President Stewart's Charity

Loughborough Circle, belatedly, due to lockdown, presented a cheque for £3590.00 to LOROS Hospice Leicester.

The presentation was made by Stewart and Mary Jones to John Knight (LOROS CEO) at LOROS.  A number of us from Loughborough Circle were afforded a tour of LOROS which culminated in the presentation.

A Virtual Circle Night

Due to the the threat of Coronavirus to our members, we thought we may have to cancel our circle meeting for April.  This would have been doubly diappointing as, not only would brothers miss out on seeing their bretheren, it was time to install the officers for the upcoming year.

We all felt that several of our members fell into the most vulnerable group and were self isolating before the general lockdown and, that for those in particular, the loss of social contact would be felt keenly.  So, we decided to hold a virtual meeting using "Zoom".  The council had used it the week before for thier meeting and thought a circle meeting would work.

The meeting on the 20th April 2020 was our first virtual meeting and was a great success.  The meeting was attended by 17 brothers and 8 visitors, including National President Phil Brown.  Whilst unorthodox, we followed the normal procedures for a circle meeting including the installation of the new officers.

This is a taste of what the brotherhood will be like for the near future and, whilst we relish the return of a physical meeting, has enabled us to keep the ethos of our brotherhood alive.

Celebrated by  Bishop Patrick McKinney

Loughborough Catenian Circle held their annual Mass for Vocations at their regular meeting place, The Yew Lodge Hotel in Kegworth.  This was celebrated by The Most Reverend Bishop Patrick McKinney.

There was an extremely good turnout of Ladies, Gentlemen and Brothers of Loughborough Circle for the Mass.  Bishop Patrick’s Homily gave an interesting insight into Church’s views regarding Vocations.

Following Mass, a three course meal was enjoyed by all.  During the meal a raffle was held in aid of Inter Care, of which Bishop Patrick is Patron.  The sum of £230.00 was raised. Inter Care’s mission is to save lives and alleviate suffering by providing surplus medical resources to rural partner health units in sub-Saharan Africa.

Loughborough Catenians Celebrate Burns Night In Style.

There’s a long tradition of 23 years within the Loughborough Catenian Circle of celebrating Burns Night in style and 2020 was no exception with a great turnout from all over Province 15.

The dinner took place at the Best Western Yew Lodge Hotel in Kegworth.

Special guest speaker was Don Maclean MBE KSS KC*HS who is also a Catenian from Solihull Circle, together with his wife Toni.  To help the evening get off to a swing, piper Lisa Gregory entertained the Guests as they enjoyed their pre-dinner drinks.  Guests were then treated to some fine traditional Scottish fayre.  With true pomp, the haggis was piped into the dining room.  Brother Tom McInally recited Burns’ ‘’Address to the Haggis ‘’ before cutting the haggis with a ceremonial knife.

Loughborough President, Stewart Jones’ formal welcome and his toast to all the Guests was responded to by Province 15 Director, David Baldham.  The evening then continued with special guest and fellow Catenian Don Maclean with some hilarious stories based upon his experiences of childhood, gowing up in Birmingham and his time spent as both television and radio personality.  Don’s humour certainly had everyone roaring with laughter.

During the evening there was a prize draw in aid of President Stewart Jones chosen charity LOROS.

"Hello Bro. Tom,

Many congratulations on the organisation of a superb Burns Night Dinner and Dance. The food and entertainment were first class we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Well done to you and Loughborough Circle for what must be the best event in Province 15."

"Dear Brother Stewart,

We want to thank you and Mary for your generous hospitality last night.  Burns Night at Loughborough has become an event which is treasured throughout the Province, as yesterday's impressive turnout attested and the arrangements have been fine tuned over the years.  Please pass on my appreciation to all the Brothers who were involved in the preparations and congratulate them on an evening which ran smoothly from start to finish!

In the past, I have attended many Burns Night celebrations in various countries of the world.  Some have been larger events (700 regularly attend the one organised by the Heather and Thistle Society of Houston, Texas!).  But none have been better organised or more enjoyable than Loughborough Circle's tribute to Scotland's national poet.  This year Brother Don Maclean's performance was perhaps the icing on the haggis!

Once again, many, many thanks and Floreat Loughborough! "

A Celebration of 40 years of brotherhood for Tom Doherty.

In October Provincial Director David Baldam (Province 15) presented a 40 year Scroll to Tom Doherty. This coincided with our Ladies Night allowing both brothers and their wives to celebrate this wonderful occasion.

Tom joined the Association in October 1979 at Leicester 53 where he served for a time as Marshall. In 1985 Tom moved to Lancashire and transferred into Ormskirk Circle in early 1986. While in Ormskirk he served as Chamberlain, Treasurer, Vice President, President and Provincial Councillor. During his time on Provincial Council Province 4 Tom served as Provincial Chamberlain for 6 years and then as Provincial Vice President and finally in 2001/02 as Provincial President.

In 2003 Tom returned to Leicestershire and transferred into Loughborough Circle in 2005 and served as Vice President in 2006/7 and as President in 2007/8.  Tom is an excellent Visitor to all the other Circles in Province and a great support to every President in our Circle.  Tom and Maisie have hosted many events and have helped to make Loughborough Circle what it is today.

Tom can be seen examining the enrolment scrolls from all 3 circles he has been a brother in.

It turned out to be probably the wettest Sunday of the summer for Loughborough Catenians President’s Sunday!

The day started for President Stewart Jones and wife Mary at 6am taking the decision to bring the event indoors.  Space was made by rearranging furniture in the dining hall, lounge and snug so that the tables and benches from the Garden Marquee could be brought inside and was done by 9am! The tables were laid with plates, cutlery and glasses etc giving a place for all forty guests to be seated in comfort  and more importantly dry and warm.

Mass was at Our Lady Of The Angels in East Leake and Father Michael Williams made our wet Catenias very welcome.

Eventually all forty of Catenians, wives and family sat down to a wonderful lunch provided by Wives and Brothers of Loughborough Circle.

The President’s Charity this year is LOROS and donations were made totaling £395 bringing the current running total to £1000.

Everyone left happy, well fed and watered!

Calm and order resumed in the Jones household by 7pm.

Next-Door Neighbours Celebrate 40 Years as Catenians Together.

In June Provincial Director David Baldam (Province 15) presented 40 year Scrolls to Hugh Cairns and David Jackson.  This coincided with our Circle Clergy Night resulting in a magnificent turnout of Clergy, Visitors, Catenians and Wives to mark this wonderful occasion.

Hugh Cairns – 40 Year Scroll

Hugh’s first role in Circle was that of Registrar which was repeated again a few years after.  He was Secretary for several years.  Vice President on two occasions following on to be President on each occasion.  During his time as a Catenian Hugh has visited every Circle in Province 15 and several of them a number of times.  He visited Birkenhead Circle at least twice and also went on Jersey Circles’s weekend event a couple of times. In addition to all of this Hugh has attended many of the Province 15 annual provincial gatherings, a number of the annual Global Catenian Conferences up and down the UK and the final one in Malta!

A Burns Night event was introduced to our Circle by the late Bro Robert Robinson.  After thinking of the idea threw it over to Hugh to organize.  In the early days he was ably assisted in getting it going by Bro David Jackson and the late Bro Barrie Jones.  “The three of us with our ladies tried to master the intricacies of the sword dance but we failed miserably!  However, the wine we had was very good”.  After a few years of our own Circe putting on a Burns Night Bro Peter Tickle became President and proposed that Burns Night Fare be put on for our Circle’s Annual Dinner Dance.  As they say the rest is history and it is still going as strong as ever today.

David Jackson – 40 Year Scroll

David has held the following offices in Loughborough Circle, Marshall, Registrar, Vice President and President.  He has visited all the Circles in Province 15.

In 1992 David and his wife Pat returned to Yorkshire where he transferred to Huddersfield Circle where he became Vice President and then President in their 50^th Year.  During that time he visited most of the Circles in Province 3 North and 3 South, also Birkenhead. During his Presidency David and his wife Pat were invited by Grand President John Clarke to attend his Investiture as a Knight of St Gregory, indeed a great honour.

David, a keen golfer, represented  Huddersfield Circle at several Catenian Glf Champonships in Ireland where he visited both Dublin Circles.

In 2005 David re-joined Loughborough Circle and in 2007 attended the National Catenian Golf Championships in Saunton Sands, Devon where he won the following:-

The Veterans Cup (for players over 65)
The Irish Tourist Board Trophy
The Affiliation Cup which is the trophy awarded to the overall winner of the week long Golf Championship.

During his 40 years as a Catenian David and Pat attended numerous Annual Conferences around the country, the Malta week and the Jersey Weekend where they said they experienced the worldwide camaraderie of Catenian friendship.

What a legacy these two Brothers have left over 80 years jointly!

As they have said Burns Night has become a famous and popular event with the Annual Dinner Dance still going strong today.

Current Loughborough President, Stewart Jones, thanked Hugh and David for their help and advice during his terms in office but particularly for their 40 years of service to the Catenian Association.

David and Hugh together with their wives Pat and Alma hosted many events over the years which have helped in making Loughborough Circle the real Catenian Family it is today.  It must also be said that they all continue to support all our meetings and events.

A Big Thank You!

We love a day out together and just recently we paid a visit to Baddesley Clinton.

Baddesley Clinton is a moated medieval manor house situated in the Warwickshire countryside. It was the home of the Ferrers family for 500 years and a sanctuary for persecuted Catholics who were hidden from priest hunters in its secret hiding places during the 1590s.

Our day commenced with coffee in the beautiful morning sunshine before taking a tour of the house. Of particular interest was the chapel and the priests hiding hole. We noticed that the coat of arms of the Ferrers family was depicted in stained glass and also in the lawn in the courtyard. The development of the house over the centuries could clearly be seen with some of the original timbers dating back to the early 1400’s.
We then spent some time wandering around the beautiful gardens and some of us were lured into the second-hand bookshop.

We lunched together before setting off back home.

St Patrick's celebrated in style at Sean and Claire's house despite no cooker!  A great evening with plenty of traditional Irish food, drinks and songs.

Our annual celebration of Burns Night was held in the Yew Tree Lodge on the 26th January.

As usual the event was very well attended by brothers and guests from all over Province 15 and it proved to be a great night.