Festive Board
"Its not Logical - its St Patrical"
No
visit to a Lodge is complete without joining in the festive board.
We can unfortunately only cater for your visual and intellectual appetites
through the internet, so we'd like to share some humour (Irish ideally
!) and offer you a small souvenir of your visit to remember us by.
If
you would like to share a story with us, please email
the webmaster and we'll post it up with attribution to source !
A Candidate for initiation was to be picked
up and driven to the Lodge, but before this could happen the car broke
down. The Candidate said as it was no great distance he would go on
his bicycle.
Just when he reached the top of the hill his chain broke. As the Lodge
was at the bottom of the other side and all he needed was a backpedal
brake, so he repaired the chain with a cord he had in his pocket and
free-wheeled downhill to the Lodge.
Later that evening in reply to a toast in his honor, he said how proud
he was to be a Freemason but could not understand, as he had told
no one, how the WM knew that he had come on his own free wheel and
a cord.
Famous Quotes:
"You can accomplish more with a kind word
and a shillelagh than you can with just a kind word.!"
"The single biggest problem in communication
is the illusion that it has taken place" [George Bernard Shaw]
"There are only three kinds of Irish men
who can't understand women— young men, old men, and men of middle
age."
"I often quote myself. It adds spice to
my conversation." [George Bernard Shaw]
"Reading made Don Quixote a gentleman,
but believing what he read made him mad." [George Bernard Shaw]
"Says I to him, I says, says I, Says I
to him, I says, The thing, says I, I says to him, Is just, says I,
this ways. I hev', says I, a gret respeck For you and for your breed,
And onything I could, I says, I'd do, I wud indeed. I don't know any
man, I says, I'd do it for, says I, As fast, I says, as for yoursel',
That's tellin' ye no lie. There's nought, says I, I wudn't do To plase
your feyther's son, But this, I says, ye see, says I, I says, it can't
be done." [The Way We Tell a Story (Pat McCarty, 1851-1931)]
To A Child Dancing In The Wind, by W.B. Yeats
DANCE there upon the shore;
What need have you to care
For wind or water's roar?
And tumble out your hair
That the salt drops have wet;
Being young you have not known
The fool's triumph, nor yet
Love lost as soon as won,
Nor the best labourer dead
And all the sheaves to bind.
What need have you to dread
The monstrous crying of wind!
---------------------------------
A tired old mason whose hair was gray,
Came to the gates of Heaven one day,
When asked, what on earth he had done the most,
He said he had replied to the Visitors Toast.
St. Peter said, as he tolled the Bell,
Come inside my Brother you've had enough of Hell.
A Doctor and Plumber are in the same Lodge.
On Sunday Morning the Doctor wakes up to find his toilet blocked.
So he rings the Plumber.
"But I don't work Sundays! Can't it wait until tomorrow."
The Doctor said. "I don't like working Sundays either but if
you were in trouble, and felt unwell, Brother I would come round to
see you"
"OK" says the Plumber and goes round to the Doctor. Goes
upstairs and looks at the toilet, take two aspirins from his pocket
and throws them down the bowl. "There" he says "If
it's no better tomorrow give me a ring and I will call round."
A man is walking through the recreation ground
of his local park when he notices a huge fight in full fury on the
football pitch he is passing.
"What's going on?" he asks a spectator watching from the
side-lines.
The other replies "It's a match between the Masons and the Knights
of Columbus."
"What's the score?" asks the first man.
"I don't know, it's a secret."
There's a man, walking down the street at 1
in the morning and he's very drunk.
A policeman stops him and asks: Where are you going in that condition?
Man: II'mm on mmyy waayyy to a lectttuurre on FFreemmassonnrrry.
Officer: Where can you possibly get a lecture on Freemasonry at this
time of night?
Man: Frromm mmyy wifffe, wwhenn I gget homme!
Q: How many Masons does it take to unscrew
a light bulb?
A: It's a secret!
A new initiate returns home to his wife who
is naturally curious to know what went on. The conversation goes something
like this:
She) Well how'd it go ?
He) Very well - most interesting
She) What did go on ?
He) I'm not really sure if I can tell you about it.
She) Well is there anything you *can* tell me ?
He) Well it seems there are 3 classes of men in the Lodge -walkers,
talkers and Holy men.
She) What do they do - if you can tell me ?
He) The walkers walked me around the lodge. The Talkers talked to
me and to the walkers as I was led around ....
She) And the Holy men ? What of them ?
He) They seem to be a special class of men - all in dark blue and
gold aprons and gauntlets. They just sit on the benches around the
lodge with their heads in their hands chanting repeatedly - "Oh
My God Oh My God !"
Some few years back, just after the introduction
of Random Breath Testing, the Police officers of a small country township
had to show the community that the RBT was working. They decided to
stake out the local Masonic Hall, then as the night wore on, eventually
a mason slowly came down the stairs and got into his car.
The moment he started the engine the two officers approached him and
asked him to "blow into the bag". He did of course but to
the amazement of the officers proved negative. Fearing a faulty bag
tried again, with the same results. Sure of a possible conviction
they then escorted him to the Police station to do a blood test, with
it also proving negative.
Being upset with this they then asked him what had gone on and what
he had done that evening, to which he answered, "The Grand Master
was there, the Grand Secretary was there, the Grand Stewards were
there and we all had a great time, as to my job I was the Grand Decoy".
Two experienced Master Masons were enjoying
a flight in a hot air balloon when suddenly a thick cloud formed between
them and the ground. Being without instruments, after half an hour
they realized that they were well and truly lost.
A short time later there came across a large hole in the cloud and
espied a gentleman below walking his dog across a field. They had
time to exchange pleasantries and found that he too was a member of
the Craft.
The chaps in the balloon inquired of him as to their location and
received the reply, "About 200 feet up in a balloon." Just
then the cloud closed the hole and they were alone again.
One turned to the other and said, " I bet he's the Secretary
of his Lodge!"
"Why do you say that?", the other asked.
"Well what he has told us is absolutely true - but in our present
predicament is totally useless!"
-- Found on a cup in a Lodge in Ireland:
"OLD MASONS NEVER DIE, BUT YOU'LL HAVE
TO JOIN TO FIND OUT WHY"
If
you have to make a toast....
When
your turn comes to speak and you need some ideas for an Irish toast
or astory, try these excellent links below for inspiration !
May
the Irish hills caress you.
May her lakes and rivers bless you.
May the luck of the Irish enfold you.
May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.
May
the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.
May you live as long as you want,
And never want as long as you live
May
the saddest day of your future be no worse
Than the happiest day of your past.
May the roof above us never fall in.
And may the friends gathered below it never fall out.
May
you live to be a hundred years,
With one extra year to repent!
May the Lord keep you in His hand
And never close His fist too tight.
May your neighbors respect you,
Trouble neglect you,
The angels protect you,
And heaven accept you.
May
your pockets be heavy and your heart be light,
May good luck pursue you each morning and night.
May
you always have work for your hands to do.
May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.
Heard
in the lodge...
Why
does my computer crash!
Well if the label on the cable on the table at your house
Says the network is connected to that red bit on your mouse.
But if the copy of the floppy is too sloppy. there`s a risk
That no drive detects the driver `til you deselect that disk.
Don`t get down and dejected, or your spool start state will stall,
And your project gets rejected by the printer in the hall.
Then if a packet hit`s a pocket in a socket on the port,
It will lock it up and block it, and distort it and get caught,
While a minimum of memory makes your macro mode abort
So the socket packet pocket has an error ot report.
When your printer picks a programme folder followed by a dash,
If you click the blinking icon,"fatal function" starts to
flash
So your data gets corrupted ,`cos the host hub hasn`t hashed,
And then all your tasks are trashed,
So yout system`s sure to crash.
Will you fix it if you flick it?.If you whack it, you might crack
it,
So think quick, before you kick it, and contact the help desk back.
W.Bro.
Ron Walsh
Hard
Drive ..
Four engineers
are riding in an old car when suddenly the engine stops and the car
grinds to a halt.
The mechanical engineer says confidently: "I expect it's a transmission
problem."
"Nonsense!" says the chemical engineer. "It's bound to be a fuel problem."
"In my opinion it's the ignition," says the electrical engineer.
Unwilling to be left out, the computer engineer says: "...How about
if we try all getting out, and then get in again??..."
Bill
Young
(courtesy of W Bro Brian McBride)
Forget...
Forget the hasty, unkind word:
Forget the slander you have heard;
Forget the quarrel and the cause;
Forget the whole affair, because,
Forgetting is the only way.
Forget the storm of yesterday;
Forget the knocker, and the squeak;
Forget the bad day of the week.
Forget you're not a millionaire;
Forget the gray streaks in your hair;
Forget to even get the blues --
But don't forget to Pay Your Dues!
Anon
(courtesy of W Bro Brian McBride)
Do
You Just Belong ?..
Are you an active member
the kind that would be missed
or are you just contented
that your name is on the list?
Do you attend the meetings
and mingle with the crowd,
or do you stay at home
and moan both long and loud?
Do you take an active part
to help the lodge along
or are you you satisfied
to be the kind to "just belong" ?
Do you ever go to visit
a member who is sick
or leave the work for just a few
and talk about the clique?
There is quite a program scheduled
that means success if done
and it can be accomplished
with the help of everyone.
So attend your meetings regularly
and help with hand and heart.
Do not be just a member,
but take an active part!
Think this over, Brother...
are we right or are we wrong ?
Are YOU an active member ?
Or do you - Just Belong ...?
W.
Bro T R Harrison,
Sir George Clarke Memorial Lodge 669 IC
Kiss
me quick..
Paddy
was going home from the lodge meeting one evening, when a frog on
the pavement called out to him and said, "If you kiss me, I'll turn
into a beautiful princess".
Without a word, he bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his
pocket.
The creature spoke up again, louder this time, and said, "If you kiss
me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will stay with you
for a year and do anything you want."
Paddy took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and then returned
it back to the pocket. The frog then cried out desperately, "If you
kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I'll stay with you forever
and have your children!"
Again Paddy took the frog out, smiled at it benignly and put it back
into his pocket.
Finally, the frog asked, with tears in its eyes, "What IS the matter?
I've told you I'm a beautiful princess, that I'll stay with you forever
and do anything you want.
WHY won't you kiss me?"
Paddy said, "Look, Oi'm a Master Mason.
A girlfriend just takes up toime when I could be learning lectures.
But a talking frog, now that will get me a free drink in the bar !"
Gone before..
There was once
a very senior and respected mason who lived in the northernmost part
of the north of England, and was the treasurer of a splendid lodge
in NW London.
The brethren held their Ladies Festival in early summer, and on this
particular year the temperature in southern England soared to 38 degrees
centigrade (about 99 Fahrenheit).
The worshipful brother decided to precede his wife and spend a day
working in the capital before she came down to join him for the event.
So he took the Great North Eastern Railway down to London and found
his way to his hotel.
After he had settled into his room, he decided to send his wife a
quick email.
Unable to find the scrap of paper on which he had written her email
address, he did his best to type it in from memory.
Unfortunately, he got one letter wrong and his note was directed instead
to the elderly wife of an Irish priest, whose husband had passed away
only the day before.
When the grieving widow checked her email, she took one look at the
monitor, let out a terrible scream, clutched her chest and fell dead
upon the floor.
At the sound, her family rushed into the room, found her lying there,
and someone noticed this message on the screen:
Dearest Wife,
Have just checked in.
Everything prepared for your arrival tomorrow.
Your Loving Husband.
ps: Sure is hot down here !
Dark
thoughts..
One day an English mason, a Scottish
mason, and an Irish mason were in the bar after the meeting.
They each proceeded to buy a pint of Guinness.
Just as they were about to enjoy their creamy beverage, a fly
landed in each of their pints and became stuck in the thick head.
The Englishman pushed his beer from him in disgust.
The Irishman fished the offending fly out of his beer and continued
drinking it as if nothing had happened.
The Scotsman picked the fly out of his drink, held it out over the
beer and yelled
"SPIT IT OUT!! SPIT IT OUT!!!!"
(contributed
by W Bro Brian McBride)
Small Beer..
It was a humid, hot summer night in an Irish lodge in the Far East,
and the air-conditioner in the temple had broken down. After sweating
their way through part of the ritual, the WM addressed the new candidate,
asking him what he most desired.
"A beer...." gasped the candidate.
"Light! light!" whispered the conductor frantically into his ear.
"Oh yes....", exclaimed the candidate. "A lite beer !"
The
Huntsman..
A freemason decided to take up hunting, so he went to see the local
Master of the Hounds who also happened to be on the square, to get
help and advice on choosing and buying a good hunting dog.
"Try this this one", said the Master of Hounds. "I call him JD."
He kept the dog for a week and then returned it.
"This dog does a lot of running round, but he needs a lot of directions
to make him go where I want him to. Do you have anything better?"
The Master of Hounds searched in the kennels and brought out another
dog. "I call this one JW" he said. "Try him for a week see what you
think."
One week later the aspiring huntsman came back to report.
"This dog really seems to know a great deal, but even he needs to
be corrected, although he's definitely one up on JD. However, he's
still not quite right - do you have one more I can try?"
"I have the perfect one for you", said the Master of Hounds. "He's
a lot older than the other dogs,but I know he's been fully trained
and done everything. I call him PM. Try him out for a week and I'm
sure you'll be pleased."
However, early next morning the would-be hunstman was back on his
doorstep. "This dog is no good at all!" he complained.
"What do you mean?" said the other, "He knows everything there is
to know about hunting!" "Yes, he may know it all", said the huntsman,
"but all does is sit there and bark!"
Q:
How many masons does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A: Three. One to screw it in, one to read the minutes of the
previous lightbulb replacement, and one to sit on the sidelines and
complain about the way they USED to screw in lightbulbs.
It Matters Not
It
matters not whate'er your lot
or what your task may be
One duty there remains for you,
One duty stands for me.
Be you a doctor skilled and wise,
Or do your work for wage,
A labourer upon the street,
An artist on the stage;
One glory still awaits for you.
One honour that is fair,
To have men say as you pass by:
"That fellow's on the square."
Ah,
here's a phrase that stands for much,
Tis good old English, too;
It means that men have confidence
In everything you do.
It means that what you have you've earned,
And that you've done your best
And when you go to sleep at night
Untroubled you may rest.
It means that conscience is your guide,
And honour is your care;
There is no greater praise than this:
"That fellow's on the square."
And
when I die I would not wish
A lengthy epitaph;
I do not want a headstone large,
Carved with fulsome chaff.
Pick out no single deed of mine,
If such a deed there be,
To 'grave upon my monument,
For those who come to see.
Just this one phrase of all I choose,
To show my life was fair:
"Here sleepeth now a fellow who
Was always on the square." - Anon
DANCE
LIKE NO ONE 'S WATCHING
Just
a little inspiration...
We
convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married,
have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't
old enough and we'll be more content when they are.
After that we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We
will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage.
We
tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse or partner
gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, are able to
go on a nice holiday, or when we retire.
The
truth is, there's no better time to be happy than right now. Your
life will always be filled with challenges.
It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway.
There will always be some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten
through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served,
a debt to be paid.
These obstacles are your life. This perspective has helped me to see
that there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.
So reassure every moment that you have.Treasure it more because you
shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time...and
remember that time waits for no one...
So,
stop waiting until you finish school, until you go back to school,
until you lose ten pounds, until you gain ten pounds, until you have
kids, until your kids leave the house, until you start work, until
you retire,
until you get married, until you get divorced, until Friday night,
until Sunday morning, until you get a new car or home, until your
car or home is paid off, until spring, until summer, until autumn,
until winter, until you are off the dole, until the first or fifteenth,
Until your song comes on, until you've had a drink, until you've sobered
up, until you die, until you are born again.....
To decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy.....
Happiness
is a journey, not a destination.
Work
like you don't need money,
Love like you've never been hurt, and
Dance like no one's watching.
God
bless you.
