Gloucestershire Round Table Lodge in Wotton prides itself on being a welcoming bunch and demonstrated that to several invited members of the public at their Gentlemen’s Open Evening. Before dinner Steve Tainton gave them a ‘What You Always Wanted To Know About Freemasonry But Were Afraid To Ask’ session with nothing held back. After starters (pate) Dick Smith treated everyone to a talk on Engineering Freemasons in Gloucestershire which was a very fast trip through their achievements, from bridges to diesel engines to lawnmowers. After the main course (steak pie and chips) there was a plethora of toasts to those present and absent. One of the cornerstones of every lodge is its giving so there was a cheque presentation of £1000 to Slimbridge Scouts after pudding (apple crumble and custard). There was also a contest for the ‘Travelling Gavel’ which can be claimed from the host lodge by a visiting lodge with the necessary number present. As there were several lodges there able to claim it the rules were ‘interpreted’ in his own favour by Robin Tudor, master of St John’s Lodge in Dursley, on the basis that he’d donated the gavel in the first place. He then pointed out that the head of Freemasonry in Gloucestershire, Tim Henderson-Ross, had presented him with a teddy bear in recognition of his work for Teddies for Loving Care (a Freemasons’ charity which gives teddies to children who are understandably anxious in Gloucestershire hospitals’ minor injury units). He therefore felt that Ian Davies, assistant to Tim, ought to give him something suitable too. Ian gave him a ‘little blue book’ of how a master should conduct the degree ceremonies, but pointed out that it was way too late for Robin to start doing it properly now. At this point the master of Gloucestershire Round Table Lodge decided that after an evening of great companionship and hilarity it was time to close proceedings until next month.
