Bro. Dr. Simon Walmsley of the Wyggeston Lodge graduated from the University of Leicester today with a PhD.
Bro. Simon is currently Inner Guard and successfully defended his thesis titled ‘Synthesis and isolation of biosynthetic derivatives of Amphotericin B’ in October 2017. He joined the Wyggeston Lodge, which is the Universities Scheme Lodge for the University of Leicester, in 2015 whilst studying for his PhD in the Department of Chemistry.
W.Bro. Andy Green, Past Master said: “We all give our warmest congratulations to Simon on his graduation from the University of Leicester and wish him well in his future chosen career.”
The first meeting of the Wyggeston Lodge No.3448 in 2018 saw Bro. Elvis being raised to the sublime degree of a Master Mason.
Bro. Elvis, originally from Italy, joined the Wyggeston Lodge at the age of 30 in February 2017 after enquiring about becoming a Freemason via the lodge website.
The Raising Ceremony held in the Holmes Lodge Room at Freemasons’ Hall in Leicester on Friday 19th January 2018 saw the Master W.Bro. Paul Marvin conduct a superb ceremony assisted by several junior and senior members.
At the Festive Board, a raffle also raised £80 for the Macmillan Cancer Support a charity chosen by the Master.
Bro. Elvis (left) is congratulated by the Master W.Bro. Paul Marvin (right) on becoming a Master Mason
At our meeting on Friday 15th December 2017, we welcomed two new members in an excellent Initiation ceremony at Freemasons’ Hall, Leicester.
Bro. Jeremy, a postgraduate student at the University of Leicester, and Bro. David, a specialist cancer nurse, joined the lodge in a double ceremony conducted by the Master, W.Bro. Paul Marvin who was ably assisted by several members of the lodge.
New members Jeremy (left) and David (right) with the Master of the Lodge, Paul Marvin
The Festive Board saw the traditional Christmas Turkey, carved by W.Bro. Bob Hutchinson and Bro. Richard Jennings, served with all the trimmings.
Carving the Christmas Turkey
This was followed by a flamed Christmas Pudding, which as always, was paraded around the dining room by the Stewards and new Initiates wearing flashing Christmas hats to everyone singing ‘Oh Come All Ye Faithful’.
The Stewards preparing to parade the Christmas Pudding
During the evening a raffle raised over £100 for the Masonic Charitable Foundation 2022 Festival and Macmillan Nurses.
The ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ was also sung with great gusto with each table sprig taking it in turns to sing a verse with everyone joining in for “Five Gold Rings”.
Andy Green said: “As always, our Christmas meeting was a great deal of fun and we were pleased to share it with our two newest members who thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We are very much looking forward to the New Year with a packed programme of ceremonies.”
At the meeting of Wyggeston Lodge in November, held at Freemasons’ Hall, Leicester, Bro. Paul Marvin was Installed as the 107th Master of the Lodge.
Bro. Paul was Initiated in Wyggeston Lodge during 2009 and has steadily progressed through the Offices of the Lodge. In October, he was elected by the Brethren to become Master for the ensuing year.
After being Installed into the Master’s Chair, the Master was extremely pleased to invest the first Universities Scheme Initiate, Bro. Alex Pohl, as his Junior Warden, along with Bro. John Harvey as his Senior Warden. Other Scheme Initiates were also invested as Deacons, Inner Guard and Stewards.
The Master, Paul Marvin (centre) with his Senior Warden John Harvey (left) and Junior Warden Alex Pohl (right)
The Lodge was honoured to give a warm welcome to the Assistant Provincial Grand Master, V.W.Bro. Peter Kinder, as the Provincial Representative who kindly presented the warrant of the lodge to the newly installed Master.
At the Festive Board, Bro. Peter Clarke gave a rousing rendition of the Master’s Song with the help of the Wardens and the Brethren. He also kindly provided a jeroboam of vintage port for the Brethren to enjoy with their cheese and biscuits.
Peter Clarke (right) presents a bottle of port to the Stewards of the lodge
In a new initiative, the Master’s wife, Kim, was joined by several other wives and partners of the Brethren for a meal in Leicester during the same evening. They all then returned to Freemasons’ Hall for a drink to celebrate with the Brethren after the Festive Board.
The Wyggeston wives/partners enjoy a meal in Leicester
The Master, Yogesh Patel, two Grand Officers, the Immediate Past Master and other members of the Wyggeston Lodge were all honoured and proud to take part in an historic parade through the streets of Leicester on Sunday 29th October 2017 prior to a Service of Thanksgiving at Leicester Cathedral.
Members of Wyggeston Lodge at the Parade. Left to Right: Richard Sutton, Bob Hutchinson, Yogesh Patel, Kelvin Johnson, Paul Bodycot, Simon Walmsley and Andy Green
As part of the Tercentenary, celebrating 300 years of Freemasonry, over 100 Freemasons from across the Province of Leicestershire and Rutland, including our own Lodge members, processed in their Masonic regalia from Jubilee Square to Leicester Cathedral via High Street, Gallowtree Gate, Market Place and Grey Friars.
It was nearly 100 years ago in 1923 when Freemasons last paraded through the streets of Leicester.
In warm autumnal sunshine, the procession set off promptly at 2pm behind a vibrant brass band and were welcomed and greeted by passing shoppers who were curious at the spectacle. Some were even seen filming and taking photographs on their mobile phones to record the parade.
The procession arrived at Leicester Cathedral at 2.15pm where all the Brethren lined the entrance of the Cathedral to welcome the Provincial Grand Master, David Hagger and the Assistant Provincial Grand Master, Peter Kinder along with the Deputy Grand Secretary.
Andy Green said: “I’m so proud and honoured to have been part of this special and historic moment in the history of Leicestershire and Rutland Freemasons and it was great to see several members of Wyggeston also being part of it.”
The Wyggeston Lodge of Freemasons, which is the Universities Scheme Lodge for University of Leicester, once again attended the Fresh Fair at the Students Union on Thursday 28th September 2017.
It was a very busy day with many students wanting to learn more about Freemasonry and how they could join.
Leaflets about the Lodge and ‘limited edition’ beermats, which were specially printed for the event, were handed out to well over 500 students.
At least students were immediately interested in finding out more and signed up to receive information and a chance to visit Freemasons’ Hall on London Road, Leicester.
A number of our student members have recently graduated from the University of Leicester.
Those graduating were:
Bro. James Kelly, BEng Mechanical Engineering
Bro. Adam Tilley, Law LLB
Bro. Lehan Edirisinghe, BA Management Studies
Bro. Connagh McCormick, Law LLB
Bro. Eric Akobeng, PhD Economics
Past Master, W.Bro. Tom Bodycot, was extremely pleased to support Bro. Eric at his graduation which was held in the De Montfort Hall, adjacent to the University after being invited by him to attend.
We congratulate them all and wish them well in their future careers.
W.Bro. Simon Oldfield has been instrumental in organising the charity event which will see a total of 20 riders from lodges across the Province of Leicestershire and Rutland take part. In addition, Bros. Chris Panteli and Richard Jennings, along with Toni Oldfield (Simon’s wife) and Sunay (W.Bro. Dipak Chauhan’s son) will also be riding. This makes the Wyggeston Lodge the most highly represented of all lodges.
The 300 mile bicycle ride over 4 days will visit all the Masonic centres in Leicestershire & Rutland including riding down to Freemasons’ Hall in Great Queen Street, London between 8th – 11th June 2017. The full schedule is attached. Please do feel free to come along to your local Masonic Hall to support the riders when they arrive.
The cyclists will also call at the site of the former tavern, the Goose and Gridiron in St. Paul’s Churchyard where the Grand Lodge was formed in 1717.
The riders will achieve 12,000 feet of ascent, will have been in the saddle for some 36 hours, and consumed something in the region of 20,000 calories. The distance is approximately equivalent to two stages of the Tour de France.
Other members of the lodge including W.Bros. Dipak Chauhan, Paul Bodycot, Andy Green, Jamie Mollart and Bro. Chris Kent will also be on hand to support the riders during the four days.
Please support our riders reach their target of £20K by donating online:
The three Universities Scheme Lodges meeting in Leicestershire and Rutland, including the Wyggeston Lodge No.3448, donated £1,500 to Alderman Newton’s Educational Foundation at a presentation ceremony at Freemasons’ Hall, Leicester on Saturday 29th April 2017.
The Alderman Newton Educational Foundation receives a cheque from the Provincial Grand Master on behalf of the University Lodges
Alderman Newton’s Educational Foundation offers financial support to individuals and schools in Leicestershire helping them access education or training opportunities.
The money was raised at the recently held special joint meeting where the three lodges, Wyggeston Lodge, Castle of Leicester Lodge No.7767 and Lodge of Science & Art No.8429. The Leicestershire and Rutland Masonic Charity Association additionally contributed half of the funds.
Andy Green, Universities Scheme Representative for the Lodge said: “As University Lodges, we are incredibly proud to donate this money to a local educational charity that supports those less fortunate than ourselves.”
At our meeting on Friday 21st April 2017 held at Freemasons’ Hall, Leicester, Bros. Simeon and Elvis were Passed to the Second Degree in a wonderful double ceremony.
The new Fellowcraft, Bros. Simeon (left) and Elvis (right) along with the Master and Universities Scheme Representative Andy Green
The Master conducted a superb ceremony and was assisted by a number of Brethren including Bros. Dr. Simon Walmsley and James Kelly. Also assisting was Bro. Ian Player, who deputised on several occasion throughout the meeting.
Two special and surprise presentations were also made at the meeting, the first was a bottle of whisky to W.Bro. Douglas Ball PGStB on his 93rd birthday.
The second presentation was a pair of cufflinks to W.Bro. Dr. Andy Green as a token of the appreciation of the lodge for his services as Secretary and Universities Scheme representative. Upon receiving the gift, Andy said: “I’m completely bowled over by this presentation which is a lovely gesture. Thank you to the lodge for these cufflinks which I shall certainly treasure.”
The Wyggeston Lodge, No.3448 Leicester 