence and mercy of God and relates to the legend of theDeluge. The contents of the ceremony is taken directly from theBible and is naturally both beautiful and instructive.

Mr. David Garmstonfrom BBC TV Points West

The Somerset Triangle Magazine is produced for the ProvincialGrand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of Somerset

The Editor would be pleased to receive articles, news & photographs for possiblepublication, but reserves the right to edit them if & where necessary.

Contact…patmorrisey@btinternet.com or gosnid@hotmail.co.uk 8

20176th Sept. Portal to Commanders

20th Nov. Commanders to Irwin

201826th Feb. Irwin to Herbert Fuller

23rd March Herbert Fuller to William Long

20178th Sept. Nailsea to Somerdale

11th October Somerdale to Royal Cumberland 18th Dec. Royal Cumberland to Carnarvon

2018 15th Jan. Carnarvon to St. Andrews 26th March St. Andrews to Royal Sussex

T r a v e l l i n g A r k Travelling Keystone

New WM, David Burrows.At the Installation Meeting of new Worshipful MasterDavid Burrows, the Lodge was honoured by the presenceof our PGM R.W.Brother John Graham Morgan,accompanied by W.Brother Mark Golding, ProvincialGrand Director of Ceremonies.I asked David to give me a personal view as the new WMof Somerdale, why there was such a distinguished line-upin the photograph?“As far as the entourage in the photograph is concerned,they all turned up by co-incidence rather than design. I hadinvited John Platts who is an old friend & a member of myCraft Lodge. Peter Franklin another old friend & IanAnderson who I have known for over 20 years, visiting eachother in our Mark & Rose meetings. Last but not least JohnSmith, another old friend.The rest were friends of Installing Master David Maddernincluding John Gillo. David Nelson, Roger Blake, TonyFisher and Stuart Hadler, they are all members of the Lodge.

So as you can see, co-incidental but very nice. Although Daviddidn't need to do the full ceremony, he agreed to do it andwhat a wonderful job he made of it; all present were treatedto a smashing ceremony.At the Festive Board PGM John was in his usual happy andjovial form and reminded us of the coming Provincial GrandLodge at the Webbington as well as support for our fourSomerset Brethren on the Charity Run. He also took thisopportunity to thank W.Bro. John Smith for his work asProvincial Grand Secretary and wished him well in hisretirement. When announcing the new Grand Lodgeappointments he also congratulated those Brethren who willreceive Provincial Honours in June.There were also visitors from other Mark Lodges includingMike Fazackerley, WM of my other Somerset Mark Lodge,The Isle of Wedmore.All in all, it was a great occasion for Somerdale.”

Thank you David…Ed.

Somerdale Mark lodge No. 1608