At their 611th regular meeting, which was also their official visit, the initiation of Mr. Andrew D. Nesbitt was conducted by Friendship Lodge No. 691 on Wednesday, May 9th, 2018. R. W. Bro. Reg Daigle, District Deputy Grand Master of the Sudbury-Manitoulin District addressed those in attendance with the following:
Good evening Brethren and thank you for your kind words and hospitality. Well, here I am at my last official visit of the year. It feels like it has only started and in a flash it is over. It's quite a rewarding experience, and I encourage anyone who is aspiring to become district deputy to do so. I assure you, you will enjoy it.
Well..... for this evening my speech is about how we are boring our members to death. Years ago, the only thing that our membership would suffer from was our members dying off. Now, our greatest decline in membership is not death of our members, but demits or suspensions of members. Why is that you ask? You only have to ask our 50 or 60 year members why. They will tell you that when the membership was at it peak, there were frequent dances, BBQ at the lake or parks, and general gatherings of families with children running around, Christmas parties and group trips. People where lined up waiting to be attended to the lodge then.
Now, what do we offer?
Very few things.
They join the lodge, and they are bored. Same ritual over and over and nothing new. I comment Friendship Lodge, they still have their ladies night, Christmas party and their annual road cleaning amongst other things. We need to do more of these events to keep our new members interested and staying in lodge. Nickel Lodge has started a meeting of the brethren every Friday evening where new members and old attend a local restaurant after hours and share ideas and discussions about masonry. Another member tries to organize a hockey tournament between districts. These are spear headed by young members. We need to support them. They are doing a great thing for the retention of members, but there is more work to be done. Lets make it less boring and increase or retain our membership.
Thank You
Good evening Brethren and thank you for your kind words and hospitality. Well, here I am at my last official visit of the year. It feels like it has only started and in a flash it is over. It's quite a rewarding experience, and I encourage anyone who is aspiring to become district deputy to do so. I assure you, you will enjoy it.
Well..... for this evening my speech is about how we are boring our members to death. Years ago, the only thing that our membership would suffer from was our members dying off. Now, our greatest decline in membership is not death of our members, but demits or suspensions of members. Why is that you ask? You only have to ask our 50 or 60 year members why. They will tell you that when the membership was at it peak, there were frequent dances, BBQ at the lake or parks, and general gatherings of families with children running around, Christmas parties and group trips. People where lined up waiting to be attended to the lodge then.
Now, what do we offer?
Very few things.
They join the lodge, and they are bored. Same ritual over and over and nothing new. I comment Friendship Lodge, they still have their ladies night, Christmas party and their annual road cleaning amongst other things. We need to do more of these events to keep our new members interested and staying in lodge. Nickel Lodge has started a meeting of the brethren every Friday evening where new members and old attend a local restaurant after hours and share ideas and discussions about masonry. Another member tries to organize a hockey tournament between districts. These are spear headed by young members. We need to support them. They are doing a great thing for the retention of members, but there is more work to be done. Lets make it less boring and increase or retain our membership.
Thank You
The evening began with an excellent meal and much frivolity.
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