Quarrymen End Of Year Newsletter
Well it is that time of year where the riding season is over and most people tuck their bikes away for the winter. 2022 has been filled with lots of highs and some incredible lows, but we have all pulled together to make it a success.
The night of the 27th of March was the start of The Quarrymen where the founders met at the Cashmoor Inn. At this meeting they went onto vote in the officers and our name The Quarrymen. Over the next three months the officers worked tirelessly behind the scenes in order to set The Quarrymen up and make sure all paperwork was completed correctly in order for The Quarrymen to receive our charter at The Widows Sons National Rally in Bishop Auckland.
The Quarrymen’s first outing was to the Classic Car & Bike Show at the Knole Freemasons Hall. Although the weather was less than desirable it was a fantastic day. At this event we had members from The Southern Chapter of the Widows Sons (Hampshire & IOW Chapter), The Stonecutters (Wiltshire Chapter) who are The Quarrymen’s mother Chapter and of course The Quarrymen (Dorset Chapter). This event was the first time The Quarrymen were able to start selling merchandise and start raising their profile as a newly formed chapter.
Next up was the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride (DGR) which was held on the 22nd of May. There were over 700 bikers at this event and they rode from Poole Quay to Bournemouth. This specific DGR raised over £60,000 for Movember Foundation who do an amazing job supporting Men’s Mental Health and Prostate Cancer.
The next outing The Quarrymen attended was to our Mother Chapter, The Stonecutters AGM at Salisbury Masonic Hall.
As the DGR was so successful there was a wrap up event that was held at Destination Triumph in Christchurch. Again a number of The Quarrymen attended and had a great time, yet again raising the profile of The Quarrymen, the Widows Sons and Freemasonry in general. It was also a Quarryman founder that was the top fundraiser for this particular ride.
As you can imagine by this time the excitement was extremely high as we were now very close to receiving The Quarrymen’s Charter on the last weekend in July.
The week finally arrived that The Quarrymen would receive their Charter when very sadly and suddenly our President Graham Taylor whilst out on a ride passed away. As you can imagine, everyone that knew Graham was extremely sad and upset.
With the help and support of The Stonecutters and The Widows Sons, The Quarrymen managed to navigate through their period of mourning and go on to receive their Charter at The Widows Sons National Rally. The Quarrymen’s Charity Officer Tony Collins very kindly stepped up and received the Charter on behalf of the Graham and The Quarrymen. Read more here: http://rbs.7de.myftpupload.com/2022/07/the-charter-is-live/
It was then decided The Quarrymen would undertake a ride in memory of Graham by riding around Dorset visiting every Masonic building within Dorset raising money as they go which was donated to Graham’s Lodge, Broadstone Lodge 8641, festival 25 fund which was gratefully received. The amount raised was a huge amount of £1700. Read more here: http://rbs.7de.myftpupload.com/2022/09/graham-taylor-memorial-ride/
Given everything that had gone on over the previous month’s The Quarrymen’s Vice President Paul Bishop and his wonderful wife Sue put on a fantastic BBQ at their house. This was a much needed and enjoyable evening with lots of laughs and stories being shared. Read more here: http://rbs.7de.myftpupload.com/2022/08/vp-bbq/
Then the time finally arrived where we The Quarrymen held our very first AGM at the Poole Masonic Hall. This was a well attended meeting with 26 members and non members in attendance. There was a buffet put on for all those that attended. At the AGM our Vice President gave a speech about how The Quarrymen and Widows Sons had formed. Certificates were also presented to those founders and members in attendance. Read more here: http://rbs.7de.myftpupload.com/2022/08/agm-2022/
One of the most important things The Quarrymen aim to do is support members and local charities by attending various members lodge do’s and to bolster their numbers and to raise some well deserved money for charity.
The first such event was to support Bleckley Clark Lodge and their amazing Worshipful Master Paul “Chick” Fowler at their Ladies night which was held at Broadstone golf club. This was a fantastic evening with great company and some wonderful entertainment. There were some stunning prizes in the raffle at this event. Read more here: http://rbs.7de.myftpupload.com/2022/09/chicks-ladies-night/
The Quarrymen were then invited along to the Lodge of Honour and Friendship farmer’s night in Blandford. This was an impressive evening with a truly amazing ceremony where one of The Quarrymen acted as the candidate for an intuition ceremony which was professionally and skilfully done by the Worshipful Master Andrew Ward and his officers. Following the ceremony we were all treated to a truly memorable and wonderful festive board. An auction was held with produce that was produced locally to Blandford and was sold along with other kind donations. A staggering amount of money was raised at the festive board of £800 of which the WM and members of the Lodge very kindly gave The Quarrymen £400 to go towards their chosen Charity “The Broken Column Association”. Read more here: http://rbs.7de.myftpupload.com/2022/09/honour-friendship/
Next meeting The Quarrymen went to support one of our members who was being installed as Worshipful Master of his Lodge. WBro Tristan had a massive amount of support on this memorable evening. It was particularly special for WBro Tristan as he was allowed to wear the traditional freemasonry clothing from the Philippines which is where he was born. Read more here: http://rbs.7de.myftpupload.com/2022/09/elementor-754/
The next meeting was to the All Souls Chapter which was The Quarrymen’s first visit to a Chapter lodge. Read more here: http://rbs.7de.myftpupload.com/2022/10/all-souls-a-night-at-chapter/
Being part of the Widows Sons means that every Chapter has to follow and abide by specific by-laws and constitutions . One of these is if one Chapter is visiting another Chapters area they are to notify the area which they plan on visiting with the view to either meeting up or just out of courtesy.
Whilst at the National Rally Tony Collins made contact with numerous members of other Widows Sons Chapters. One of these was Alan “Sinbad” Chinn of the Wyvern Chapter. Alan informed Tony that he would be giving a speech to the Women’s Institute in Motcombe on the 12th of October and invited The Quarrymen. The speech was very informative and well received by all in attendance. Read more here: http://rbs.7de.myftpupload.com/2022/10/motcombe-womens-institute-presentation/
Our next visit was to The Lodge of St Cuthberga 622 in Wimborne. Six of The Quarrymen’s founding members attended and were treated to a fantastic 2nd ceremony which saw Bro Tom step in at short notice. This was followed by an excellent explanation of the extended 2nd tracing board by WBro Doug Day. As usual the festive board did not disappoint and everyone that attended had a great time. Read more here: http://rbs.7de.myftpupload.com/2022/11/st-cuthberga-622-07-11-2022/
Another reason The Quarrymen have been formed is to help bring Non Masons into Freemasonry using the Cornerstone pathway. This includes giving Entered Apprentices and Fellow Crafts the incentive to go on and become Master Mason which then allows them to become a fully patched Widow’s Son.
On the 9th of November 2022 eleven Quarrymen attended the Broadstone Lodge 8641. The reason for this visit was for the raising of the secretary of The Quarrymen to the sublime degree of Master Mason. The Quarrymen received a warm welcome and enjoyed the ceremony as well as the festive board where the Junior Warden Bro Phil Evans read out a poem to the visiting Quarrymen. To read to poem click here: http://rbs.7de.myftpupload.com/2022/11/broadstone-lodge/
Then on the remembrance day 11/11/2022 Dorset Freemasonry put on an Excellent – For Valour, presentation at the Hamworthy Club in Poole. This presentation was exceptional and was enjoyed by all in attendance. It was fantastic to have Freemasons from neighbouring provinces in attendance as well which just added to the atmosphere. Some incredible stories were told at this presentation. To read the full article click here: http://rbs.7de.myftpupload.com/2022/11/for-valour/
Being a newly formed chapter of the Widows Sons we have slowly been receiving invites to other chapters rideouts / events and motorcycle lodges.
One such invitation The Quarrymen received was from the Noel Surrey Motorcycle Lodge 2444. They meet at the Surbiton Masonic Hall, which is steeped in history and is a magnificent building. The Vice President and Secretary of The Quarrymen attended this unique lodge. This was an incredibly special meeting for The Quarrymen as we got to meet other chapters and Freemasons that we would not normally meet when out visiting. The whole day was fantastic and to find out more about this superb meeting click here: http://rbs.7de.myftpupload.com/2022/11/noel-surrey-motorcycle-lodge-2444/
The Quarrymen’s next outing was to The Ashley Lodge 6525 for the Installation of WBro Phil Smith. There were a number of Quarrymen in attendance and again they had a great night. To read more click here: http://rbs.7de.myftpupload.com/2022/11/the-ashley-lodge-6525-installation/
Our final meeting of 2022 was our Natter Night / Christmas meal at the Cashmoor Inn. This was such a special evening as we had over 20 people in attendance. Lots of fun and laughs were had by all. The raffle raised £100 which is fantastic and will be going towards the Southern Chapters Toy Run which members of The Quarrymen will be attending in the coming days dressed as Santa. We also had two potential new member applications given out at this meeting and also four Cornerstone applications also handed out.
So far this year The Quarrymen have donated £300 to Dorset Stroke Association and on the 8th of December we will be handing over £500 to The Broken Column Association at Poole Masonic Hall. We have also written a cheque for £100 for the charity “SCRATCH” who are organising the toy run. So in the first six months of the Quarrymen forming we have donated £900 to good local causes, this is just the start and there is plenty more of this on the horizon.
The Quarrymen officers would like to hear from any member/s that would be able to help out by organising rides and events, so please get in touch with one of the officers if you think you could help.
On behalf of the officers I would like to thank you all for your help and support so far and we look forward to pushing on next year and making it an even more successful and memorable year.