The Lodge of Dawn visit Belfast – Following the success of previous trips to Dublin and Edinburgh, on a cold Wednesday March morning 18 brethren from the lodge, plus three guests (one from Zetland Lodge and two from The Lodge of Fidelity) gathered at Leeds Bradford airport to travel to Belfast.
Once bags had been deposited at the hotel, the party crossed the road to the nearest pub, making the landlord open early. Guinesses ordered, trip co-ordinator, W. Bro Rob Phillips, himself an Irishman gave the assembled brethren an introduction to the complications of Irish history and politics.
Drinks and lessons completed, the party made its way to a local restaurant for lunch. The party then embarked on a three hour guided walking tour taking in the sites and notable locations of Belfast city centre,featured in the city’s history as well as ‘The Troubles’.
After a brief return to the hotel to change, the brethren made the short walk to Belfast Masonic hall for the evening’s ceremony. Concord Lodge no 40 delivered a wonderful First Degree ceremony, featuring some fascinating ‘same but different’ ritual and even managed to include some of the brethren of The Lodge of Dawn in its delivery. At the conclusion of the ceremony the visitors were each gifted a lodge tie, which were then worn by all at the festive board. At the conclusion of a very warm and fraternal festive board, some (most?) of the brethren retired to a late night hostelry for more Guinness and bon homie.
The following day, first on the agenda was a return to the Arthur Square Masonic Hall for a tour and explanation of the building and its history.
The party then boarded a hop-on-hop-off bus for a tour of the wider city, alighting at the Titanic museum. If you haven’t been the museum is a great way to learn not only about the disaster, but more importantly for Belfast, the building of the historic ship. Once fully educated on all things Titanic, and amazingly still not having lost anyone, everyone re-boarded the bus to see more of Belfast including the murals and hotspots of The Troubles along the Falls and Shankhill roads.
Completing a very full and fun two days, the party jumped into taxis to Belfast airport and a return to LBA.
Great thanks must be given to tour co-ordinator for arranging another brilliant trip that ran like clockwork. See the gallery below for some pictures of a great trip.
Joining The Lodge of Dawn
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