W Bro Zac Smith PAGStB reports on resuming meetings

The brethren of Helio Lodge No 3900 felt it was particularly important to keep fellowship and fraternity together during the COVID Pandemic by staying in close contact via the Lodge’s WhatsApp group.

Fraternal messages and greetings were sent to members on the occasion of birthdays, wedding anniversaries and sadly on bereavement. The Lodge lost one of its Past Master’s in W Bro Chas O’Neill who was one of the team of brethren that rescued the Lodge in 2000 when it was struggling for numbers.

The Lodge has had regular Zoom meetings, mainly to serve as a visual health check of the members and to have a good chat and maintain spirits during these strange days we all are enduring and the Almoner, officers and all the brethren have also kept in regular contact with all the brethren, checking up on their wellbeing and that of their families. The pandemic put paid to the Ladies Festival in July but through all of this, the brethren, never for one minute, gave up hope of the return of Freemasonry. Happily, the date of their July meeting fell the day after the lifting of the ban on all Masonic activity by The Most Worshipful Grandmaster HRH The Duke of Kent, so the brethren of Helio were amongst the first lodges to hold a masonic meeting at Freemasons’ Hall on Saturday 18th July 2020 at precisely 10 am.

The Worshipful Master for this historic meeting was W Bro Tony Knox-Goba. It was a purely administrative meeting with the main business being the election of Bro Sylvanus Bolton Mason currently Senior Warden, as Master-Elect. Also, in attendance was the Lodge’s Inspector W Bro Jonathan Powis PSGD MetGInsp, who thanked the brethren for their commitment and perseverance to keep Freemasonry alive and well. It was a wonderful and memorable event with the brethren who attended ‘touching elbows and feet’ in greeting each other after such a long break. The installation meeting will be on Saturday 17th October 2020, and hopefully, that will be another step toward returning to more regular meetings and enjoying a festive board. Helio Lodge enjoyed a Centenary year in 2019, and the Lodge history sums up the feelings of the current brethren:

“Helio Lodge, founded with reference to a name associated with light, continues to carry a flame for Masonic Spirit in all its undertakings and looks forward to the next 100 years with open arms to any brother who may want to attend our regular meetings.”

This article is part of the Arena Magazine, Issue 42 October 2020 edition.
Arena Magazine is the official magazine of the London Freemasons – Metropolitan Grand Lodge and Metropolitan Grand Chapter of London.

Read more articles in the Arena Issue 42.