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Masonic Old Girls Association

 CHAIRMAN’S REMARKS

Once again it is my privilege as your Chairman, to write the introductory remarks for the MOGA Newsletter.

This has been a good year for MOGA. We had a successful Spring Evening at Rockmount in June, and a lunch in December, when more Old Girls than ever came to  our old school, now  Bewleys Hotel in Dublin.  None of this has happened by itself, of course.  Our hard working Hon Sec Dorothy Eccles, along with Jennifer Moffatt,  arranged the Dublin Lunch and we owe many thanks to them for all they have done on our behalf.  Dorothy, who has been Secretary for five years, is now resigning and will be a hard act to follow.  We all thank her warmly for her contribution to the Assocation, and wish her well for the future.

Hilary Stephens has taken over from Lorna Magowan who retired as Treasurer at the last AGM, after working hard for the Assocation over a number of years. We are grateful to them both, and Hilary is doing a great job for us.  Like any organisation, we have to rely on our Committee to hold things together for us, and if people are not prepared to consider taking part in the organisation of MOGA we will soon grind to a halt, so if you are asked to take on a particular job, please think before saying no!

I am coming to the end of my three years as Chairman and I would like to thank all the members of the committee for their support, especially Iris Armstrong our President.  I would also  like to thank Kathleen Welshman  for her hospitality, in making her home available to us for our meetings, and for the wealth of information she has regarding the Old Girls.

Linda Ballard is resigning as editor of the Newsletter and we would like to thank her for all the time and effort she has put into a job well done. She is a busy lady and we appreciate all she did to produce the Newsletter.

Finally I would like to thank all our members for your support of the Association. 

Best Wishes to you all

Carole Stewart

HON SECRETARY’S REPORT for 2004 - 2005

The association with 126 members continues to thrive. Once again we were able to contribute to our charities, Masonic Victoria Jubilee (£200.00) Sunshine Home (£100.00) and Christian Aid (£300.00). Thank you to the many members who continue to give so generously to the charities each year!

Sadly and inevitably some of our members deceased during the past year. Sympathy has been extended to their families.

Social events continue to be successful. The December Lunch in Bewley’s Hotel was well supported and over 40 Old Girls not only enjoyed an excellent lunch but also the reunion and renewal of lifelong friendships. As usual this event was organised by our southern representative Jennifer Moffett– many thanks Jennifer!

The Spring Supper in June was another social success with 33 members enjoying an excellent dinner at Rockmount Golf Club. Many thanks to the organiser Dorothy Ferguson and the many members who arranged the Ballot which raised £160.00.

Thanks are also due to the 21 Old Girls who responded to the request for photographs!

Finally many thanks to President Iris, Chairperson Carole, Treasurer Lorna and the members of the Committee for their support during the year. Special thanks to Linda Ballard our outgoing Newsletter Editor for all her hard work and to all those who supplied articles.

My term of office ends at the forth comming AGM I would therfore like to thank all those who supported me for the last 5 years.

On behalf of the association I extend our thanks and gratitude to my nephew-in-law Trevor Edwards who has so generously given of his valuable time to assist with our secretarial work!

IN MEMORIUM

We remember with affection and respectJosie Gill(nee Hicks) who died in August 2004 in Tasmania. She had a brain aneurysm and had been in a coma for some time. Josie married a Tasmanian, and leaves a family of three. Gwen Brown (nee Callaghan) died on 20 January 2004. Early in WWII, Gwen trained as a nurse in London, later joining the ATS. She married Arthur Brown, who was then a Royal Engineer, in 1943. Ethel McCord, (nee Muirhead) died in January, 2005 and we extend sympathy to her son Herbie and to her sisters Mary, Ann and Carol. We also remember Mattie Cadden (nee Stuart) Gladys Shaw (nee Higgins) and Gladys Best (nee Spencer).  We express our condolences to Jennifer Moffett (nee Petrie) on the death of her husband, Graham,  to Evelyn Harper on the death of her husband Johnny, and to Violet Willoughby and Roberta Reid on the deaths of their husbands. We offer our sympathy to Sylvia Arnold on the recent deaths of her brothers, Arthur, Jim & John.

We were saddened to hear of the death of Masonic Old Boy Ted Hood, who died in June 2005, and we extend our sympathy to his wife Vivien, to his children Susan, Alan and Tim and to his sister, Joan. An active member of MOBA, Ted organised the major events for the Millennium re Union Dinner held in Dublin in 2000.

MISS PIKE

Last year, we reported the sad news of the death of Miss Pike, who is so affectionately remembered as The Headmistress by many Old Girls. Our Hon Sec, Dorothy Eccles, wrote to Miss Pike’s sister, Elizabeth Jones, expressing condolences on behalf of us all. Dorothy received this letter of acknowledgement and simple tribute: Dear Dorothy, Thanks you for writing when Peggy died in September. She had not been ill or in any discomfort, and was content and I believe happy to move on. Coping by herself at home, with so many ‘carers’ daily was pretty hard work! So…we mustn’t feel sad for her, but I miss her terribly, she was fun to be with.  She loved all the MOG, and you were all so good to her. Thank you for everything, Yours Sincerely, Elizabeth Jones.

CONGRATULATIONS from all MOGs to President Iris Armstrong, whose daughter Denise has recently had a baby girl, the first grandchild for Iris and Kevin. Congratulations also to Amy Boyd (nee Scott) who became a grandmother in November 2004. Good wishes from us all to Edna Gribben (nee Prentice) for her two year term as President of the Ulster Women’s Hockey Union, beginning in May 2005.  In her role as President, Edna will travel to all the provinces, supporting all the Ulster Ladies’ and school girls’ teams. Edna writes, ‘In 2004 I gained 2 more grandsons. I now have 5 grandsons and 1 granddaughter. My husband thinks he now has a mini rugby team.’ Ella Palmer writes with news of the baptism of her great granddaughter, Rhyley Eleanor Anne Miller. The very first baby to be baptised by the Chaplain who christened little Rhyley was Kirsty Anne Palmer, Rhyley’s mother and granddaughter to Ella. Warm congratulations to all concerned. Good wishes go from us all to Dorothy Ferguson (nee Rea) and congratulations to her daughter who graduated this summer from Sheffield Hallam University with an honours BSc in International Hotel and Tourism Management. We wish her a happy and successful future.

SCHOOL MEMORIES

Sylvia Arnold, who attended MGS between 1952 and 1957, writes to say how much she misses her friend, Merveen Wilson, whose death was noted in the last newssheet. A copy of the notice of Merveen’s death, published in the San Francisco Chronicle was forwarded to Hon Sec Dorothy Eccles. Sylvia also sent a copy of the death notice published for her father, John Arnold, who died in 1952. Mr Arnold worked for more than forty years as Head Groundsman at ‘Richview’, Clonskea.

THE FUTURE OF THE PAST?

Ted Smith, Past Secretary of Lodge 165 in Sligo, has had an excellent idea, which he put with great success to the House Committee. There was agreement that many of the pictures hanging in the Dining Room of the Lodge Premises in Sligo Mall have little relevance to Freemasonry, and that it would be much better to have a collage of past pupils of both Masonic Girls’ and Masonic Boys’ Schools, together with photographs of pupils educated by the Benevolent Funds.  When complete, framed and prominently displayed, this will form a reminder for today’s Brethern of the great work achieved by Brethern in the past. To contribute to this, Mr Smith requests that we each send him a passport style (head and shoulders) and size photograph, if possible taken when at School (although this is not essential) to be featured in the collage. Photographs of other family members, parents, grandparents, even grandparents, aunts, uncles or other relatives who were former pupils of either MBS or MGS would also be extremely welcome. It would probably be a good idea to put names and dates of the time at School on the backs of photographs. While Mr Smith regrets that he is not in a position to acknowledge receipt of photographs, he will forward a photograph of the completed collage to our Hon Secretary in due course. If you would like to be included in this project, please send your photograph to Mr Smith at Ballincar Cottage, Sligo.

NETWORKS

No sooner had Mr Smith written to Hon Sec Dorothy Eccles about his project than a remarkable coincidence occurred, about which Dorothy received two letters, one from Mr Smith, one from MOG May Gent, both sent within a week of each other. Mr Smith’s letter described how the day after he wrote to Dorothy to tell her about his project, he attended a  Dinner and concert hosted by the Welfare Committee of the Provinces of Londonderry, Donegal and North Connaught, in Kee’s Hotel, Stranorlar.  Almost ninety widows and their friends were present, among them May Gent, (nee Speer) originally from Raphoe, in Co Donegal. (Incidentally, this was the third such function to be hosted in a period of six days, with one hundred and forty five people attending in Coleraine and one hundred and twenty in Campsie.) Mr Smith wrote that May had two siblings, both now in Canada, who had also attended MGS and MBS, and that May was interested in MOGA, of which she had until then been unaware. May now lives in Ilkeston, Derbyshire.

Three days later, Dorothy received a letter from May herself, saying how much she had enjoyed her evening in Stranorlar. While not herself a widow, she was invited to accompany one of her sisters. Another sister, Maud, now lives in Canada, as does brother William, who attended MBS. By the time May went to MGS in 1948, Maud had already left. May commented on how she had been trying for some time to contact Old Girls without success, even on the Internet, and how keen she is to contact her contemporaries, especially Vera Dethridge (nee Cole.)  In early summer, May contacted Dorothy again to let her know that on another visit to Ireland she met up with Sylvia Gibson, Kay Dancey, Helen Byron, Edna Clarke, Olive Marshall and Margaret Bird for ‘a good old chat.’ She hopes to be able to attend the forthcoming Christmas Luncheon and meet up with some more MOGs there, and also plans to contribute to Mr Smith’s collage project.

Meanwhile, Carole Stewart was visiting South Africa. She and Judy Jackson met up in Johannesburg, and after a gap of only four decades, recognised each other immediately. They had lunch together, and the catching up, reminiscing and crack can only be imagined. Maybe Judy will also join in a future reunion, where like May she can be sure of a warm welcome.  Another of our members, Betty Brakel (nee Rock) who now lives in Ottowa, has been in touch with Dorothy Ferguson (nee Rea). Betty is hoping to visit Northern Ireland in the near future, and would love to meet up with other MOGs. Dorothy invites anyone interested in such a get-together to contact her for more information at 35, Legmurn Rd., Stewartstown, Co Tyrone.

PROJECT PARAGUAY, JULY 2005

Carole Stewart writes to tell us about an inspirational journey:

From the very start my husband Carson and I were very interested in a trip our Church, Knockbreda Parish, was making to Paraguay.  ‘Where is Paraguay?’ we asked and on consultation of the atlas learned it is a landlocked country in South America, sharing borders with Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia.  As a Council Member of War and Want I was well aware of our projects in Guatemala, but knew nothing of Paraguay. 

SAMS (The South American Missionary Society, an Anglican Society) was approached and it was agreed we should go to Zeballos Cue, a poor shanty town on the outskirts of Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay. Our destination was Iglesia Anglicana El Redentor, where Alberto  Romero is the Pastor. Preparing for our departure, we started fundraising, realising £7,000, which we took to the project.   There were thirteen of us altogether, twelve from Knockbreda and Geoffrey Hamilton from SAMS, who spoke fluent Spanish. We travelled via Heathrow and Sao Paolo in Brazil.  When we tried to board the flight to Asuncion, there was overbooking and we were offered  $250 each to stay till the next plane.  Five from the group, including Carson, could not board even the next plane, and they arrived the following day, having been put up in a 5 * hotel in Sao Paolo.  Eventually everyone made it and we had  another $4,000 towards the project in compensation! We stayed in a house rented for us by Project Paraguay, all thirteen of us, the three New Zealanders who were already there, and David from England, who was overseeing the project.  Seventeen of us altogether sharing one toilet and bathroom, which was in the girls’ dorm!

Alberto the Pastor had asked for help as he had a heavy workload, with very poor facilites.   Last August a terrible fire in a supermarket resulted in four hundred and  fifty people losing their lives, affecting many  people in the Church.  Every Monday afternoon Alberto went round the homes of people who had lost family, with food donated by the Mennonites.  Alberto was the only person they could trust to do this, as there is terrible corruption in Paraguay.  I say houses, but most of them were just wooden sheds, we would not even have them in our garden. Plastic bags were a great problem, they were everywhere, and dust was another horror. One young couple with a twelve month old child, had a ‘house’ built eight foot square, beside a river  into which raw sewage flowed, on the other side of which was a dump. We met an elderly couple who showed us their bedroom, with blocks under their bed,  so when the river flooded through their house, there was a chance it would be kept dry.  Carson, an electronic engineer, helped one of our party who was an electrician to wire a total of five houses.

We demolished three rooms beside the Church, which were damp and unsuitable. Then we shovelled and dug until we had deep foundations and stanchions ready for the brickwork to commence when the next group arrived. They came from Overseer David’s Church, St. John the Baptist in Burscough Lancashire shortly after we left.   It is hoped that by the end of the summer a single story building will be complete, to which another two storeys will be added when the money becomes available.   We also put drains around and through some houses, as in the summer when the temperature is over forty degrees, the torrential rains run down the dirt roads and through the houses. 

My friend Helen, who is a doctor held a medical day, and I helped her, along with Phil,  a nurse, who takes leave from his job  for three months every year to run Project Paraguay.  In one afternoon seventy seven people were seen. Most of the children had parasites, and the adults had all sorts of problems.  The project bought lots of drugs for this day.  Many people had chest infections, because one day the weather is very hot (it was the winter time), and the next very cold as a change in direction of the wind brings it from the South Pole. 

We held three fun afternoons for the children, and a parachute which we brought out was a great success.  Our Rector’s wife brought out a suitcase full of equipment and toys for the children, which were greatly appreciated when we gave them away.

These people are the poorest in one of the poorest countries, where there is terrible corruption.  A toll road was built with the intention of using the money to fund road building, but we were told that the person responsible for the tolls stole the money!  The wealth of Paraguay is said to be in the hands of five families, and when visiting a new shopping centre we certainly noted signs of  great wealth.  Occasionally we went into Asuncion in the bus. To get on, you had to go through one turnstile, through another to get off.  The buses were real rattletraps, and swung here and there to avoid the potholes in the road.  Once Asuncion got nearer the roads improved greatly. 

While we were in Paraguay we were entertained on quite a few occasions by Stephen and Eileen Trew and their two children Elijah and Hannah, from Monkstown Parish, Co Antrim who are our missionary partners. Stephen and Eileen are both teaching in the Anglican St. Andrews College in Asuncion, whose profits fund a school in one of the poor shanty towns. 

When the time came to depart we were really sad to leave all our friends, but felt we’d made a small contribution to their lives.

The NEWSLETTER Needs YOU !

To help the continuation of this Newsletter and to make it more interesting we need your support – send an article or story however short. We know there are recent stories and reminiscences that will be enjoyed by your fellow ex pupils, so members North & South PLEASE make the effort to contribute!