Dear Brethren All,
Hello to you all,
Life seems to have been busy lately so I am just using a few minutes to catch up with you all. I hope that in the main you have been able to cope with the high temperatures recently. I am not complaining as this is our summer time but we do need some rain for many reasons. I was talking to one of our local farmers on Sunday, who stated that there is a severe shortage of water in this part of the country and we are getting near to drought conditions. I know that most of us use water carefully and are aware of shortages that might be around the corner. We do not need hosepipe banns, although our lawns are looking very dry, but know that as soon as we get a decent fall of rain they will recover.
The rest of the garden is surviving in the main and the soft fruits have been plentiful. Pat has already made a good amount of raspberry jam and is about to launch an attack on the blackcurrants for jam making. She feels that she was given a good tip recently regarding the harvesting of the blackcurrants, that is to cut off the fruit bearing branches and remove the fruit. This avoids some of the problems later, when deciding which branches fruited this year so need to be removed. The same applies to her redcurrants as well. The potatoes, sweet corn, runner beans, beetroot seem to be doing quite well in spite of the lack of rain.
On the Masonic front, congratulations to all of those brethren who received Mark Grand Rank on 10th June. I note that there was also a good attendance from manty brethren from the Province, I am sure that the P.G.M. and those being honoured appreciated this very much. I hope to see many of you at Botley on 2nd August for those brethren receiving Provincial Promotions. Sorry I missed the trip to Mark Grand Lodge on 10th June but our son had given us a Christmas present of attending the England v West Indies 20/20 over game at Hedge End. What an historic match it turned out to be.
Our own Festival is just over a year away and there is still time for all of us, if we are willing and able to make contributions. This can still be done by regular giving or a contribution as and when you are able.
Please keep those lines of communications open, there are still brethren not attending meetings for various reasons, who in some cases, feel the out of sight out of mind. We are all in this together so please keep in touch with one another.
Best wishes to you all.
Malcolm Lloyd, P.G.S.D., Prov. Grand Almoner