Balnarring Lodge 850
Murray's Last Night
Friday 14th October 2005
The VMMA had an official visit to the Balnarring Lodge No.850, on Friday 14 Oct 05, to support the Master, Wor Bro Murray Sutton (also a VMMA member) on his last night in the chair.
In attendance were Dennis Setterfield, Alan Peverell, Eric Palant, Trevor Wood, Brian Sanders, Dave Cash, Steve Blake, Kent Sluggett, Matt Turner, Robert Fisk, Drew Webber, Robert van Lunenburg, and Pedro Eberbach.
Lodge opened at 1930 and we were admitted and welcomed shortly after. The Master closed the lodge quickly and by 2020 we were out and changed.
Having travelled to Lodge with his father Kent, it was now time for 16 year old Andrew Sluggett, an energetic young man who is likely to be a Lewis soon, to join for the remainder of the evening’s activities.
We retired to the nearby foyer to watch a demonstration of blacksmithing by Bro David Myhill, a Balnarring member, who showed us how knives are made from pieces of metal. The noise of the LPG fired forge, added to the clatter and bang of David working at the anvil with his heavy hammers should have woken the closest neighbours, but fortunately this most interesting demonstration was not disturbed.
On adjourning to the supper room, the Brethren dug deep in their pockets and purchased a large quantity of badges to support the Leukaemia Foundation, whilst the later raffle produced a $155 donation to the VMMA for CanTeen. The supper was very nice, but alas at my table The Red Baron remained a ‘Trifle’ hungry, and was only truly satisfied after consuming 4 servings of that delicious dessert.
Dennis Setterfield delivered the toast to the visitors, which was responded to by Drew Webber with usual degree of eloquence. The Master was then given a mild roast by way of a very warm and sincere acknowledgement of his work as Master during the year.
To our total surprise David Myhill then presented individual handcrafted knives to Steve Blake, Dave Cash, The Red Baron, Pedro, Drew, and The Colonel. So our night was complete. Well almost.
Having bid farewell to most of the Brethren, the stragglers got talking about different knives with David, the knife maker. He then invited us (Drew, Baron, Blakey, and I) back to his place to view some other knives.
In Drew’s capable hands, we once again jumped in to the Saab (which was on loan for the night ‘cos his was crook) and followed David back to his workshop. After having the knife and hatchet making process explained, David asked if we would like to throw some knives.
So, here we are; it’s midnight, we’re standing in a big backyard, in the light of 10 million candela handheld torch, throwing handmade knives at a tree. Exciting stuff I can assure you.
That done, and some knives purchased we bid David farewell and headed for Drew’s place, with every intention to buy pizza on the way home, as by now we were a little peckish. This was not to be, and we even missed out on McDonalds due to the time. Safely home we chatted for a while then headed for bed, as we needed to rise at 0600 to enable us to get to Phillip Island for our Leukaemia Foundation duties that morning.
Thank you one and all for a very pleasant, enjoyable, and most memorable night.
Ciao Pedro