The Morgan Lodge go to Monte Carlo

One of our Members, Mario Pellegrini, lives in Monte Carlo, his Mother Lodge, Port of Hercules 4626, Lodge No. 2, were celebrating their 100 anniversary on 23rd April 2024, so some of the Morgan Lodge Members decided to go and support him. Our WM, V.W.Bro Peter Manning, had some polo shirts made to make the trip more memorable, and the planning began. The WM went in his Maserati, the IPM went in his Porsche, the Secretary went in his Morgan Plus 8, the Membership Officer went in his Morgan Roadster and the rest flew. There were 10 Masons representing Morgan Lodge with 6 wives. We made our own way down to the south of France, some fast, some not so fast. Personally, I went over on the Shuttle on Thursday afternoon, stopped 3 times in hotels going down to Menton, just outside Monte Carlo where we were staying, arriving on Sunday afternoon. Another one of our members, WBro Kenneth Wright, has an apartment in Menton and he was the instigator of the trip, which is one reason we stayed in Menton rather than Monte Carlo (other considerations were the price difference and parking).
The next few days were full, Sunday evening Mario had booked us all into an Italian Restaurant within walking distance of our hotels for a Champagne reception and meal, very nice. Monday was a day to ourselves to explore the lovely town of Menton or go further afield. Tuesday was the big day, we were all being picked up by black minibus taxis to be taken to the Monaco Yacht Club for another Champagne and canapé afternoon reception and spend a couple of hours admiring the Yacht Club, the view of the multi million pound yachts and part of the Grand Prix circuit.
The men were then taken by taxi to the Lodge rooms for the Anniversary meeting and the ladies were returned to Menton in the taxi, where they had a late supper, partly because of the plentiful and delicious canapés at the Yacht Club but also because one of the wives was still on UK time!
There were Brethren from 7 different countries, representing 23 Lodges in attendance at the Lodge, during the meeting a magnificent new Lodge banner was dedicated, the meeting was followed by a wonderful Festive Board and a fund-raising event, where a 3 litre bottle of Grappa, large Pork Pie, F1 Watch and various other items were auctioned off. A large amount of money was raised for their charity.
The following day the party was again picked up by the black taxis at 10am all booted and spurred and dropped at the Museum of Prince Albert’s Automobile Collection, said to have been built up over 40 years. The modern building was spotlessly clean and housed a very impressive range of cars from 1910 to modern; mostly French but a few very expensive British, Italian and American cars and a load of donated F1 cars, but no Morgans.
After an hour or so in the collection, we walked along the road behind the F1 stands at the end of closed Pit Lane and up the pit exit road and into the Automobile Club.

A very upmarket and beautifully decorated Club with lots of motoring memorabilia and a couple of veteran cars in the entrance. Fortified with more Champagne and canapés we sat down in tables of ten to a sumptuous 3 course lunch with super attentive staff and with as much wine as you could drink.

Before lunch they sold raffle tickets at 20 Euro a strip and Mike Lorimer (of lodge raffle fame) was delighted with the 1/12 scale 3-wheeler Morgan Model that W.Bro Geoff Tipler presented as a raffle prize and said he would auction that separately. During coffee, he started the raffle by auctioning off the model 3-wheeler which went for 275 euros. The lunch raffle & auction together made a fantastic 4,700 Euros for the very worthy Le Rocher du Coeur Charity, which will help comfort many sick children in the area.

Prior to the Raffle Draw, W.Bro Kenneth Wright gave a brief talk on the history of the contribution made by the wealthy British residents of the French Riviera during the Great War 1914/18. He also included a brief resume of the Englishman who won the first Monaco Grand Prix in 1929. Following his talk he sold signed copies of his book, the proceeds of which amounted to 145 Euros, and were donated to the Charity Appeal”.

R.W.Bro Bob Vaughn was the only Morgan party member to win a raffle prize and that was another (as in the lodge) large Pork Pie wrapped up in a cardboard transit box, I understand it was to be consumed in a Pie Fest the next day by the remaining Morganeers. We poured into the taxis late afternoon to sleep off the excesses of the day. Everyone made it back home safely to England in their own time.

An Excellent visit all round! A very big thank you to Mario Pellegrini for arranging a wonderful few days.

Bro Richard Warner
Secretary – The Morgan Lodge

Last Lodge Meeting of the Year 

A great last meeting of the year for the lodge was held in Malvern on Saturday 18th November. The meeting was followed by VWBro Peter Manning giving a talk on “A Potted History of Freemasonry”. Non-Masons and Partners were invited. The meeting and talk were followed by a Xmas meal white table dinner.

Morgan Lodge member takes part in Rust to Rome

Brother Jim Curtiss with his son Brett have set off for the Rust to Rome run that starts from Edinburgh 2nd July 2023.

Rust 2 Rome is drivers dream. It’s a Top Gear adventure without the 15 support vehicles. Visiting small and big cities full of culture & great food. The route has been put together with years of experience. The route blends days with a lot of miles and days with a few miles that will take all day to tackle. It’s not a flat-out race. The rally is a well balanced driving adventure, when it feels like a challenge after being on a motorway for hours then the route ends up on a mountain road. This route has matured over the past five years to become the most ideal experience possible.

For more information see: www.rust2rome.com

The 56th Regular Meeting of The Morgan Lodge was held on Saturday 24th June 2023.

A great meeting was held at Malvern on 24th June. The highlight of the meeting was the raising of Bro John Warner. John is pictured centre, with his father Bro Richard Warner and the Worshipful Master Nick Hayward. Congratulations to all involved in the ceremony. 

Charles Morgan Talks to the Morgan Lodge

The Morgan Lodge No. 9816 held a Passing ceremony in June of the Secretary’s son, Bro John Warner.

After the ceremony we were honoured to have Charles Morgan, of the Morgan family, attend the Festive Board and give a very interesting talk on the Morgan family illustrated with some old photographs of the founder, HFS Morgan, Charles’s Grandfather and the rest of the Morgan Family. He followed the history of the company with a thought provoking argument to replace plastic in cars with sustainable products. The meeting was well attended, £100 was given to Charles Morgan for his chosen charity which was the UNICEF fund to help the children of Ukraine caught up in the war and a substantial amount was raised for the Provincial Festival.

Morgan Lodge at the Morgan Factory

In November 2019 the Morgan Lodge held a very successful weekend in Malvern, starting off on Friday afternoon with a Factory tour for 18 people given by Kenneth Wright one of our members who also works as a factory guide, it was thoroughly appreciated by all, I don’t know if the factory received any orders for new cars though.

This was followed on Saturday 15th November in the morning by our usual Lodge Meeting. Here we welcomed 15 guests.

Next on the list was a white table lunch for 58 people where we sat down to a wonderful ‘light’ lunch, we asked for a light lunch from our caterers but it was far too good and far too much but we managed.

After a walk around Malvern to walk off lunch it was time to get ready for the evening entertainment. This was billed as ‘An Evening of Nostalgia’ and it certainly turned out just like that. On the stage of the Visitor Centre of the Morgan Factory were the Trench Raiders, led by our own Kenneth Wright (busy man). The audience were the stars, 76 people, mainly dressed in period costume of the 2nd World War sang their hearts out. We all had song books and led by the Trench Raiders sang songs like Underneath the Arches, Wish me luck as you wave me Goodbye, Doing the Lambeth Walk and many many more. With a bar on hand and a super meal half way through the evening produced by the Visitor Centre caterers. 

It turned out to be a great weekend, raising over £1500 for the 2022 Festival.