The Grand Lodge of Antient Free and Accepted Masons of Scotland
William Ramsay McGhee, MStJ, D.L., Grand Master Mason
Brethren
There has been no response from the Government to my letter. I intend therefore to drop them a wee reminder this week now that I have a reference number from them. As soon as I receive the specific guidance that we have asked for, I will circulate it to all Lodges.
As I mentioned last week, I am in the process of rescheduling all the meetings into 2021. The exercise is almost complete, and I will be in touch with all the Lodges involved very soon.
Latest news from the Scottish Constitution Freemasonry Supports Facebook page is as follows –
Last week This week
Members 2934 3006
Posts 322 332
No of Members posting 169 172
Lodges mentioned 177 180
Provinces mentioned 29 29
Districts & Lodges abroad 11 11
Monetary Value £226,970 £237,470
Another milestone in the membership of our Overseas Brethren has been reached ... last week’s suggestion that the 600 barrier may be broken has indeed been realised. It is wonderful that this coincides with the overall membership of the SCFS Group breaking the 3000 barrier this week.
- We had 35 Overseas Brethren join this week bringing our Overseas Membership of the SCFS Group to 624.
- We had new members join from Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Bermuda, Central South Africa, Far East, Fiji, Middle East, Namibia, New Zealand South and Western Australia.
- The largest increase was seen in the District of the Middle East and, in addition, there was an encouraging number of new members from The Bahamas and Bermuda.
- We welcomed our first members from Lodge Somers Isles, No. 1503, and Lodge Eleutheran Adventurers, No. 1816.
- We now have members from almost all of our Overseas Districts, Countries under Grand Superintendents and Countries under the Supervision of Grand Lodge. Hopefully we will soon be able to report on our first Overseas Members from Guyana, Western Australia-Goldfields District, Togo and West Indian Islands.
- We would strongly encourage our Overseas Members to maintain the excellent frequency and quality of their submissions to the group.
We have a number of Overseas Brethren who are proving to be extremely supportive of the SCFS Group by proactively promoting it and by unstintingly assisting in the building up of its membership. This is very much appreciated and sincere thanks is extended to them on behalf of the SCFS Team.
Over the past week there has been a number of Zoom meetings. The Overseas, External Affairs and Special Purposes Committee met on Wednesday and had a very productive meeting under the chairmanship of Brother James Jack. While a number of items will go forward in due course to Grand Committee there was one issue discussed regarding Zoom meetings organised by irregular Grand Lodges. Under normal circumstances if Brethren were going to be visiting abroad, they would check with Grand Lodge as to which meetings they could attend and those they cannot. The same caution should be applied with regard to invitations to attend Zoom meetings by Grand Lodges who are deemed to be irregular or are not recognised by the Grand Lodge of Scotland.
The second Zoom meeting I attended on Wednesday was with a group of “young Masons” from throughout the Highlands. The Brethren involved are all within their first three years of joining the Craft and what a delight it was to be with them for almost two hours. They meet regularly under the guidance of Brother Raymond MacKeddie, Depute PGM in Ross and Cromarty assisted by Brother Donald MacLeod, Past Substitute PGM. The enthusiasm and interest displayed by the Brethren was indeed refreshing. I am aware that there are similar initiatives in other Provinces but would appeal to all PGM’s that during this enforced lock-down, if you don’t already have such a group, now is a good time to start.
I will very soon be extending an invitation to all the PGM’s to join in a Zoom meeting with the DGM’s and am looking for agenda items that can be usefully discussed by all. Groups for Young Masons will very possibly appear on the agenda. If any of our DGM’s or PGM’s have issues that they would like to see discussed, please drop an email to Sue Williams and I will add it to the agenda. This will be an ideal opportunity to swap experiences and ideas with each other
Can I remind all Brethren who would like to participate in the Grand Lodge of Scotland Clay Shooting Championship to be held on the 16th August at the National Shooting Centre to contact the organising committee on either This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Alternatively, you can make contact through the Scottish Masonic Clay Championships Facebook page.
Brethren, please stay alert, look after yourselves, your families and the Brethren who are in any of the vulnerable categories.
Kindest regards
Ramsay McGhee
Grand Master Mason