Having welcomed Lodge Guests and Members, the Lodge was opened. Numbers attending were less than expected as a result of the heavy snow that had brought chaos to the transport system particularly for those travelling from the North and South West. We were grateful for those members who volunteered to stand in for missing Brethren, with particular thank to Bill Green who undertook Senior Warden and Robin Tillbrook who deputised for Inner Guard.

Having confirmed the minutes of the last meeting, a Ceremony of Passing was conducted and Brother Bob Bartlett was passed to the Second Degree. The Ceremony ran smoothly with excellent work being done by the Deacons: John Edwards and Henry Hopking who also gave a most excellent long version of the second degree working tools. The Worshipful Master was then called on to give the Second Degree tracing Board, which he delivered with meaning and perfection.

With the remaining reports given to the lodge, business was concluded and the Brethren and their guest retired to Beotys for a splendid festive board. This was a first visit by the Lodge and from the favourable reports fed back by the Brethren it hopefully won’t be the last. With the weather greatly improved Brethren managed to return home safely and in reasonable time.

The Lodge was opened by the Worshipful Master W.Bro Rory Shackleton who was pleased to welcome visitors from Grand Lodge and other Lodges.

As evidence of the continued increasing interest in Freemasonary, it was with great pleasure that the Lodge conducted a double initiation ceremony and were pleased to welcome to our ranks Peter Mackie Scollick and Simon Wilson following a successful ballot in their favour. The ceremony was excellently choreographed by the Director of Ceremonies W.Bro James Milne with both candidates going through the ceremony side by side. It was clear that much effort had been put in by the Brethren in support of the Worshipful Master to make this an excellent occasion that flowed well and was clearly enjoyed by all those present. The working tools were presented by W Bro Tom Hawley and a faultless Charge was given by Bro Henry Hopking.

W.Bro Robin Tilbrook was invested as Assistant Secretary, having been unable to attend the previous meeting. W. Bro James Milne also presented the Immediate Past Master W.Bro Jeremy Morton Moss with his Past Masters Jewel. This particular Jewel had been presented to James by W. Bro Graham Cadie and James expressed his hope that Jeremy would also have the opportunity to pass it on in the future.

The business of the evening completed the Lodge was closed and everybody adjourned for refreshments at the Kingsway Hall in good time.

W. Bro. Granville Angell presented a stupendous lecture from the floor of the Lodge to an audience of just under 100.

In the presence of RW Bro. Michael Hooton, Provincial Grand Master of Berkshire, and many Masons, their wives and other non-masonic guests, Bro. Granville gave a brief explanation of the history of the Prestonian Lecture and stated that his aim was to educate and entertain. A certain amount of repartee occurred when he pointed to the lodge’s bronze statue of the Duke of Wellington and referred to him as Nelson.

Barely referring to his notes, Granville proceeded to give a marvellous exposition on the history of the Victoria Cross; surprising many, when he explained that the original ribbon colours were red for the Army and light blue for the Navy.

The story of Sir William Hewett VC kept the whole audience enthralled. Everybody was quite sad when the lecture drew to a close and had not noticed the passing of time.

Granville presented the WM with a bound copy of his lecture book, “The Victoria Cross Freemasons’ Band Of Brothers”. This is available in paperback for £10 and 75p for p&p in support of Granville’s charity , “VC Grave Concern”, which looks after the graves of holders of the VC.

The Lodge was set up in the Queens Court Theatre at Wellington College. After successfully securing the many exits, the Lodge was opened by W Bro Jeremy Morton-Moss for the last time as WM. The dispensations were read allowing the Lodge meeting to take place at Wellington as well as early as the Master Elect was to be overseas at the time of the usual October meeting. Brother Rory Shackleton was installed into the Chair of King Solomon with assistance of visiting Masters from Old Wykehamist, Old Tonbridgian and Whitehill Lodges. The meeting was very well attended with visitors including: W Bro Granville Angell, the Prestonian Lecturer and VW Bro Desmond Shackleton from Ireland.

Bro Jeremy Morton-Moss handed over the WM chair to Brother Tom Hawley who conducted the installation ceremony. The Addresses to the Master, Wardens and Brethren were given by VW Jervis Kay, a Past-Master and W Bro Bill Green respectively. The new Worshipful Master of the Old Wellingtonian Lodge looks forward to a busy year with a double initiation planned for November.

After the meeting, an excellent festive board was enjoyed by the Brethren, their wives and partners and guests in the Wellesley Room at Wellington College. A warm welcome was extended to all the visitors and as many were staying in The Waterloo Hotel as they were attending the Prestonian Lecture in the morning, most adjourned afterwards to the Hotel to celebrate the birthday of W Bro Nigel Birch.

The May meeting was held in fine style and we initiated a candidate into the First Degree. We even performed the Apprentice’s Chain which was most entertaining. A new Initiate was proposed and accepted. The Worshipful Master and Treasurer for 2007 were elected unanimously and the current IPM accepted the progressive office of Tyler. Due to the unavoidable absence of the Worshipful Master Elect on the usual date, it was agreed that the Installation Meeting would be held on September 29th at Wellington College rather than October 12th.

The Festive Board was merrier than usual due to the presence of several members’ wives and non-masonic guests. We were also graced by the attendance of the new Master of Wellington College in his first term, Dr. Anthony Seldon, the well-known author and biographer of the current Prime Minister. Although he divided his time between us and Turf, fairly in my opinion, he still managed to impress us with his erudite manner.

At the end of the meal an Old Wellingtonian Blazer (vintage 1938) in excellent condition was auctioned to raise money for the lodge charity fund. The meeting ended after a superb meal by the college catering staff.

The February meeting of the Old Wellingtonian Lodge was marked by the brethren standing for a minute’s silence in remembrance of W Bro Major John Underwood, who recently past to the Grand Lodge above. W Bro Tom Hawley, IPM, gave a eulogy marking W Bro John’s contributions to the Lodge including the important role John had played in ensuring the future of the lodge, and a résumé of his distinguished and well-travelled career with the Army and the Ordnance Survey.

This was followed by a fine ceremony of Passing, presided over by the Worshipful Master of the Lodge, W.Bro. Jeremy Moreton-Moss.

Looking forward, Bro Secretary reminded the Brethren of the a number of forthcoming events, including a memorial service for the 725 OWs and College staff who died in the war years 1914-18 at St Georges Chapel, Ypres (26th March 2006), The Prestonian Lecture to be held at Wellington College (30th September 2006), and the Public Schools Lodges Council Festival, this year being hosted at Uppingham.

The Lodge was closed and the Brethren dined at the Kingsway Hall hotel, where VW Bro Jervis Kay stood to commend the quality of the Worshipful Master’s work that evening and the Brethren parted, looking forward to the May meeting at Wellington, which being a white table would see us welcoming our families and friends once again to College.

Such is the increasing interest among OWs in masonry that, for the first time since the 1960s, it was necessary to raise two brethren at the same time to the sublime degree of a master mason.

The WM, W. Bro. Jeremy Moss was generous in his approach to his year in the Chair of King Solomon and extended invitations to other brethren to complete the ceremonies. In a remarkable presentation W. Bro. Hew Dunn and W. Bro. Stephen Dudley elevated those present with their authority and command. The exposition of the tracing board, given by a Past-Master, was word perfect to an extent rarely heard in lodges and delivered at a pace that made the fine words both understandable and enjoyable in their reception.

Marking a return to the Kingsway Hall the brethren dined in some splendour with a wise choice of menu. The lodge has a rule that speeches at the festive board are generally frowned upon, a rule that goes back some 95+ years to a period before the First World War. But on a few occasions, a very few, exceptions are made. Such was the case when W. Bro. Hawley rose to record the Masonic career of Bro. Count Charles Goblet d’Alviella and his hopes for his future in the craft.

Bro. Jeremy Moreton Moss was installed into the Chair of King Solomon with the assistance of visiting Masters from the Old Reptonian and Old Bradfield Lodges. As with so many meetings, the installation was further enriched with a number of guests including the visiting Master from Prince Leopold Lodge, Grand Officers Peter Hamel-Cooke, Robin Atkins and Russell John Race, the Deputy Metropolitan Grand Master.

The lodge met at Wellington College to witness the passing to the second degree of the College Chaplain Rev’d Fr. Andrew Richards. The lodge was pleased to recommend W. Bro. Christopher Collins [Hopetoun 53-57] (PPGnd Swd B Shropshire) as a joining member. We were additionally honoured by the presence of VW Bro. Sir Richard Buckley and the Deputy Provincial Grand Master for Berkshire VW Bro. John Owen, who together with six reigning masters from public schools lodges met to celebrate the achievements of the retiring (head) master for Wellington College, Hugh Monro at a dinner in his honour. He was pleased to receive donations of £700.00 each to the College Bevir fund and the St George’s Kidney Patients Association, this year’s selected charity of the master of the lodge W. Bro. Tom Hawley. Bro. Jeremy Moreton Moss was elected master and W. Bros Nigel Birch and a Past-Master treasurers for the relevant parts of the ensuing year.