arena
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Bro.Simon Dixon today.
having her husband at home full time after 33 years of only really seeing him at weekends and family holidays. He then fully retired in 2004 Simon's introduction to
Freemasonry came, not through his family, (his father was only ever a Master Mason and indeed somewhat indifferent) but through a school friend, with whom he travelled into London every day when commuting to work. In factSimon was one of three Old Bradfieldians who tended to get the same London bound trains to and from home. Both of these men had preceded him at Bradfield but it was only after some time that he was asked to consider whether he would care to join. As a result, he was initiated into his old school's lodge, Old Bradfield Lodge at the age of 36. He took to masonry and the Lodge and was Master by 1986 (and again in 1991 and 2010-11, for the Public Schools Lodges' festival and the Lodge's Centenary, the following year). Unlike many of London's other men at the Top seen in this series, Simon was not part of the London Management "Groups" system, so many of you will, like arena be asking, in what way then was his service to masonry noticed? Having cut his teeth as DC in his Craft Lodge,he became a London Mark Provincial ADC in 1997 leading to London Mark APGM 2005-9. He was a Steward at the Inauguration of Met and appointed one of the first MetAGDCs in 2003/4. This led to his appointment as a MetDepGDC, then
SUMMER 2013
SVO 2007 and finally Inspector 2009. Outside masonry, he has been
heavily involved in long range target Rifle shooting at Bisley since his schooldays, and has been a committee member of his Bisley Club for over thirty years, chairman for seven and has now been made lifetime president. He also has other shooting links, having been the acting Secretary General of the National Rifle Association ("NRA"), a non-executive director of the NRA's trading arm and Chairman of the same in 2007-09. Additionally he has coached Full Bore Shooting for Bradfield since 2002. He is a very keen yachtsman, crewing for his friend's forty-eight feet Dufort, usually off the west coast of France. Lastly but not least, it is no coincidence that Simon's "at or
around the time of initiation" picture, a tradition in the Men at the Top series, shows him getting out of a smart car. A self-confessed "petrol head", he loves cars and enjoys tinkering with and fixing them, but, as he says himself, "unlike the late Mike Banfield, I have only one classic, a 1966 Daimler 2.5 litre V8 but a 2009Jaguar XK8 as an everyday car!". Simon has a daughter and son who
is married to a South African lady, so trips to Cape Town with his two grandsons and family have been his ideal way to avoid the English cold weather at Christmas time. “With the end in sight of my 5 year term as an Inspector, I will then be able to devote more time to the other masonic orders in which I am involved.”
Five things you didn't know about Simon Dixon:
1 An absolute whiz at DIY and "fixing" things such as cars! 2 Heavy involvement in Long range target rifle shooting - no easy clay pigeon shooting here!
3 Re-wrote the Ritual for the Standard Chapter of instruction No.176 to accommodate revisions required by SGC
4 Is a highly qualified scuba diver, having done reef diving and diving to wrecks all over the world, from Cuba to the Caroline Islands
5 Is a self-confessed "Petrolhead" (see text for details) 27
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