Our invitation to deliver one of our famous heartening and passionate VMMA talks came about through the Secretary of the Lodge – our own VMMA member Colin Randall.
After a date change we were locked in.
Members are happy and clowning around!!!
Over the past couple of weeks Bron and I have had the pleasure of the Red Baron’s company as he is painting our house, so I suggested that we could ride down to Sunbury on my Triumph.
The only trouble was that he couldn’t flex his gammy hip enough to get on the pillion seat and put his feet on the pegs. Therefore we had to take the car. Oh dear, how disappointing and embarrassing, especially as all the other guys turned up on bikes.
We certainly had a good roll up: John Wilson (The Boss), Dean, the Red Baron, Garry Porter, Matt, Cashie, Eric the Viking, Rick Higginson, Woody, the Colonel, Taxi, and me – Pedro. Interestingly this Lodge is somewhat similar to Balnarring in that they use a community hall for their meetings.
In this case it is the Goonawarra Community Centre in Sunbury, which is a good environment in a fairly modern building. Like Balnarring, all the lodge equipment is set up, and then put away in a cupboard in the hall.
Hm, this light beer isn't bad at all!!
We were admitted in our normal manner as a visiting group, and shortly after we were given the freedom of the lodge to speak about our activities.
Matt led the way by explaining who would speak about what. He gave a good introduction, and then handed over to me for the history. My memory isn’t all that great these days so Matt helped out whilst I was speaking by reminding me of the important details re $ donated to whom and when
Thanks Mate.
The Boss, in his usual entertaining way engaged with the audience, and at one stage got a MM up and involved him in the presentation – that was an excellent experience for all.
The Boss, Networking!!!!
Rick Higginson (all the way from Cowes) spoke next about the Warley Hospital and STONE event; which further indicated the great charitable works we and many other motorcyclists do for our various communities.
The Colonel was hiding in the comfy chairs at this stage so Matt got him up to give a quick reflection of the TLC Ride. Matt finished off, but not before I spoke about our current major fundraising project – the Rifton Gait Walking Trainer.
My emphasis on this extremely worthwhile special event must have hit the spot as we got immediate and positive feedback. So, having spoken for what seemed like an hour, we sat down.
The Master thanked us and closed the Lodge, upon which we retired to the supper room. It was nice to see that supper was laid out on a long line of tables, thus allow us to circulate and talk easily.
Colin, thank you for a great night.
The raffle was circulated and I could see that our members were buying up big as usual, as it is normally the case that we pull off a few prizes. Well, on this night all the prizes went to other visitors and lodge members.
The upside of the raffle was that we were presented with a cheque and cash for $106. It was also noticed that some brethren preferred to make donations directly to the Rifton effort.
(News just in on 13 Feb is that a very substantial donation has been made towards the Rifton effort from a brother at that meeting.
For this we are eternally grateful. This act of kindness and generosity demonstrates how charitable some people can be).
As the night was rolling on and getting later we wound up and said our goodbyes.
Cash Man, looking good!!!
The members on bikes all left together in quite a cacophony of sounds and the Baron and I watched the taillights disappear around the corner; but at the same time wishing that we could have ridden too.
We arrived back in Bendigo around midnight very satisfied that we had advanced Freemasonry and more particularly the VMMA in a very positive manner. Until next we meet, stay upright.
Ciao Pedro
