At the recent meeting of Lodge of Loyalty No. 8635 in Queen Street, Sunderland the brethren welcomed the Assistant Provincial Grand Master, Simon Craig Steele, to its annual Trafalgar evening. It was also a special evening in the Lodge as the Lodge had reached its 2021 Festival target.
After Craig had been warmly welcomed into the Lodge room, the next business of the evening was a talk by Peter Cowling which focused on “Nelsons Navy” at the time of The Battle of Trafalgar (21st October 1805) and the often-overlooked impact that Vice Admiral Collingwood had on the battle, both before and after Nelson’s death when he assumed command.
The interesting talk was appreciated by everyone in the Lodge room who showed their appreciation with a warm round of applause to Peter.
Craig then had the great pleasure in presenting the Lodge with its Gold Festival Award in recognition of the Lodge reaching 100% of its Festival Target (£22,896). Craig praised the Lodge members for their fantastic achievement, before presenting Farley Downs, the Master of the Lodge, with a framed 2021 Gold Festival Certificate.
Craig then asked George Malt, the Lodge’s Charity Steward, to step forward so he could present him with a Gold Festival pin badge. Craig praised George for all of his hard work and congratulated the Lodge as they have 47% of its membership signed up to the Just Giving scheme. George thanked Geoff Lewis, the previous Lodge Charity Steward, who did so much of the work in achieving this award.
George then had the great pleasure in presenting Craig with 3 cheques: £508 from a Lodge Social, £414 from the Festival Smarties tubes and £855 from a Sponsored Walk that George undertook. In total the magnificent total of £1,777! Craig certainly wasn’t expecting that and he very graciously accepted the cheques.
The annual Trafalgar evening is a special event in Queen Street and to celebrate the evening, Phil Rann, who hails from Portsmouth, the Home of the Royal Navy, pressed ganged the Grand Officers attending the Festive Board into the evening’s harmony. Best described as a vaudeville homage, it certainly entertained everyone present. In the second act, Phil invited Craig to play his part in a delightful modern take on conditions in the Royal Navy at the time and how they wouldn’t be allowed in today’s Health and Safety conscious society. Both acts were excellently received and brought a memorable evening to a close at Lodge of Loyalty.
“England expects that every man will do his duty”
“England expects that every man will do his duty” was a signal sent by Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, from his flagship HMS Victory as the Battle of Trafalgar was about to commence on 21 October 1805.
Trafalgar was a decisive naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars. It gave the United Kingdom control of the seas, removing all possibility of a French invasion and conquest of Britain. Although there was much confusion surrounding the wording of the signal in the aftermath of the battle, the significance of the victory and Nelson’s death during the battle led to the phrase becoming embedded in the English psyche and, it has been regularly quoted, paraphrased and referenced up to the modern day.