The Nobles of the Belleville and District Shrine Club entered the Wellington area this morning with overcast skies and some light drizzle.  Our prayers bore success and the skies cleared and the sun shone through before the Wellington Pumpkinfest Parade started at 10:30 a.m.  Every year we continue to see more people standing on the sides of the streets here in Wellington than we do in most of our other parades in the District.  Thanks again to Wellington for the excellent weather and to our Noble family and friends who attended.

Sunday, 16 September 2018, proved to be a very fun day as the Shriners were the welcome guests of the Land O’ Lakes Cruisers as they held their 50th Anniversary at the Tweed Curling Club with around 300 fans in attendance.  Cathy Whalen and her band honoured us and the Shriners Hospital for Children – Canada with donations in excess of $5,000 for the Hospital in recognition of the treatment that her Grandson Nolan had received for 15 years in our Hospital in Montreal.  It made the Nobles and their Ladies proud to be there and our Secretary of the Board of Governers for the the Hospital Noble John Neil who was very happy to receive the monies on behalf of the Hospital.  A big thanks to Noble Don Gillis for coordinating this event with the Cruisers and to our Nobles and their Ladies who attended.

Lady Kathy and I were pleasantly surprised for our first visit to a Trent Valley Shrine Club picnic meeting yesterday in Stirling at the Fairgrounds. Next time I will remember to bring my fez (how embarassing). There were over 70 Nobles and Ladies in attendance for a beautiful day under the sun. Thank goodness we had some breeze to cool us down. The food was excellent and it was another great opporunity to meet the Nobles and their Ladies from other Shrine Clubs which included our Belleville and District Shrine Club, Lakeshore Shrine Club, Kingston Shrine Club and Oshawa Shrine Club. Thank you Noble President Richard Loveless and your Nobility for the invite and great time.

On Sunday 26 August 2018 our fun at the Festival came to a close with sales in the morning lasting until 5:00 p.m.  Now the setup team tore down our tents, packed up the boxes, unloaded the refrigerators, and filled the trucks and trailer.  A big thanks to everyone who supported the Belleville and District Shrine Club whether is was by putting things together, setting things up, cooking and greeting the many visitors, or helping with taking things down.  It was one big Shrine Family that came together as our TEAM.  Big thanks to Nobles Gary Smithrim and John Bonnin who organized this event and to the Nobles and their Ladies who made it happen.

Saturday, 25 August was a treat for the Belleville and District Shrine Club as we led the Tweed Elvis Festival Parade through the downtown area. We only had two of us on the Legion of Honour Float (People Mover) however our Camel Herders and Clown Units were out to support us. At the head of our group Noble Clarence Stevenson proudly carried our flag. After the parade many of the Nobles visited our food tents at the festival area where the parade ended and the festival began. Thanks to all of the Nobles who supported the parade and to the Nobles and their Ladies who cooked and sold food at our tents. And a big thanks to Noble Gary Veinot who lent us one of his trucks to pull the float .You made your President Proud! Now if your President who took these photos knew how to a selfy with a clumsy big camera.

On Friday, 24 August our Nobles and Ladies were very busy setting up our tents at the Tweed Elvis Festival. Certainly many hands made light work as you can see in these photos. No sooner did we finish setting up when other vendors started coming around to the smells of our fried onions, pulled pork and peameal bacon buying what they could. Hopefully sales continue over Saturday and Sunday to make this a successful weekend fundraiser.

Finally we have attended our last concert on 20 August for this year.  I could not understand a word sung, other than the many four letter words, echoed by each of the four bands at this concert starting with Bad Wolves, followed by Nothing More and Five Fingers Death Pool ending with Breaking Benjamin.  It did not take me long to remove my hearing aids (wish I had brought some ear plugs).  However we are told that almost $11,000 was raised with Rameses’ portion going to the Shriners Hospital for Children.

I would like to thank Nobles John Hopkins, Clarence Stevenson, Don Gillis, John Neil and Otto Nungesser for attending with myself, my Lady Kathy Shirk and my Son-in-Law Martin Salisbury. Other members from our Club at the Concert assisting were Illustrious Sir Noble Ray Causton, Bob Jones, and Joe Johnson with his  Lady Joyce Anderson-Johnson.  Now I only need a week to get over the aches and pains in my shoulders when waving those CD’s in the air and the swollen feet and ankles from the constance walking to find sales.  Thanks to everyone who supported this fundraising event.

Well Nobles!  It sure has been interesting scanning these photos (and all of the previous batches) and seeing faces that are now memories to a lot of you.  I hope that you can rejoice your past fun and friendship, overlook the bad times, and look forward to make new friends in our Club with new Nobles and their Ladies.  I don’t think that there are any more photos in the Belleville and District Shrine Club building to find however I will do my best.  Enjoy!

These are the last photos in our archives that talk about our proud Firefighter Unit. A lot of teamwork went into keeping the Unit afloat and to ensure that it was in the parade. A lot of proud faces can be seen in these final pictures. Hope you have enjoyed Batch 7. The Firefighter Unit will be missed. Maybe a young group of Masons will become Shriners and resurrect the Firefighters.

Once the mechanical and body work was finished on our firetruck there only remained to attach the ladders and all other accessories.

Refurbishing a fire truck means taking it apart bit by bit to repair or replace pieces. Once that it is done you then have to repaint and put things back together. Does anyone know how long it took to refurbish our firetruck?