On Tuesday 22nd of August we were informed that W Bro Kevin Eltringham PPGSwdB had passed away, he became ill on Monday 21st August on the night-time and was taken to hospital where he died in the morning.
Kevin was Initiated on the 9th of February 1976 into Ryton Holy Cross Lodge.
He first became Master on the 13th of October 1986.
He received Provincial Honours in 1985 when he was made Past Provincial Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies.
He resigned from the Lodge in November 2001 but re-joined in April 2003.
He again took on the Mastership in October 2007.
He was promoted to Past Provincial Grand Sword Bearer in 2015.
That same year he again took on the Mastership of the Lodge.
He had suffered bad health for several years and was made an honorary member in January 2018.
​The arrangements for his funeral have yet to be announced.

​Provincial Grand Lodge have asked all the Lodges in the province to promote the Continuance Giving. If you already give, then thank you, but if you haven't started doing so or indeed stopped after the Festival please consider scanning the image and start giving to this very worthwhile cause that is close to all Freemasons' hearts I mean Charity. Thank you.

It is with great sadness that we report that W Bro Alan John Phillip PPJGW a Past Master of our Lodge has passed away. He died on Friday 30th June 2023 in the Freeman Hospital. Details of the funeral are unknown at the moment, but they will be posted as soon as possible.

At our January meeting on Monday the 9th, Bro Nelson was Raised with due pomp and ceremony by the Worshipful Master and assisted by a number of past masters and Bro. Cunningham of Sincerity Lodge No 6036. Bro. Bonotti, a Brazilian by birth, had his raising witnessed by 2 fellow Brazillian Brothers who had come to give him their support.The evening was concluded by an excellent Festive Board with a delicious meal of mixed grill and chocolate gateau. A great evening was had by all.  We now look forward to our February meeting when we should be Initiating a new member.

We will start with an apology and here it is! Sorry for the lack of news and calendar info on here, it seems that the break due to covid got to me and I forgot to do the necessary!
Anyway, we will start with our Installation in October and announce that our long suffering Worshipful Master W Bro Bob Lydon agreed to stay on for another year and so, with permission of the Province he was Proclaimed Master for another year. That now makes four consecutive years (he is slowly filling the Past Master's Board!)
At our November Meeting a new member was Initiated into Freemasonry and will be Passed on Monday 12th December. As it is the Christmas meeting we will be having our normal festivities including a new pantomime written by our Secretary and hopefully after that some carol singing.
We have another potential member pencilled in for February, that is a great sign that the Lodge is going from strength to strength. More news on this later on.
Finally,can we at Ryton Holy Cross Lodge wish you and your families a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

This is a statement issued by RW Bro John Thompson, the Provincial Grand Master of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Durham on Thursday 8th September 2022.
Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned for seven decades and has been a constant in all our lives has died at her beloved home of Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands.
On behalf of the Freemasons of Durham we thank her for a lifetime of dedicated service, we mourn her loss and send our prayers and condolences to the Royal Family.
May God Bless the Queen and God save the King.
John Thompson ProvGM

Monday 13th June 2022 saw the Lodge celebrate its Centenary, the evening started when 3 brethren donned high vis waistcoats and supervised the car park and we thank them for their organisational skills. 6.45pm came around and the Lodge was opened, after which the Provincial Deputation were admitted led by VW Bro. S.W. Walker the Deputy Provincial Grand Master in Charge and after the usual greetings and salutations we got down to the business of the evening. It was lovely to see so many in the lodge for this wonderful occasion.
W Bro. Ian Hawkes and W Bro. Malcolm Ormiston gave a light hearted resume of the history of the lodge taken from the minutes. This was followed by the Reading of the Centenary Warrant by the Provincial Secretary and the Warrant being presented to the Worshipful Master W Bro. Bob Lydon by VW Bro. Walker. Centenary Jewels were presented to those that had asked for one and then the Lodge banner was re-dedicated after being cleaned and restored by Bowes Museum, by the Provincial Grand Chaplain W Bro J D Ward.
After the usual business of the lodge and the Lodge having been closed photographs were taken and finally everyone congregated in the dining room where  a wonderful meal had been prepared. After the various toast and presentation of gifts to the Worshipful Master and VW Bro. Walker, the raffle was held with about 24 bottles being in the draw. The raffle raised the magnificent sum of £505.00 for the Charity Steward. Celebrations came to an end at about 11.15.
We now look forward to the next 100 years.

In two days time we celebrate our Centenary with a visit from the Provincial team of officers headed by the Deputy Provincial Grand Master in Charge. It should be a memorable night. Details of the night will follow.

Provincial Grand Lodge sent out an email telling us of the virtues of Zoom meetings throughout the pandemic and how it is helping to keep Lodges alive. Having checked up, discovered that up until today we have had 63 Zoom meetings with an average of 8 members per meeting. I know that is not a very high number, but all the members are contacted each week with the details and that means all the members are aware and kept informed. We have 2 members that work off-shore on the rigs and they have managed to join in, which is good because both of these members are new to the Lodge and with the pandemic we could have easily lost them.

We talk about Masonic topics and anything else that there is to talk about, but generally we have some good banter and we toast all our Absent Brethren at 7.30.

The only meeting that didn't take place was on Monday 12th July last when the Lodge met for the first time since March 2020 and all the brethren that are on the Zoom meetings were there.
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The Zoom meetings will continue for as long as members wish them to and it has even been suggested that they should continue after we can get back to regular meetings.

On Monday night we finally got to have a lodge meeting. Altogether there were 13 brethren present and we managed to get through a lot of outstanding business. We are now looking forward to Monday 11th October when we will be having our Installation meeting and we can move on and hopefully we will have a Festive Board afterwards (Covid permitting!).