The Wor Bro John Gorman and some likely lads
Myrtleford Lodge visit – 23rd March 2006
The Wor Bro John
Gorman and some likely lads
Well, as they say in that famous song “On the Road Again”, and this time our destination was to the North East region. As you can appreciate it is difficult to visit every corner of the State where we have members, but on this occasion it was an absolute pleasure to visit this picturesque area.
Having taken 1.5 days off work it was easy for me to ride over to the Red Baron’s place, just out of Euroa, and meet him mid afternoon on Thursday. Our ride took us through the Strathbogie Ranges to Merton, on to Mansfield, then over to Whitfield on that terrific twisty road. We enjoyed a short hydration stop at the local (and only) ‘Public House’ in Whitfield before riding through the famous wine growing area of Milawa, and on to Myrtleford; arriving at the Railway Hotel, our designated meeting and eating point, at 1630.
The other part of our visiting crew, consisting of Matt Turner, Chris Wells, Dean (Walhalla) Lugton, and Paul (Gomez) Willett arrived somewhat later – 1800. Both our trips were uneventful, except that Gomez lost his numberplate somewhere between Whittlesea and Yea. Shortly after settling at the pub we were joined by our local member (Beechworth) Stephen Blake, and his mate Adrian.
As arranged, the Master of Myrtleford, John Gorman, also joined us, and try as we might we couldn’t win any of the Bingo ticket prizes or the Thursday night meat tray raffles. John led the way down to the Lodge building, which was set alight by vandals in January.
Surveying the damage
The building is currently being assessed and there are encouraging signs that re-building will start shortly. The other good news is that the ‘fire bugs’ are being identified via the graffiti they painted on the exterior lodge building walls the night prior to the fire.
Having taken some photos, we rode back to the temporary Lodge rooms, at the Senior Citizens’ Hall.
Lodge work for the evening was to obligate the Master Elect – the current Senior Warden. (It is pleasing to note that although Steve Blake has only recently transferred from Beechworth to Myrtleford Lodge, he has been named as the senior warden for the ensuing year and it is planned for him to be Master in 2007).
As usual the VMMA entered as a visiting group, just prior to the official visit from the neighbouring Bogong Lodge. It was pleasing to see the meeting being supported by a largish number of visitors. Upon concluding the meeting we then rode/drove around to the nearby Anglican Church hall, where the ladies of the lodge had prepared a feast of yummy eats for us.
The bearded talking head (Pedro)...errr...talking
I counted approximately 70 people in the supper room, and this included 12 ladies; so a good attendance for a country lodge. As the night progressed we had the usual speeches, and then the VMMA ‘Talking Heads’ (Matt, Pedro, Chris, and Dean) swung into action. Pedro with the history, Matt with the present, and Chris the future. Dean had the pleasure of presenting a $500 cheque to the Master, to assist with the lodge rebuilding. Those present were quite surprised by this presentation. So, we had another Win-Win situation; good for us by helping out a Lodge in need, and of course good for the lodge in that it will provide some extra funds for the rebuild.
Bro Dean Lugton Presents a cheque to the Wor Master
The raffle was duly held, and won, with my prize going to Steve’s wife Darlene. The Master pledged the raffle prize money to the VMMA, but we later declined that kind offer, in favour of them keeping the money to go towards the rebuild fund. The original plan was for the Melbourne crew to leave about 2130, but hey guess what, that didn’t happen. So, they eventually departed at 2230. I was told the next day that they arrived home around 0230.
The Baron and I partied on and finished up at 2300, then followed Steve back to his place in Beechworth for our overnight stay. We talked, and enjoyed some excellent port until 0300, and slept in until 0900. We breakfasted with Darlene and departed mid morning for a casual ride back home via The Baron’s place.
The positives of this visit were that we were able to personally inform brethren in the area of the VMMA and its works, and as such we had a number of conversations and invitations to visit other lodges in the area e.g. Wodonga, Wangaratta, Yackandandah. So, it looks like there are some busy times ahead.
This was another great day/night of fun and enjoyment. You can see from the smiles on the various faces in the photos that we enjoyed ourselves. I hope that more members can joins us on these great trips/visits.
Be good, be kind, be careful.
Ciao for now, Pedro.