FOREWORD
RW Bro Russell Race Metropolitan Grand Master
Brethren and Companions, I bid you a very warm welcome to
this edition of arena. What an exciting start it has been to
the 2014/15 masonic season! It seems that so much has happened in these past few months as we have moved from summer and into winter. Metropolitan Grand Lodge was of course represented by a significant number of brethren who paraded through the City in full regalia. What a fine sight you all made (see report on p. 11) and I hope that you enjoyed the occasion. Both the Connaught Club and the Kent Club have been very busy indeed. A number of younger brethren from the Connaught Club undertook a charity cycle ride to Ypres in Belgium. Dubbed “Operation Ypres", the ride raised money for The Royal British Legion and Wiltshire Barn, a masonic social enterprise for wounded ex-servicemen and those that took part and assisted are to be congratulated for their endeavours. Both Clubs hosted their annual dinners, the Kent Club in the surroundings of the Great Hall at St. Bart’s Hospital and the Connaught
Club at the East India Club in St. James’. Both events were extremely well
attended as was the fabulous inaugural Metropolitan Grand Lodge Ladies Night at the Grange Hotel (see p. 38). Staying with successes, I was also delighted to see so many brethren receiving honours at the London Grand Rank and London Rank Investiture back in November and I offer sincere congratulations to you all. I also particularly enjoyed the Family Festive Concert and it was nice to see so many brethren and their families in attendance for that. As many of you will know, I enjoy music and it was a special pleasure to be able to host the first of the Metropolitan Masonic Concert Series which, like the Ladies' Night, I hope goes on from strength to strength. As the festive season is upon us, I
hope you will all enjoy the break and use the time to reflect on what has gone before and what is to come when we return in January. I look forward to seeing you all then. S&F
Russell
arena
resources we have available, but we do try to give our readers a flavour of the diversity and breadth of the London season in these pages. Remember that the magazine is open to all, whether mason or not, to underline our commitment to making ourselves better known within the communities in which we all live. Two new developments which play their part in this agenda and which we hope to feature in the next edition, are firstly the creation of a Metropolitan Exhibitions Unit, which will take stand
EDITORIAL C
WINTER 2014
overing everything in London is nigh on an impossibility for the
space at appropriate London-based trade shows, interacting directly with delegates and visitors. The second new team is the Metropolitan Video Unit, which will again provide some viewable material on masonry and "Met" for the public. Its first video is of the Connaught Club-led charity cycle ride to the Menin Gate and it is well worth viewing. The video is available at the Metropolitan Grand Lodge and Chapter YouTube page at
http://tinyurl.com/MetYouTube With every good wish of the season
to you and happy reading! EDITOR
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