The Craftsmen Week Commencing 26 th April 2021 Issue Number Fifty Five Welcome to the fifty fifth edition of the Weekly Round-Up for the Province of Herefordshire. Supporting Local Freemasons The Craftsmen Newsletter Page 1 Thank You to all of our contributors to this issue. This week we have: • The origins of St George by W.Bro Andrew Moore • Tales from a Dragoon Part Two from W.Bro Paul Sabel • Pictures from a ‘Misty Morning’ from W.Bro Tim Bridgland-Taylor • The answer to W.Bro Aeron’s curiosity - thanks W.Bro Tim • A reminder of the question from W.Bro Dennis Roberts in ‘Would I know, did I know’ • Our regular Fun and Games at T@3 with curiosities and a Word Search • A new way to fundraise for the HMCA using Amazon Smile Keep safe Brethren and keep in contact. Cover Picture A sea of bluebells in the woods above the River Wye at Symonds Yat
Transcript
The CraftsmenWeek Commencing 26th April 2021 Issue Number Fifty Five
Welcome to the fifty fifth edition of the Weekly Round-Up for the Province of Herefordshire.
Supporting Local Freemasons
The Craftsmen Newsletter Page 1
Thank You to all of our contributors to this issue.
This week we have:
• The origins of St George by W.Bro Andrew Moore
• Tales from a Dragoon Part Two from W.Bro Paul Sabel
• Pictures from a ‘Misty Morning’ from W.Bro Tim Bridgland-Taylor
• The answer to W.Bro Aeron’s curiosity - thanks W.Bro Tim
• A reminder of the question from W.Bro Dennis Roberts in ‘Would I know, did I know’
• Our regular Fun and Games at T@3 with curiosities and a Word Search
• A new way to fundraise for the HMCA using Amazon Smile
Keep safe Brethren and keep in contact.
Cover Picture A sea of bluebells in the woods above the River Wye at Symonds Yat
The Craftsmen Newsletter Page 2 The Craftsmen Newsletter Page 2
For next time, let me pose this question:
What does your Badge and Banner say about your Lodge?
I will detail that of Ariconium and hope for responses from all other Lodges.
You can always check your thoughts by visiting ‘Solomon’ of course!
https://solomon.ugle.org.uk
Dennis Roberts - Group Leader Information and Guidance Group e-mail: Dennis Here
Would I know the answer?
Did I know the answer?By W.Bro Dennis W. Roberts, PAGDC Group Leader Information and Guidance Group
We have previously asked if you can you help Aeron Lewis identify this curiosity? There were no answers on last week’s question from W.Bro Aeron Lewis from Vitruvian and Ariconium Lodges. Does anyone know who would have worn such a badge?
W.Bro Tim Fycun the Wm of Ariconium Lodge 8868 has provided an answer that I thought I would share.
Tim though the badge looked European, either French or German. It turns out the badge is a German Navy Breast Badge.
Do you have an object you are not sure what it is?
As you are no doubt fully aware, St George is the Patron Saint of England.
St George’s Day is celebrated on 23rd April across England, Ethiopia, Georgia, Catalonia and Aragon in Spain and Moscow in Russia as well as several other states, regions, universities, professions and organisations who have claimed George as their patron.
According to tradition he was a soldier in the Roman army in the third century. He is said to have died on 23rd April 303 having been sentenced to death for refusing to recant his Christian faith. He has become one of the most venerated saints and megalomartyrs in Christianity especially as a military saint since going back to the time of the crusades. His bones are buried in the Church of Saint George in Lod, Israel.
There are many conflicting stories around the life of George but most agree he was an Officer in the Roman army. His legend can be traced back to the 5th or 6th Century although the legend including a dragon came much later in the 11th Century. Probably from a Georgian source, it reached Europe in the 12th Century. It tells of a fierce dragon causing panic at the city of Silene in Libya.
To placate the dragon the locals gave the dragon two sheep a day, but they were not enough and so they were forced to sacrifice humans. The city’s people elected the human to be sacrificed and at one point the King’s own daughter was nominated. No one came forward to take her place.
George saved the girl by slaying the dragon. The King was so grateful that he offered George treasure as a reward but George refused it and gave the reward to the poor instead. Legend has it that the city was so amazed that they all became Christians and were all baptised.
The popular pictures of St George dressed in armour were a much later edition to the original legend. He became popular with English kings specifically Edward I (1272-1307) who had banners of St George, the red cross on a white background and Edward III (1327-77) who had a strong interest in the Saint and owned a relic of his blood. He founded the Order of the Garter in 1348 which is the highest order of chivalry in the country with Queen Elizabeth II at the helm as Sovereign of the Garter. The cross of St George appears on the garter badge and his image is on the Garter chain.
The St George Cross was not used to represent England until the reign of Henry VIII.
From around 1100, St George’s help was also sought to protect the English army. In William Shakespeare’s play
‘Henry V’, the monarch calls on the saint during his battle cry at the Battle of Harfleur in the famous “Once more unto the breach, dear friends” speech, crying “God for Harry! England, and St. George!”
Five hundred years later – during the First World War – a ghostly apparition of St George is said to have aided British troops during their retreat from Mons, and the naval commander of the Zeebrugge Raid cited the saint as inspiration.
In 1940 King George VI created a new award for acts of the greatest heroism or courage in circumstance of extreme danger. The George Cross, named after the king, bears the image of St George vanquishing the dragon. The image of St George also adorns many of the memorials built to honour those killed during World War One.
The Origins of St George (With or Without Dragon!)By W.Bro Andrew Moore PPSGD Vitruvian Lodge No 338
Miniature from a 13th-century Passio Sancti Georgii
You may remember I was 17½, just joined 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards or more affectionately known as the QDG as a loader in a Chieftain Mk2 tank crew, which consisted of a commander, gunner, loader and driver. We were on exercise on the Vogelsang training area in Belgium. Our mission, to escape and evade the Green Howards Infantry Battalion who were trying to capture us. We had just left behind the Wildpark and all its animals! We continued down the hill keeping just inside the wood line. The breaking dawn just giving enough light to help us make our way through the wood. We continued on for just over an hour with the sun starting to come up. Sgt Weatherlake (Sarge) said we better move deeper into the wood to prevent us from being seen by any observation posts (OP) that may have been set up to look for us. We made our way deeper into the wood and after about 200m, we found a small clearing where the light was better. We’d been travelling all night and Sarge said let’s rest up here and have some breakfast.
We quickly set a fire, ensuring that it didn’t cause any smoke that might give us away. From our pouches we pooled our resources, a mess tin was produced and quickly filled with water from our water bottles. Once the water was boiling, Evo (Evans) produced some tea from a small bag
he carried his top pocket, and we soon had a couple of hot steaming mugs of tea. Evo always seemed to have something up his sleeve for every occasion! The mess tin was quickly replenished with water for more tea. A small breakfast was put together, consisting of tea and luncheon meat. Not exactly a feast but enough to keep us going. We rested up for a couple of hours before it was time to move on again. By this time the sun was up but hidden by an overcast grey sky.
After studying the map, Sarge said we should stay in the wood and keep going east for 1500m until we reached a main road. Must say marching on a bearing in a thick wood is not the easiest of things to do, but Sarge said we needed to stay in the wood rather than venturing out onto any tracks and being picked up by the enemy. We picked our way through the wood cautiously crossing fire breaks and small tracks when we came across them until we reached the road.
Now we had a problem! The road was as straight as a die and running along a south-westerly direction downhill then steadily climbing to the top of a hill about 2½ km away. The road was on what looked like a raised embankment between the two wood lines, ideal for an OP to see anyone crossing it. Similarly looking in the opposite direction the scenery was
much the same. Sarge studied the map and scoured the road with his binoculars to see if there were any signs of OPs or a tunnel, but thinking about it, a tunnel would be guarded! How were we going to get cross the road without being seen? Couldn’t we make a quick dash across it! Raising one eyebrow Sarge said “Not the brightest idea, we’d have the infantry swarming all around us in no time”. I think we should continue down along the wood line parallel to the road to see if there was anything that could help us get across the road?
We crept along for about 500m when Evo spotted a culvert at the end of a ditch running under the road, it looked only just big enough to get your shoulders in and there was no way of crawling through it on your hands and knees. We decided to continue looking for another way across. We made our way stealthily along the road for another 800m or so and only saw another culvert running into the embankment under the road. We were running out of options and the further we went our chances of running into the infantry were increasing. We decided to investigate the culvert further.
If we were to go through, we would have to stretch our arms out in front of us and snake our way along it, using our toes to push us through. The other
The Craftsmen Newsletter Page 4
Tales from a Dragoon Part TwoW.Bro Paul Sabel ProvStwd, Provincial Communications Officer
Continued from issue 37 of The Craftsmen.
1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards (QDG)Whilst 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards (QDG) is a thoroughly modern 21st Century reconnaissance regiment formed sixty years ago, it also one of the oldest regiments in the British Army with roots spreading back well over three hundred years to 1685, before the formal formation of the British Army in 1707.
16852nd and 3rd Regiments of horse (KDG and Bays) are founded
19591st The King’s Dragoon Guards and 2nd Dragoon Guards merge to form the QDG
1991The Regiment breaches the Iraqi defensive line during the Gulf War
2003 - 2007The Regiment takes part in three operational tours in Iraq
2008 - 2014The Regiment takes part in three operational tours in Afghanistan
2018 - 2019The Regiment takes part in two tours of Operation Cabrit in Poland
problem was we couldn’t see any light through the tunnel to confirm the other end was open and also there was 2cm of water in the bottom of the culvert! After about 5 minutes discussion it was decided that we would give the culvert a go.
Being the smallest, I was volunteered to go first and try it out. Down I got, stretching my arms out in front of me I inched my way into the culvert. Once I was fully inside, Sarge said try and come back out. Not as easy as going forward but I managed to reverse back out of the tunnel. Well, Sarge said if we can’t go all the way through at least we should be able to back out of it. So, after a little persuasion I re-entered the culvert, this time pushing my belt and pouches in front of me and, holding onto my torch, I slowly inched along the pipe. As I snaked my way along the pipe it reminded me of the time I went potholing during training. Definitely shows what you do for fun can come in handy later in life. As we continued shuffling along the pipe. All I could hear was the grunting
and groaning of the guys behind me. Oh, and did I mention the water, well I was pretty much soaked by now! My biggest fear was, what would we do if it rained? After about 25-30m I switched the torch off to see if there was any light at the end of the tunnel and yes, there was a faint glimmer ahead which I relayed to the rest of the crew. Then I heard Mullins say have you seen any rats yet, cause they’re as big as dogs in these culverts! As quick as a flash I switched the torch on. We continued to edge our way along the pipe with renewed vigour with the light getting brighter the further we went. After about 50m we could clearly see the end and thankfully there was not a grille blocking our exit. As we emerged out of the pipe into the daylight the sun was starting to go down. Using the ground as cover, we moved along the ditch that fed the culvert until we reached the wood line again.
After resting up a little, Sarge looked at the map and said we only have another 5 km to go to get back to camp, but it’s not going to be all wooded. So
off we went again eventually leaving the wood and keeping low to the ground and using the countryside to give us cover as best it could, much the same as we would have done in our tank, but without so much noise! About five hours later we reached our camp undetected. After talking to the guys from Squadron Headquarters we found out that we were the first back, smiles all round. Without too much ceremony it was off to our sleeping bags for a much-earned rest. The following morning, we found out that eight of the twelve crews had been captured. Later that afternoon the Squadron Leader, Major Richards duly presented us with four crates of beer, not bad for a 36-hour uneventful walk through the countryside!
PS
Our bar stories about our journey through the Belgium countryside earned us many more beers! Thinking about that, I must tell you about our journey home on the train, well maybe another time.
The Craftsmen Newsletter Page 5
Tales from a Dragoon Part TwoW.Bro Paul Sabel ProvStwd, Provincial Communications Officer
Continued from issue 37 of The Craftsmen.
A carpet of bluebells in the woods above the River Wye at The Doward, South Herefordshire.
Spring has arrived........A selection of pictures from gardens around the Province.
The image above is from W.Bro Peter Wiles front garden in Ross on Wye.
The image to the right is from W.Bro Dennis Roberts from his garden in Ross on Wye.
The bottom image is from W.Bro Glyn Edmunds garden in Monmouth.
Anyone else have a garden that is starting to show colour?
If so we would love to feature your photographs if you can send them in and tell us where they are from.
The Craftsmen Newsletter Page 6
Further details on the website Here
Follow on Twitter Here
Follow on Facebook Here
The Craftsmen Newsletter Page 7
The Herefordshire Provincial Light Blues Club
Brethren,
Further to the success of our fundraising for the 2020 Festival using the easyfundraising app to earn free donations for our charity every time you shop online.
I have now set up an ‘Amazon Smile’ account to add additional free donations to the Herefordshire Masonic Charity Association every time you purchase from Amazon.
Getting set up for the free donations is really quite simple, just follow the steps below, and you will be fundraising for free in just two minutes! 1. Visit smile.amazon.co.uk
2. Sign in with your Amazon.co.uk credentials
3. Choose a charitable organization to receive donations, or search for the charity of your choice
4. Select your charity - search for ‘Herefordshire Masonic Charity Association’
4. Start shopping!
5. Add a bookmark for smile.amazon.co.uk to make it even easier to return and start your shopping at AmazonSmile
The easyfundraising app raised well over £1000 in free money from just a handful of users over the last two years of the Festival. We can continue to use both easyfundraising and the Amazon Smile app to keep on raising free money for us to donate to worthy causes through the HMCA.
I really hope that as many of you as possible sign up to both of these free programs so that we can continue the great work we started, and we can see the donations start to build up once again.
Please feel free to contact me via email if you have any questions.
I look forward to meeting with you again in person soon Brethren.
Until then take care, stay safe, and if you shop online - please use the apps!
Sincerely and Fraternally
W Bro Chris HoltProvincial Grand Standard BearerAlmoner, Coningsby Lodge 6383
T@3Some light-hearted treats to keep you amused. With thanks to W.Bro Paul Sabel.
Do you know what the object is in the close up below?
Answers to the Word Search from the 19th April. This week’s Word Search is on page 9.
And More Whisky V H C I N O D R E P A C O N V A L M O L R E N K L U W J P K N L S D A L L A S D H U S G C Y M X T A E G N E T F O R C A H B C M L P Z X V M L F B O N N R J V V P F W P W H Y R U H D R A C T E J Q Y A F U A I T E M B T N S B U N R Z S V M Q T U H C A H P X B T S D I C E I W O C D O C T L R X D O E I O V Q T P S G M O W L J D Q Z S H V G G A B S W M J M E B M A G C T G E V A Q B P D C E I U M I E P U R C Y S L V X X T N J R U D D O H L C D N W L E C N U L Q G E D T J Y R D L E L M U V Z E J Q Y A P T T P P N X E D Q L B E Q E U A U U Y A H R I P Z P V C R U U V P U C Y P B W I J I F N N M R T M F U W E F D N E Z Q O F U I N L T D H I S N O I U Z R F S I M U R T I F R S E S F C A H L T B Y R O T R C D M G Z O J U N Q L W V D F L M F O I M O O I E B I Y U V N D X P D U O B G L M F I N W A C V M A I I K H L G U U I W L A F F J O A N I G E H N F H R F E R I A L I L O A C I W G R U W D P Q H C F H Q Z G A U F T T K H N T G W V E R Y C A R V L N L Y R R R N A X Z L X A Q Y S A V D A L W H I N N I E C M P C F I W R P G L U D C I K H K H J L N C Y D N X J F H C B V L E I H C A L L E G I A R C I M Q H Y Y X G E G A V Z Y T D F L F U J K J K F B
Last Week’s AnswerWas a Kodak Folding Pocket Camera from around 1900.
Thank you to Bro Gordon Stewart for sending it in.
Last week’s object was a Razor Blade.
Close Up ChallengeHere is a new challenge and the answer to last week’s
This Week’s CuriosityCan you identify what this curiosity is and what it was used for?
This Week’s Word SearchCan you find the Herefordshire villages, towns and city below?
Herefordshire Villages, Towns and City K I N G S T H O R N E Q I Q U E B P I X L E Y P N Y T E L T S A C S D R A H C I R H B A W B I A C H S V M B H K T A T E R E E E Y W N O S S O R W O W M Y O F L E O M I N S T E R H T J J G S E B P X A L J R S T O K E P R I O R I F J B S A S Z E W H J Y K E N O T G N I K Q V T H W A M P H P U K N Q A R P T Y H T J E V J A C F W B F E C X N T E N F E B X O Y E Q S M G X H G V R L T R E D R D E H Y Z S H N A R O Q L Q U A J E L E U Y E I O T H O W V Y U O N E L P S R C J D A R H N R E B R F J S D O M N N Z F N R C H P W N C C S D R A N O E W T S I O Z L O O C H B I A G H W L I C X T O T Y E N B E N T U F R V D R R A U E L N F O K F L R G K N X T D Y G X D Q O D R R D A M X V K U W T C I F E J Y S C G S I N I R C E N O C G U S O O D L R T C V I Y D F U T N O H L G R C O F N W R L T E B I N Z S A L F S E N Z T R E G P O M A I S E P H R C G H V T O A X K B T O B L N C W P G K M M F O G S M L M W E A J I I V S W O G L L Z W O R R A N O N O T N U A T S L E Y W U P N R W W B Z N O K G A T R H Q E Q J Z E P L C L E D B U R Y C X W O E H V O Y V Z Y M L O W E R B U L L I N G H A M G R U P Y J H A F L G Z T D H C R U H C W E D H C U M E T I K M Y
Wormelow Whitchurch Symonds Yat St Weonards
Stretton Sugwass Stoke Prior Staunton on Arrow Richard’s Castle
Pixley Peterchurch Monnington on Wye Moreton on Lugg
Much Dewchurch Lugwardine Lower Bullingham Llangrove
Llangarron Little Dewchurch Kington Kingsthorne
Hope under Dinmore Fownhope Eastnor Clehonger Bredwardine
Bodenham Ross on Wye Leominster Ledbury Hereford
The Craftsmen Newsletter Page 9
One Misty Morning.....The Beauty of Herefordshire while walking the dog. By W.Bro Tim Bridgland-Taylor PProvSuptofWorks
W.Bro Tim writes:
These photos were taken around 6.30 in the morning in or from Aylestone Park, Hereford.
The dogs get me up that early for their walk.
The pictures above are of the low sun highlighting the mist over the River Lugg.
The picture on the right is the remains of the Gloucester & Hereford canal which runs along the bottom of Aylestone park.
The beauty of Herefordshire is why I love and will remain here.
The Craftsmen Newsletter Page 10
The Craftsmen Newsletter Page 11
The Province on Social MediaFollow the Province on Twitter Here
Follow the Province on Facebook Here
Follow the Province on Instagram Here
Previous Issues can be found on the Provincial Website Here.
Follow the Caeruleum Club on Twitter Here
Follow the Caeruleum Club on Facebook Here
Further details on the website Here
Caeruleum ClubA club for Freemasons within the Province of Herefordshire, who have yet to receive Provincial Rank honours, to socialise, learn, and represent the views of the future generations of Freemasons.
