Knight's Templars - charitable and hospitable

I attended a meeting of the Preceptory of King David of Ballentraddock, Knights Templars, at Dalkeith this afternoon - a full house with many visiting brethren.
Amongst the visitors were a deputation from the several Preceptories which come under the District of Forth Valley, led by their District Prior.
At the end of the main meeting the District Prior was invited to take the floor, where he presented, on behalf of the Forth Valley District a cheque for £300 to Bob Wright, father of the young soldier Mark Wright who was killed in action, and in whose name the Mark Wright Foundation has been established, based at Eskbank, by Dalkeith.
Following on from this presentation, Gordon Callis, our former Grand Prior welcomed a group of visitors, all members of the Dalkeith Stroke Club, into the meeting where he then presented a cheque, in memory of a past member, Sandy Mason, for the sum of £500 to the Organiser. I think that the visitors were slightly overwhelmed in the presence of so many white robed Templars - BUT - at least our intentions were more than honourable.

On Sunday 30th may at 2 p.m. there is the annual church service for the District which takes place in the beautiful Chapel at Nunraw Abbey by Gifford. The service is quite spectacular when you see all the members in their robes, joined by the monks from the Abbey, families , friends, etc, a nice day out.

Disappointed young Amy

Mrs B and Go Jo were all set to have young Amy and Aaron up to Penicuik for the afternoon, have a walk down through the park, or to the Edinburgh Butterfly farm, a wee bite of something - But not to be.
Amy, who has been ill for several of her young years, was feeling unwell again this morning , and has since been readmitted into hospital to stabilise her system.
The one consolation is that she did manage to get into the Mercat Bar on the way and have an ice cream while her test results were being sorted.

get well soon.

St Mary's Cathedral, Palmerston Place.

As I said in the previous item , I went to visit St Mary's cathedral, Palmerston Place, completed in 1879, and adjacent to the 17th Century old Coates House in the grounds, which was formerly the home of Barbara and Mary Walker who left their estate in trust for the endowment of the Cathedral

It is really beautiful inside, and the new Millennium Window, a modern stained glass feature in the Resurrection Chapel casts lovely colours throughout.

On one wall there is a brass plaque commemorating Captain James Dundas, V.C. - 7th Company Killed by a mine at Kabul 23rd December 1879. Eldest son of George Dundas (Judge, Court of Session, Scotland) and Elizabeth Mackenzie. He was born 12th September 1842 and educated at Edinburgh Academy and Addiscombe. In 1860 he was appointed Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers (Bengal). In 1865 he served in the Bhutan expedition and was awarded the Victoria Cross when he and a fellow officer led their troops to storm a blockhouse being held by over two hundred of the enemy. He was with the Field Force to Kabul in 1879 and was killed (with Lieut. Nugent) near Sherpur when setting mines to blow up an enemy fort, when the mine exploded prematurely.

There is a display in situ for the Army Navy Air Force Association and it looks as though the congregation give much needed help to that charity.

Every evening at 5.30 p.m. there is an evensong with the Choir and the resounding organ music - the organist was just getting warmed up while I was there, so that stopped me from dozing off in the earlier peace and quiet.

Well worth a visit.

BEGGARS Belief.

Great excitement in Penicuik, we have a new shop in the Precinct - it is a bit like my Matalan, however there are still several closed premises around it - so it will take a lot more to liven the place up.

Thursday was a bit hectic eventually, headed into town on McEwan' s finest coach - it turned out t be one of the bigger ones so it did not rattle as much.

Off at the Caley hotel and spoke to an old beggar who was sitting with his dog, dog had the cap in its mouth and seemed to be catching the eye of passers by. BUT round the corner in Shandwick Place there was one of the Romanian girls who has set up a semi permanent pitch outside Pound stretchers, every time I pass she has that real pained and sad expression and "whines2 as she waves her begging cup at people - I was standing outside Jacobs, the camera shop on the opposite side of the road watching her in action, when a young man (Romanian) appeared a few yards away from her, gave her the nod, and next thing she was up on her feet, left her cardboard bum warmer behind, and then crossed the road and the two met up, and left holding hands, big smiles, laughing and joking - a total transformation - A PROFESSIONAL BEGGAR.

This morning I was talking to a friend who regularly does the night run round the city with the soup kitchens for those sleeping rough and he was saying that he never sees any of the "beggars" who litter the West End and Princes Street, so they obviously have homes to go with their mobile phones. We even have an imported "Eastern European" who gets the bus out to Penicuik touting for "mugs".

Headed for The Mercat, via St Mary's Cathedral,( see other item), sat for a bit in the peace and quiet, then popped in to see Jani in the Italian Restaurant next door to the Mercat, had a wee glass of wine and a long chat before heading into the Mercat for my dinner. Place was very busy, full on both floors, good buzz, atmosphere and my steak was lovely. Good night had by all.

Chillin out - for a couple of hours

Not sure if I am following heeding the advice to relax and take time to myself, or emulating Sparky Mark, who chills out so often he must live in a permanent sate of winter hibernation.

Mrs B. read an article about a lady who was wondering why her Cherry tree was blooming with two different colours, had it been grafted, etc. - so we look out our window and there are both our trees with a mixture of both white and pink bloom on adjacent branches - no reason why.

Makes me think of our new coalition government, two different blends of politics merging, but for me I would have loved to have seen the full works, ALL parties getting together and using the best brains working in consensus to try and get this country back to a stable standing. there is now way we wish to end up like Spain or Greece, etc. We have always had a strong sense of nationality, time to regroup and rebuild, and anyone living here not wanting to do so, kindly pack your bags and we will give you a one way ticket back to where you came from.
Not happy with the British Airways unions who will not be happy until we have the red White and Blue tail fins repainted with the Aoroflot Logo, dashed unsporting of the bounders - bloody commies.

I see that young Andy Murray has obviously behaved himself, taken my advice, and managed to get in a few winning strokes.

Monte Carlo F 1 Grand Prix this weekend, to coincide with the Cannes Film festival, but the race is usually a big procession as there are very few passing opportunities on the track - so pole position has a megga advantage.

Upside down boy, Scott is aging once again on Saturday and Ailsa, beloved daughter of Gordon and Sandra Leitch is having her engagement party in The Mercat.

Time now to prepare for a bone jarring expedition into the City with McEwan's finest transport vehicle - meeting Mrs. B. and will treat her to dinner tonight - maybe.

Not the usual Spring evening on the green

Time to catch up - Tuesday night was the 2nd session of the weekly Walkinshaw at the bowling club, so having paid my money thought should go. BUT with the weather being so cold it was thermals and several layers of clothes. First airing of the bowls for the year and with a sore back, watering eyes, I was not quite in Championship winning mode - but give my fellow players their due they did live in hope that I might just land the odd bowl on the green !!

Ended up being beaten by one shot which was not so bad.

Wednesday morning , snow on the hills, dashed chilly again as I headed into the Mercat Bar early enough to get my parking space at Roseburn.

had a few customers in , and whilst chatting to one couple from Chester discovered that he worked in the same building I go to at Runcorn , so he was going to pass on a message to Jill, Sue and Christine - small world. Young couple in from northern Finland who were saying that they could now fly to Edinburgh for the weekend with the new Ryanair flight cheaper than going to Helsinki - new source of tourists for the City.

Esk 42 Royal Arch presentations, 12th May 2010

Will catch up on other events later, however last night I headed off to Dalkeith for the last meeting of the season for Esk 42 which was also the Annual visit by Provincial Royal Arch.

The 1st Principal, Duncan Gemmell was obviously so keen to get to the meeting and without his friend driving him, managed to fall foul of the Constabulary en route - so he will be a few £ lighter shortly.

Full house with a big deputation from Provincial led by Alex Mooney and George Wilkie, and one from the Borders with William Cippendale.
Good meeting with two candidates going through the full works, and then just as we were expecting the closing procedure to take place the D o C, John Wright was asked to call up four members from the floor where they were presented with long service Diplomas, George Cummings, 40 yrs; Richard Anderson, 50yrs; Jim Stobbart, 40 yrs and Jim Calder, both his 40th and 50th year awards.

Thinking the Ceremony was over all sat down and then George Cummings was called up again and presented to George Alexander, 3rd Principal of Supreme Royal Grand Arch Chapter, who did a bit of a wind up by presenting him with a mini sat nav and a copy of the Highway Code in view of the fact that George has been driving John Wright IPZ Esk 42 and Simon Fairley around the country for the past few years and occasionally gets a bit lost !!! However, this was just a pretence as he then told the meeting that George had been made an Honorary Grand Steward of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland for his dedicated service to Royal Arch Freemasonary - he was also presented with his new Jewel of Office.

A lovely evening and nice to see members being so well recognised for their dedicated service.