Installation 2017 The Masters View

My Installation, Manchester - March 2017 Bro Carl Freeland Worshipful Master This Installation meeting was held in Manchester Bridge Street, a building in a state of disarray due to the on-going reconstruction works. The main party stayed at the Premier Inn, Salford Quays. It was a great hotel overlooking the quay, with good transport links by tram, a shopping centre and the Lowry Theatre nearby and the adjacent Beefeater Inn. On Friday evening we met in the Beefeater Inn for an informal gathering. There was no pre-booked meal and Brethren ordered as they wished from the menu. Some brethren spent the evening running up and down the stairs, as some arrived and ordered meals on the ground floor only to find out later a number of Brethren we seated upstairs. It was a damp evening, raining on and off, I recall John Dutchman-Smith unable to attend due to a family emergency calling in for a few minutes, wet through just walking a few yards from the car park to the bar. On Saturday morning, rehearsals started on time at 10am in the temple, when after a few moments the lights failed, and the rehearsal was left in total darkness, the DC Steve Gregory moved us into the adjacent dining room, arranging chairs to mirror the Lodge layout in a smaller scale, constantly telling the Brethren milling about to leave the dining room if they were not PMs, including me when it came to the Installation part. Fortunately the electrical problem was fixed, and the Installation ceremony commenced on time at 12 noon, the DC had worked hard to fine tune the ceremony to minimise the time it would take with a target to start the festive board at 3pm. So it commenced like a whirlwind, with Lodge business, the eulogy to our dear Brother Junior Warden who passed to the Grand Lodge above in November, and then on a happier note a celebration of Satinder Lal’s 50th year in Freemasonry, eloquently presented by APGM Christopher J Welton. The main event was my Installation into the Chair of King Solomon, and what a wonderful experience it was, with excellent ritual by the Installing Officers, and those Brethren presenting the addresses and working tools, pressed onwards by the DC, often seen looking at his watch. The special moment for me was to proudly invest my Officers for the year, then I received a number of wonderful presentations, including my very own gavel all the way from America as an Installation gift from PM Jim Hogg who was sadly unable to attend, onwards with the rest of the business to closing a full 6 minutes before the DC’s own 3pm deadline! The Festive Board followed in the refurbished dining room, and we were told we were the first Lodge to use the room following its renovation, and it was a truly beautiful and fitting venue for our Festive Board with around 100 dinning, an excellent meal, with great service, speeches and some wonderful stories about Satinder’s exploits as a Doctor and a Mason. Earlier in the day I noticed there was no piano or organ in the dining room, but one appeared ready for the Festive Board, I was told that Chris and Naunton searched building, and found an instrument  and the two of them pushed it to the dining room, which proved a fitting accompaniment to John Dutchman-Smith’s excellent rendition of the Master’s Song. The Festive board ended in time for many to catch their trains home, and those staying had a short walk from the Premier Inn to the Lowry Theatre, enjoying a memorable performance of Evita, all arranged by our Secretary David Starbuck. A weekend I will never forget, a major step in my Masonic advancement, after being a Mason for 20 years and a member of this wonderful Lodge for almost 10 years, now proudly serving as it 20th Worshipful Master in the UGLE Tercentenary Year. Carl Freeland March 2017