Linden Acre Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners held its second Virtual Business Meeting on Tuesday 25th May attended by nine members together with the Right Worshipful Provincial Grand Master supported by several of his active officers.
The Presiding Officer, W. Bro. David Wiltcher (WCN), declared the meeting open and dived straight into the Paper of Business with the necessary Letter of Permission and Dispensation read out by Bro. Scribe before putting the circulated minutes of the previous Virtual Business Meeting forward for approval. The minutes were approved .
This being the day of the Installation meeting but obviously not possible to be held, Bro. John Kirkpatrick and R.W. Bro. Peter Sands were re-elected as Worshipful Commander and Treasurer, respectively. All being well, the next regular meeting in January 2022 will see Bro. John installed in the Chair. An election was also held for two examiners of the Lodge accounts, currently W. Bro. Colin Wills and W. Bro. John Halliday. W. Bro. Colin expressed his willingness to continue. However,  because of problems with his eye-sight it was felt that W. Bro. John would welcome being relieved of his responsibility and a request for someone to assist Bro. Colin sent out prior to the meeting prompted three volunteers coming forward with the lucky winner being W. Bro. Bill Rhymes.  Accordingly, Bro’s Colin and Bill were duly elected.
Bro. Bob Elmes, Almoner, reported that all seems well with the members and mentioned that one of our honorary members, W. Bro. Les Hutt, PCN, would be celebrating his 100th birthday in a few days’ time and had sent him a congratulatory card on behalf of the Lodge. Sadly, W. Bro. Ray Allen is unlikely to attend future meetings as his age (87) is beginning to tell and he finds it difficult to sit for long periods.
Bro. Scribe, the BeMBA representative, reported that an online committee meeting was held the previous week being the first gathering of BeMBA representatives since May 2019 due to the pandemic and updated the attending members on respite care, charitable donations and ongoing reciprocal support for other Provincial Mark Festivals and the Berkshire Craft Festival 2023. The overall financial position is generally healthy and it is hoped the historical generosity in donations to BeMBA from Berkshire Mark Men will continue when normal meetings resume.
After recording apologies for absence, Bro. Scribe gave Notice of Motion that at the next face‑to-face meeting he will propose W. Bro. Ray Allen is made an Honorary member in recognition of his dedicated and lengthy service to the Lodge, particularly as the immediate past Scribe (not forgetting being the festive board raffle organiser and ticket caller extraordinaire). Bro. Scribe was particularly indebted to Bro. Ray for mentoring him to become a tyrannical grumpy old man and now fully qualified in the art of verbal abuse, qualities Bro. Scribe is determined to take to the next level!
No further business being presented, the Presiding Officer declared the meeting closed.
