REGIONAL ROUNDUP
MASONIC NEWS FROM NSW & ACT
L odge C helmsford 261
L odge Taralga 648
Music at work The Fleming Inner West Community family TheBand’srecent‘Freemasons and the Great War’ concert sponsored by Lodge Chelmsford was a great success. Many city and suburban lodges attended such as Australian Lodge of Harmony, Lodge Castlereagh, The Leichhardt Lodge, Lodge Concord Technology, Lodge Epping, Lodge Bankstown, Lodge Guildford and many more as well as members of the public. Everyone came together at Concord Masonic Hall to enjoy the music and mix in a relaxed and fun atmosphere. The Grand Herald W Bro Kevin Christmas also participated, helping the band out by playing the French horn.
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nother Fleming has joined Freemasonry to continue a family tradition in Lodge Taralga. Bro Jackson J Fleming (18) was admitted and initiated into the lodge by his grandfather, W Bro Gordon Fleming. It was also a Past Masters Night with assisting family members being VW Bro Percy Fleming, DGIW District 47, W Bro Leon Fleming, W Bro M I Fleming and family relatives W Bro M Fleming, W Bro R W Lang and Bro S W Massey. It was a special night as the candidate is a fourth generation Fleming to be initiated L odge Horace T hompson Ryde No 134
beyondblue
A The Inner West Community Band performing at Concord Masonic Hall
t the February meeting of Lodge Horace Thompson Ryde No 134, the Worship f ul Master W Bro Alain Havatian, arranged for Mr Bill Morakis, from beyondblue, to speak on the men’s health subject of depression and anxiety. Drawing on his own experience of
Bro Jackson Fleming was initiated by his Grandfather, W Bro Gordon Fleming
into Lodge Taralga. The first was W Bro Arthur Fleming who joined in June 1937, followed by his eldest son Thomas in October 1955, and then brothers Gordon, Percy, Leon and Hugh in December 1963. Last year, Gordon, Percy and Leon were presented with their 50 Year medals. over three months’ severe depression, Mr Morakis spoke on the devastating effect of the illness on not only the sufferer, but also on family and friends. He detailed his personal torment, the fight back to recovery, the signs to look out for and how he turned his life around, This enlightening subject should be discussed at every masonic lodge and speakers can be easily arranged via the beyondblue website.
T he C edars L odge 1041
Double time for Khoder
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t was a big night in more ways than one when W Bro Khoder Dandachli was re-installed as WM of Lodge Cedars in February in what was almost a duplicate of his Installation the previous year. In 2014, his father RW Bro Ghassan Dandachli PAGM had the privilege of being the Installing Master. This year he attended the ceremony as the Grand Master’s representative where the Installing Master was RW Bro Dr Abraham Constantin PSGW with an attendance of more than 150 consisting of members, visitors and ladies. It was a similar attendance to last year and was seen as a tribute to a composed young man and a mark of respect for his father who has been 35 years in the Craft.
RW Bro Ghassan has always been an inspiration to Khoder and provided him with an impeccable example to follow and to succeed in Freemasonry. W Bro Khoder is 24 and is the youngest of four children. He completed high school at Ashfield Boys High in 2008, finished a Law Degree at the University of Technology Sydney and was admitted as a solicitor in February 2014. He was initiated by his father in Lodge Aviation in 2009 as a Lewis and soon after affiliated with The Cedars Lodge where he was passed and raised. W Bro Khoder said he regarded his election as a challenge and that his time in the first year had been great. ‘I am lucky to have a balance between the priceless experience of the older
L–R: Grand Master’s representative RW Bro Ghassan Dandachli PAGM and W Bro Khoder
masons and the enthusiasm of the younger members as well as the earlier support of my mentors RW Bro Antoine Georges and RW Bro Constantin and my father,’ he said.
JUNE 2015 FREEMASON
41