From The East

February 2010

Brethren:

I wish to congratulate our newest Fellow Crafts, Bro. Eric Ellul and Bro. Duane Sukhram on their being passed to the Second Degree. They were both excellent candidates and they were well prepared. I also wish to thank the Mentor Committee of R.W. Bro. Charles Woods, R.W. Bro. John Hartzema and W. Bro. Frank Franklin who did an excellent job of mentoring the brethren with their work. Bro. Foster Darkeh will be a candidate to be passed to the Second Degree on the 11th of February at Connaught Lodge on their Official Visit of the DDGM. I would ask that the brethren of West Gate Lodge please come out and support our Bro. Darkeh. At our next regular meeting in February we will be conferring two First Degrees. Brethren as you can see we have an enviable situation of numerous candidates to be advanced so please be patient.

To the brethren who have been recently raised to the Master Mason Degree please come out and support your fellow brethren getting their degrees, we all came to support you so please reciprocate.
And I am sure that you and your mentors did not do all that hard work not to come out to lodge and participate.

To the Master Masons who have been raised for some time I would like to get you involved doing some of the work starting off with small parts until you are comfortable to progress further. Please indicate to me if you wish to do work.

Thanks to our Secretary who has been sending out reminders of up coming events and official visits there is no excuse for a brother to say that he forgot.

To the Officers, the standard of the ritual work has been improving tremendously. Well done, please keep it up. Thank you all for your hard work.

Sincerely and Fraternally
W. Bro. Michael A. Kong
Worshipful Master

January 2010

Brethren:

We have had a very busy and exciting month of December. It started with the Children Christmas Party at the lodge on the 6th. Dec. We had about 22 children present. Santa Clause came and gave presents. Also for the first time we introduced the Masonic Chip Program in our District. This was quite successful for we had about 14 children enrolled.

On the 9th of Dec. we had our December Lodge meeting and Christmas Social we had a very good turn out and our members had lots of food, fun and fellowship. Our thanks to the J.W. for his hard work it all went well.

On Saturday 19th Dec. we had a Masonic service for our dearly departed Brother, R. W. Bro. Lindel W. Brown at the Erindale United Church, Mississauga. We had an excellent turn out of Brethren from West Gate and from the District.

By the time you receive this message Christmas will have been and gone. So on behalf of the Officers of West Gate Lodge we wish you a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Brethren the year 2010 will also be extremely busy at West gate. We will be raising one brother to the 3rd. degree on 13th. January (emergent meeting), and passing 2 brethren to the 2nd degree on the 27th Jan. So brethren prepare your work and be ready for the call.

S&F
W. Bro. Michael A. Kong
Worshipful Master

December 2009

Dear Brethren,

Our last meeting we initiated a new brother Greg Johnson into masonry. He was an excellent candidate and I wish to welcome him into West Gate Lodge and I hope he enjoys many productive years in masonry. Thanks to his sponsors Bros. Matt Hofland and Shane Brar for introducing Bro. Johnson to our Lodge.

Christmas is once again approaching fast. Our next meeting will be our Christmas social. So let me take this opportunity to wish you and your families a very peaceful and Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year when it also arrives.

As we move forward the year is rapidly passing, we still have approximately 5 applications and several brothers waiting to be elevated to the next degree. All I can say to you brothers who are waiting, be patient with us and don’t be frustrated. Learn your work and be ready for the call.

To all the brothers who we have not seen for a while we hope that you can find the time to join us at our Christmas social, if not maybe we will see you in the new year.

To our Brethren who are sick and shut in we pray for a speedy recovery.

Brethren may the G.A.O.T.U. keep you and your family’s safe over the festive season, and allow you an abundance of joy and prosperity in the New Year.

Sincerely & Fraternally
Wor. Bro. Michael Kong
Worshipful Master

November 2009

My Brethren, at our last meeting we raised our Brother Dan Mulvihill to the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason. Brother Mulvihill was an excellent candidate and well prepared. We congratulate him on his
hard work and we urge him to continue to study for his proving of the degree. Thanks to all the brothers who did work, the quality of the work was excellent. Also I wish to thank the brothers on the mentoring committee who are working diligently with these brothers to get them ready for their next degree.

I was very happy to see a number of the brethren attending River Park’s Lodge for the D.D.G.M. official visit to his own lodge. It was an enjoyable evening.

Brethren please continue to check the up coming events in the district and make a note to attend; by attending these events we demonstrate to others that we support the District and the D.D.G.M. As the year unfolds we hope we can count on all the brethren to come out and support the Lodge and all its activities. The Festive season is just around the corner and if you have not been out to the lodge for the year we hope that you will join us soon.

To all our Brethren who would like to attend meetings but are unable to do so because of transportation issues, please contact any officer, or me and we will endeavor to be of assistance. To all our ill or distressed brethren we offer our assistance, prayers and thoughts.

May the G.A.O.T.U. bless and keep us and our loved ones. Sincerely & Fraternally

W. Bro. Michael Kong
Worshipful Master

October 2009

Brethren,

On Wednesday the 23rd of September 09, we had our first meeting of this Masonic year. I was pleased to see the very good turn out of the brethren. We had a full night. The work of the evening was a first degree. The degree team did a very good job and a special thanks for those brethren who had to fill in at the last minute for those who could not make the meeting. I would like to welcome our newest Mason Bro. Daniel Angel, he was an excellent candidate. We would also like to thank Bro. Joseph Brindley for introducing him to Masonry and West Gate in particular.

On Thursday the 24th a few brethren from West Gate attended Connaught lodge to honor our past District Secretary V.W. Bro. William Holthan who was appointed Grand Steward. He was presented with his regalia.

On Wednesday the 30th of September there was a mentoring meeting and practice at the temple for the brethren below Master Mason Degree. Three E.A. and two F.C. attended. Brethren it is imperative that those brethren below the degree of a Master Mason who seeks progression in the craft attend these sessions, because it is the best way for them to learn about Masonry and ask questions and obtain the knowledge and confidence that will allow them to go on and become good Masons.

On Thursday the 1st of October it was West Gate's annual visit to Adanac Lodge in St. Catherine's Ontario. Seven brethren represented West Gate; this also happened to be their official visit of the D.D.G.M. of Niagara District A. It was a short meeting and a very enjoyable banquet held after.

Brethren this is a very busy time in Masonry and also outside of Masonry but I do urge you to attend your lodge and get involved. Thanks always to those who continue to support their lodge. May the Great Architect of the Universe continue to bless and keep us all.

May the G.A.O.T.U. bless and keep us and our loved ones.

Sincerely & Fraternally
W. Bro. Michael Kong
Worshipful Master

September 2009

Brethren:

It is that time of year again. Fall is fast approaching and with it another Masonic year. I hope the summer break has rejuvenated your spirits, and brought nothing but God’s good graces upon you and your loved ones. May we find the warmth that was missing during this summer within the confines of the Lodge.

My officers and I join together in expressing our heartfelt thanks to R.W. Bro. John Hartzema and his degree team for the wonderful job they did installing and investing us in our respective chairs.

We also thank the members of West Gate Lodge and the District for attending and participating in all that entails in a West Gate Installation, it was indeed a memorable journey to the Chair of King Solomon.

Grand Lodge was again well attended by the brethren of West Gate Lodge. We congratulate R.W. Bro. John McClure on being elected to the office of District Deputy Grand Master for Toronto West (we look forward to his official visit). We also congratulate our own Rt.Wor. Bro. Ernie Morrison on a very good year as Grand Senior Warden at Grand Lodge, welcome back home Rt.Wor. Bro Morrison we will put you to work.

We had a very pleasant officer’s BBQ at my home on Saturday,15th August
2009. This was very well attended and my wife and I hope you all had a very enjoyable time. The weather was great and so was the company.

Brethren we have a busy year ahead of us, I urge you to participate fully in all that the Lodge has to offer. If there is a committee you wish to participate in, please contact the chairman of that committee and he will gladly accept your offer of assistance. Let us be proactive in fostering growth and good will within Masonry in General and West Gate in particular. Let us remember it is easy to on the sideline and criticize but it takes some effort to get involved.

Bretheren I know that you all take great pride in your Lodge but let me assure you that the lodge can not operate without proper finances. Therefore I take this opportunity to remind you all that as the start of a new year all dues are due and if you have not made your remittance to the Secretary by now I implore you do so at the earliest opportunity. To the Brethren who are in arrears please take some step to contact the Secretary or the Master to make some arrangements to settle the matter. I thank you all for your co-operation.

May the G.A.O.T.U. bless and keep us and our loved ones.

Sincerely & Fraternally
W. Bro. Michael Kong
Worshipful Master

June 2009

During my installation, on June 11 last year, a wise brother approached me and suggested that I enjoy my year since it will be over all too quickly. Now that I am about to vacate the chair of King Solomon, I realize how true that prediction was.

Brethren, I would like to thank all of you for giving me the opportunity to experience the office of Worshipful Master, in such an outstanding Lodge such as West Gate. It was a great and wonderful experience, one that I will always cherish.

On May 26 a golfing foursome consisting of W.Bro. Hendricks, Bro. Mullin, Bro. Kong and myself joined the Toronto West District Charity Golf Tournament. I am pleased to report that through our joined effort we won the tournament.

During our May 27 regular meeting we held our elections and I would like to take the opportunity of wishing the newly elected and appointed officers the very best for the ensuing year 2009/10.

It was the first lodge meeting during which we did not perform degree work. Bro. Sammy provided us with some Masonic education regarding the significance of the lodge room. It was most informative and I thank Bro. Sammy for that presentation. The brethren also took the opportunity to talk about their own background and experiences. It was a real eye-opener for all of us since we all have such varied backgrounds. I for one feel that I know my brethren much better, and am looking forward to getting to know the rest in a similar fashion.

On June 10 we will be holding our installation of the new Worshipful Master of West Gate, Master Elect Bro. Michael Kong and we will also invest all other officers of the lodge. Brethren, please join us to celebrate the next upcoming year and the newly installed and invested officers.

For those of you who are planning to join us, please note that the lodge will open at 5:30pm sharp. We will be calling off for dinner at 6:30pm and the lodge will be called back on at 7:30pm. You may join us at any of those times or in between.

Since we have come to the end of our Masonic year, I would like to wish all of you a wonderful and safe summer.

To our ill and shut in brethren, may the Great Architect of the Universe be with you.

Sincerely and Fraternally Yours,

W.Bro. John Weyland

Worshipful Master.