Challenge Coin Giveaway

On Saturday, Courtland Lodge launched a challenge coin giveaway via Facebook. If you want to be entered to have a chance at winning one of our 125th anniversary challenge coins go over to our Facebook page. The original post has been pinned to the top of the page. You must like and comment on the original post to be entered. While you are there go ahead and like our Facebook page so you can be kept up to date on what we are doing in Courtland No. 85.


Below you will find a link directly to the post on Facebook.

Post by Courtland Lodge No. 85.

Stated Communication 12-16-14

At our Stated Communication on Tuesday, December 16, the members of Courtland Lodge, with the assistance of RW Billy Almond and RW Gaylord Ambrose, elected and installed the officers for the 2015 Masonic year. The elections went as follows:

Worshipful Master: Wor. Clayton Gaskins
Senior Warden: David Henson
Junior Warden: Wor. Freddy Felts
Treasurer: Wor. Al Briggs
Secretary: Wor. Andy Bailey
Senior Deacon: Stevie Ezzell
Junior Deacon: Chris Chilcutt
Chaplin: RW Paul Davis
Tiler: James Flowers

Thank you to everyone who was in attendance.

Top: RW Andy Spencer, Wor. Al Briggs, Wor. Clayton Gaskins, RW Billy Almond, RW. Pul Davis

Bottom: Stevie Ezzell, Chris Chilcutt, James Flowers, David Henson, Wor. Andy Spencer

MM Degree 11-19-14

On Wednesday, November 19, Courtland Lodge, with the assistance of Brothers from around the 32nd District, raised Brothers Lemuel C. Brown Sr and Lemuel C. Brown Jr to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason. We had a good turn out for these two Brothers! It is always am awesome experience to be able to be a part of raising a Master Mason but it we even more special to be a part of a father/son degree. It has been a pleasure working with them through their degrees and I can't wait to see them grow as Master Masons.

WM

Fellowcraft Degree 11-10-14

Last night Courtland Lodge No. 85 passed Brother Scott Morris to the Degree of Fellowcraft. Previous to his degree, Brother Morris stood for his Entered Apprentice Examination and nailed it! Brother Morris has put in a lot of work over the past several months learning his catechism and it showed. I want to say a special thanks to RW Jimmy Holt for working so diligently with him.

We had 9 Master Masons in attendance, to include our newly installed 2015 DDGM RW Andy Spencer.  It was good to see everyone that was able to come out and support us.

Don't forget that we have a dual Master Mason Degree on Wednesday, November 19 beginning at 7 PM. We need all hands on deck for this one!  Hope to see everyone there.

WM

Grand Master Reese E. Carroll Jr.

MW Reese E, Carroll Jr.

170th Grand Master of Masons in the Commonwealth of Virginia

"Together We Can Make a Difference"

Upcoming Lodge Work

On Monday, November 10 Courtland lodge will have an EA exam and FC degree beginning at 7 PM. All current EA, FC, and MM are welcome to attend the exam. Current FC and MM are welcome to attend the FC degree.

On Wednesday, November 19 Courtland lodge will have a Dual MM degree beginning at 7 PM. All MM are welcome and encouraged to attend. 

WM

Dual FC 10-27-14

On Monday, October 27 Courtland had the distinct pleasure of passing two worthy brothers to the degree of Fellowcraft. The father and son pair, Brown Sr. and Brown Jr., were excellent candidates. We had a good group in attendance, 16 Masons plus our 2 new Fellowcrafts.

Our guests included a member from the Grand Lodge Committee on Work; the 2014 District Deputy Grand Master; our current District Instructor of Work; several past Masters and past District Deputy Grand Masters from Franklin 151 and Ivor 291; along with the Master and one FC from Boykins 287.

We had a very enjoyable evening. The Browns will be Raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason later in  November. If you are in the Courtland area please come by, we would love to have you.

WM

Pancake Breakfast

Thank you to everyone that came out and supported us with our Pancake Breakfast on Saturday, October 18. We fed around 50 people. Again, thank you to everyone who came out and made it a success.

WM

Boykins Ladies Night

On Wednesday, October 17, my wife Kim and I were invited as the guests of Worshipful Andy Spencer to Boykins No. 289's Ladies night. We enjoyed a delicious meal of prime rib prepared by brothers from Boykins Lodge. The program was presented by Assistant Rabban Woody Brown and his Lady Terry from the Khedive Temple. They brought a presentation about the Shriners Hospitals along with one of our local families impacted by CP.

Thank you Worshipful Spencer for the invitation.

WM

EA 10-16-14

On Thursday, October 16, Courtland Lodge initiated our 5th Entered Apprentice this year. Thank you to everyone that was able to be a part of the evening. Congratulations to Brother Rob Inman and welcome to the Craft.

Fellow Craft 10-14-14

On Tuesday, October 14th, Courtland Lodge opened up its doors to Franklin 158 for the conferral of the Fellow Crafts Degree. Brother Joe Carr presided in the East, and did an excellent job with such short notice. He took on the role well, donning a traditional Beaver fur top hat. Congratulations to Brother Mike Bishop on being passed to the Degree of Fellow Craft.

Upcoming Lodge Work

We have some upcoming Lodge work and degree work coming up in Courtland that I wanted to make everyone aware of. The following dates have been added to the Lodge Calendar:

Monday, September, 29: Boykins Lodge 287 will be having an EA exam followed by a FC Degree. This event starts at 7PM. All current EA's (for exam only), FC's and MM's are welcome to attend.

Thursday, October, 2: We will be putting on an EA degree at Courtland Lodge. This event will start at 7pm. All current EA's, FC's and MM's are welcome to attend.

Tuesday, October, 14: We will have an EA exam and FC degree at Courtland Lodge. This event starts at 7PM. All current EA's (for exam only), FC's and MM's are welcome to attend.

Saturday, October, 18: Pancake breakfast at Courtland Lodge 0830 - 1030. $6 all you can eat.

Tuesday, October 21: Courtland Stated Communication, 730PM. All MM's welcome to attend.

Joseph T. Steward Ritual School: October 22 and 23 starting at 7PM each night.
              Wednesday Night: All current EA's (for EA degree), FC's and MM's are welcome to attend                    as we will be putting on the EA and FC degrees.
              Thursday Night: All current MM's are welcome to attend as we will be putting on the MM                     degree.

Monday, October, 27: We will have a FC degree at Courtland Lodge. This event starts at 7PM. All current FC's and MM's are welcome to attend.

October is shaping up to be a busy month. I want to thank everyone ahead of time for there efforts in bringing and and advancing our new brothers. Please let me know if you have any questions. Please pass this information along as we will need some extra help to get through all of this.

WM

Pancake Breakfast is Here Again!

Master Mason Degree 9-9-14



On Tuesday , September 9, Courtland Lodge had the pleasure of raising our mot recent Brother, Chris Chilcutt, to the sublime degree of Master Mason. Chris has put a lot of effort into becoming a Master Mason and I hope that his zeal for the fraternity continues to grow.

Pictured: Bro. Chris Chicutt, Wor. Clayton Gaskins

 

 

We had a descent crowd for the evening. The statement that it "takes a village" is true in our small country lodge. We would not have had a successful event without the help of our brothers from around the district. It was good to have all four district lodges represented. We had a total of 15 Masons present to assist with the degree. Again, thank you to all who were able to come out and support us.

 

Pitcured: RW Tony Lane, Bro. Chris Chilcutt, Wor. Clayton Gaskins

New items on the Blog site!

As many of you know, 2014 will mark 125 years of Courtland Lodge making good men better. In commemoration of this event we have put together a challenge coin.

There were only 125 coins made, to represent our 125 years. If you are interested in purchasing one we are selling them for $10 each. They can be purchased from the secretary directly. We are also making them available through PayPal (a  processing fee and a shipping fee of $3.00).

Order you coin here!

Challenge Coin

Local Pick-up $10.61 USD With $3 Shipping $13.70 USD

We are also accepting donations, lodge dues, and degree fees through PayPal to make it a little easier on our members. Again there will be a processing fee attached to cover the cost of using PayPal. You will find all of these links on our main blogger page. Please, if you have any questions feel free to contact myself or the secretary at courtland85@gmail.com and we will be happy to answer any questions. WM

August Stated 8-19-14

Pictured: WM Clayton Gaskins and MW Jeffery Hodges

On Tuesday, August 19, Courtland lodge had their stated communication and we welcomed Most Worshipful Jeffery Eugene Hodges, Grand Master of Masons in Virginia 2009, who gave us a great presentation on Masonic research lodges and their purposes. MW Hodges gave a history of the research lodges in Virginia, finally returning to Peyton Randolph Lodge of Research No. 1774.  This lodge was chartered in 2007 and it's purpose is to study early Colonial Freemasonry and the Grand Lodge of England’s influence upon Virginia Masonry.  There are five research lodges in Virginia all looking at different aspects of the history of our great fraternity. A lot of work is being done by our brothers all over the Commonwealth and beyond, as the Civil War Lodge of Research No. 1865 has members from Scotland and elsewhere across the United Kingdom, to keep the history of our fraternity alive. It was truly an honor to welcome MW Hodges in our lodge.

Dual EA Degree 8-13-14

On Wednesday, August 13, I was privileged to welcome 2 more men into our great fraternity. Our two newest brothers are father and son which was such an honor to take part in. Our lodge is growing a lot this year. I did a little quick math and our little "country lodge" has grown 10 percent this year. We have initiated 4 (one has been passed to Fellow Craft) and had one brother re-affiliate. If I have understood my secretary correctly we will have another petition to read this month and with a positive vote that will bring us to a growth of 6. This might not seem like much to larger lodges, but to look back to the last 6 new Brothers we have gained, you would have to look back almost 10 years of combined growth. It has definitely been an honor to sit in the East for this amazing growth of our lodge.

As well as the growth of our lodge it is great to see the growth of the other lodges in our district. At our recent initiation we had 7 EAs on hand to watch and participate where they could. This included one new EA from Wakefield No. 198 who was initiated 2 days prior.

I would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone that has participated in the work going on in Courtland Lodge. I would like to especially thank the wives of our members who have been so understanding as we have been meeting quite a bit more often than usual.

Clayton Gaskins
WM

Grand Masters Visit 8-9-14

Pictured: Wor Andy Bailey PM and Most Worshipful Wayne Sawyer Flora

On Saturday, August 9, Courtland Lodge was privileged to welcome the Grand Master of Masons in Virginia, Most Worshipful Wayne Sawyer Flora, to the 32 Masonic District. Past Master Andy Bailey had the honor of presiding in the East as members from Courtland No. 85 as well as other Lodge members from the District welcomed MW Flora for his quick but informative visit. Thank you to everyone who was on hand to welcome our Grand Master. 

EA Exam and FC Degree 7-14-14

Tonight we did and EA exam and a FC Degree on one of our new Brothers. We had some excellent help from others in our district who did everything from filling chairs to the lecture and even receiving in the East. I thank you Brethren for all of your hard work and dedication to the craft. I want to especially thank Wor Andy Spencer for all his work in getting our brother ready for tonight. Also, for inviting our district EAs and FCs to join us. We had 2 EAs come for the catechism and 2 FCs come for the degree, one helped out as our Jr Stewerd. Again, excellent work brethren, I'm glad to see Courtland Lodge and the 32nd District growing!

WM

Community Day 5-17-14

On Saturday, May 17 Worshipful Andy Bailey (PM Courtland No. 85) and Worshipful Andy Spencer (Boykins 287) joined up to promote VAChip child identification at the Courtland Healthcare Center's second annual Community Day.  They were able to register 8 children in the VAChip program. Thank you Brothers for your dedication and devoting your time to this worthy cause!

Pictured: Wor Andy Bailey and Wor Andy Spencer

Ladies Night 4-19-14

From Left to right: Wor. Clayton Gaskins, Major Gene Drewery, Ann Bryant, Wor. Al Briggs

On Saturday April, 19 the Courtland Lodge held their annual Ladies' Night at the Courtland Ruritan building. We had about 30 Masons, friends and family present.  We had a great meal of Pork Tenderloin prepared by our treasurer Wor. Al Briggs. The Lodge had the pleasure of presenting two Community Builders Awards. The recipients were Major Gene Drewery, from the Southampton Sheriffs Department and Ann Bryant, from the Southampton Ag and Forestry Museum. Our guest speaker was Bro. Zachary Oman from Franklin #151 who spoke on the Boy Scouts.