The Traveling Ashlar Weekly Trestleboard | Edition 0005 | Week of September 21, 2026 · A.L. 6026

Some long-service presentations honor a remarkable Masonic career. Royal Larne Masonic Lodge No. 615 managed to put two of them in the same family.

Brothers Fieldy Robinson and Cecil Robinson were presented with Platinum Long Service Awards recognizing approximately 70 years in Freemasonry. Both joined Royal Larne during the 1956-57 period and, seven decades later, both remain connected to the Lodge. Fieldy stayed in Larne, served as Worshipful Master in 1965 and later as Junior Grand Warden in the Provincial Grand Lodge of Antrim. Cecil moved to England for work, affiliated with UGLE Lodge No. 5434, but maintained his membership in Royal Larne.

The Provincial Grand Lodge of Antrim described the pair as the first 70-year certificates it has presented in some time. The fact that the recipients are actual brothers makes the occasion considerably more unusual. Assistant Grand Master and Provincial Grand Master representatives attended along with members and guests before the evening concluded, appropriately enough, with roast beef and pavlova.

Seventy years is longer than many lodges have occupied their current buildings. Two brothers maintaining their connection to the same Lodge across different careers, different countries and most of a lifetime is the sort of story that does not require much embellishment.

The most difficult question facing many Masonic organizations is increasingly not how to preserve an old building, but how much building the next generation actually needs.

The Masonic Building Association of Sioux Falls recently accepted a full-price offer for the Sioux Falls Masonic Center after years of discussion about aging infrastructure, operating needs and the long-term sustainability of maintaining a large facility. The agreement gives the Masonic organizations six months in the current building, with possible additional time, while they evaluate a future home. By Sept. 15, Minnehaha Lodge No. 5 was already asking members to remain after its Sept. 17 meeting to begin consolidating storage.

The transition is about more than packing folding chairs. The Building Association is asking organizations to decide what records should be retained, digitized or discarded. Brother Kurt Swendson has offered to lead an effort to scan and preserve historical documents. Physical Masonic elements are also being considered individually, including engraved stonework, embedded cornerstones, signage, emblems and even the flagpole. The goal is to remove significant pieces responsibly rather than abandon the Masonic identity of the building when ownership changes.

That makes Sioux Falls worth watching. Lodges throughout North America are confronting versions of the same problem. Sentiment can preserve a building for only so long. Eventually heating bills, roofs, insurance and empty square footage get a vote too. Sioux Falls is attempting to preserve the history without requiring future Masons to preserve every square foot that came with it.

No chandeliers. No painted ceiling. The Grand Lodge of Alberta calendar advertised something considerably larger overhead.

Exemplar Lodge No. 175, Dominion Lodge No. 117 and Balmoral Lodge No. 185 scheduled a joint event called The Lodge of the Autumn Equinox at Ostara Farm near Camrose. The program called for a multi-lodge Master Mason Degree conferred outdoors, with the Lodge to tyle at what the organizers described as "Darkness Visible," between approximately 7:30 and 8 p.m. Dress was informal, with the practical warning to prepare for Alberta weather.

Outdoor degree work is hardly a new invention, but the setting remains one of the simplest ways to make familiar ritual feel unfamiliar again. Remove the walls, wait for the light to disappear and suddenly some of the oldest language in the Craft has the sky behind it instead of plaster.

The Grand Lodge calendar listed the event for Sept. 19 but had not posted a follow-up report when this edition was prepared. Even so, the concept earns its place in The Trestleboard. Three lodges, one farm, a Master Mason Degree and sunset deciding when the Lodge opens is a fairly good argument for keeping a coat in the trunk.

A new Royal Arch organization in Cambridgeshire appears to have decided that the way to get Craft Masons interested in Chapter is fairly straightforward: invite them to dinner, teach them something and let them meet the people already enjoying it.

The Cambridgeshire Clarets held their inaugural dinner Sept. 16 at Freemasons' Hall on Bateman Street in Cambridge. Approximately 57 Masons representing ten Chapters attended, including eight Craft Masons who were not yet Royal Arch Companions. The evening began with a Chapter of Instruction, followed by a paper from Clarets Chairman Hady Aouad and then dinner.

The group also presented £860 raised at its summer barbecue for donation to the Royal British Legion. Paul Arnill, MBE, was elected Vice-Chairman and is scheduled to succeed to the chairmanship on Jan. 1, 2027. Organizers said the Clarets concept, which began as a Provincial initiative, has already spread into multiple Provinces across England and Wales.

For a fraternity that sometimes attempts to solve membership questions with another committee, there is something refreshingly uncomplicated here. Put experienced Companions at the same table as newer Craft Masons, provide education without turning it into a sales pitch, eat together and allow curiosity to do some of the work.

There are easier charitable programs to explain than taking people fishing. There may not be many that explain themselves better once you see them work.

The official UGLE podcast Craftcast marked 25 years of the Masonic Fishing Charity in a new episode released Sept. 17. The volunteer-led organization provides fishing and countryside experiences for people with special needs and for others facing difficult circumstances. Participants get more than a rod and a place on the bank. The charity describes its work as a way to help people build confidence, meet new challenges, form relationships and experience an activity that may otherwise be inaccessible.

The charity runs both coarse and fly-fishing events and works with special-needs schools, centers and people affected by trauma. Its own description emphasizes that disabled participants, including veterans and stroke survivors, can take part in an activity that is adaptable to a wide range of abilities. The organization is operated by volunteers and is nonprofit, and volunteers do not need to be Freemasons.

Twenty-five years later, the idea remains almost aggressively uncomplicated: get outside, put somebody beside the water, give him or her something achievable to work toward and let a quiet day do what a lecture sometimes cannot.

Most Masonic event-center calendars contain dinners, degree rehearsals, fundraisers and the occasional wedding.

Johnstown is going with cryptids.

The Western PA Cryptid and Supernatural Expo returns Sept. 26 and 27 to the Johnstown Masonic Event and Conference Center for its fourth year. The official Pennsylvania Masons calendar describes a two-day gathering devoted to the unexplained, unusual and supernatural, with experts, special guests and vendors ranging from crafters to 3D printers and food trucks. The show runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days.

There is no claim that Freemasonry has finally solved the cryptid question. The interesting part may be much more practical. It is another example of an active Masonic property functioning as a genuine community venue rather than sitting dark between lodge meetings.

Still, somewhere in Johnstown this weekend, a man may walk into a Masonic building looking for evidence of the unexplained. Depending on which old Past Master he asks, he may receive considerably more than he bargained for.

Before the television dramas, books and legend, Robert Blair "Paddy" Mayne was a soldier, lawyer, international rugby player, boxer, Antarctic explorer and one of the men associated with the founding years of Britain's Special Air Service.

He was also Brother Paddy Mayne.

Mayne entered Eklektikos Lodge No. 542 in Newtownards on Sept. 25, 1945. He received his second degree on May 28, 1946, and was raised on Sept. 24 of that year. In 1948 he also became a member of Friendship Lodge No. 447. By 1954, the heavily decorated wartime officer had been elected Worshipful Master of Eklektikos Lodge. Local Masonic history records that he remained an active participant and valued the ordinary camaraderie of lodge life after returning from war and later Antarctic work.

His final evening also crossed the Masonic record. On Dec. 13, 1955, Mayne attended a meeting of Friendship Lodge No. 447 before later traveling to Bangor. In the early hours of Dec. 14, his Riley sports car crashed in Newtownards and he was killed. His funeral reportedly produced a mile-long cortege through the town.

The story has become current again because Antrim Masons are promoting an Oct. 16 Belfast Charity Fund presentation at Whiteabbey Masonic Centre focused on the late Worshipful Brother Lt. Col. Robert Paddy Blair Mayne, DSO and three bars.

The medals and SAS exploits made him famous. The lodge record gives us a different picture: after everything Mayne had seen and done, he still found something worth returning to in a room full of Brothers.