We had a very happy meeting and white table dinner in Oundle in the middle of June, at The Talbot Hotel. Thanks to the generosity of Oundle’s St Wilfrid Lodge in allowing us to use their Lodge furniture, we were able to Pass our newest brother to the Second Degree. The room allocated to us by the Talbot was, it must be said, slightly smaller than we were used to, with the temperature on one of the warmest days of the year climbing steadily throughout the ceremony. It was nonetheless interesting to feel, perhaps, how old lodges must have felt with masons using whatever rooms were available rather than purpose-built lodge rooms.
Despite the heat and the very cosy surroundings, the ceremony went extremely well with general agreement on the quality of the ritual. We were particularly pleased to have visitors from the “host” province of Northamptonshire & Huntingdonshire, as well as other Provinces.
Afterwards, we had a very convivial white table dinner with our key guests being the Head, Mrs Kerr-Dineen, the Undermaster and our supported Life-Changing Bursary student at the School. We were delighted at the end of the meal to present £1500 of charity cheques to the Oundle School Foundation Bursary Fund, the local Oundle charity Volunteer Action, and to the annual Mencap holiday week organised by the School.