North East Corner Club - June 2008
An opportunity for the new Mason to find out “why we do that?”
All new Masons will remember the significance of the North-East corner – it’s where new buildings are traditionally started. The North-East Corner Clubs are informal social meetings designed to help new Masons find answers to questions about Masonic history, ritual, structure and their own role in the Society, and to meet new friends and colleagues from other Lodges.
North-East Corner Clubs have been founded at our major Masonic Centres: Aylesbury, Beaconsfield, Bletchley, Marlow and Slough. Brethren from the other Buckinghamshire Centres are encouraged to attend the NECC at their nearest convenient main Centre.
Partners will occasionally be invited to participate in these meetings; their support and understanding is so vital to your and our future.
Background to the programme
It is often time-consuming to get one’s brain around new experiences and in today’s world it is all too easy to keep pressing forward and to forget to look back. There are numerous books and leaflets to help a new Mason to comprehend more fully the journey on which he has embarked, but time for reflection is not easy to find. At NECC meetings, newer Brethren will be prompted to listen, think and ask. We are all busy building our individual lives but with others to offer help, encouragement and expertise, that house not made with hands will be erected all the quicker – think of it as ready-made cement, mixed by experts and delivered as you need it.
The NECCs now look to offer programmes to all new(er) Masons, and perhaps their proposers and seconders as well. Although the Centre Mentors will have a rough plan for a meeting, the emphasis will be on providing a forum for discussion amongst friends about aspects of the Craft which are not covered in the more formal surroundings of our regular meetings.
If we can encourage a greater involvement both from and for our new(er) members, they will learn faster and deeper, and develop as Masons to everyone’s benefit: they are, after all, our tomorrow.
Planned NECC Meeting Dates
| CENTRE | DATE(S) | TIME | CONTACT |
| Aylesbury | Wednesday 10th September | 7.15pm | Dave Vallis |
Beaconsfield | Tuesday 15th July Tuesday September 2nd Tuesday December 9th | 7.45pm | Reg Allen |
| Bletchley | Thursday 17th April | 7pm for 7.30 | Peter Carter |
| Marlow | Thursday 21st August | 7.30pm | John Colling |
| Slough | Tuesday 8th July Monday 8th September | 8.00pm | Gary Mason |
All meetings are available to all new Masons – if you find another Centre’s date more convenient phone Peter Harborne or Robert Wharton (page 5 of Provincial Directory) who will advise you of the specific Centre Mentor contact details.
Advice can also be obtained from your lodge secretary or by emailing Peter Harborne, an Asst PGM