The 9th Masonic District for Louisiana held its November meeting at Harmony Lodge No. 410 on the 5th. As many in the district are aware, we have a Traveling Gavel award that is currently at Bayou Chicot Lodge No. 430. Any other lodge from district 9 may claim the Gavel by visiting during a stated communication with at least five Brethren present from the visiting Lodge and one of them being a primary officer. If two or more Lodges visit with equal number of Brethren present, the Trowel will be awarded to the Lodge that traveled the farthest to attend. The Trowel will be available to be claimed by the next Lodge after 30 days of being held by the newly acquiring Lodge.
The Traveling Gavel award was developed to encourage visitation between the Lodges of the 9th Masonic district. In that same spirit, Bayou Chicot Lodge No. 430 presented to the Worshipful Master of the 9th District with a new award, the Traveling Trowel.
Introducing the 9th Masonic District’s Traveling Trowel
The Traveling Trowel was presented to the Worshipful Master of the 9th District, W∴B∴ Deas Dempsey by Bayou Chicot Lodge No. 430, with the following request. The Trowel should be presented to the Lodge with the most Brethren present at the stated communication of the 9th Masonic District. The award is to be returned to the next district meeting to be presented to the Lodge with the most Brethren present at that meeting. In case of equal number of Brethren present from more than one Lodge, the award will be awarded to the Lodge that has traveled the farthest to attend.
The Traveling Trowel was then Presented to B∴ Paul Anderson, Worshipful Master of Bayou Chicot as they had 7 Brethren in attendance, just ahead of Gordy Lodge’s 6. I think it helped that Bayou Chicot was the only Lodge aware of the planned introduction of the award, and a greater attendance by the other Lodges is expected at the next stated communication, February 25, 2024 at Gordy Lodge No. 133 in LeCompte.
The District also held elections and installation of the Lodge Officers for 2024. The District 9 webpage has been updated with the current Officers and the schedule and location of the Stated Communications for 2024.
