On Wednesday, 26 October 2022 the Nobles of the Belleville and District Shrine Club hosted a Master Masons night. Our numbers were small this year, as has been at many of our meetings post COVID, however we did have a Master Mason and his Lady present. Our High Priest and Prophet Noble John Neil gave an excellent PowerPoint presentation about the history of the Shriners, Rameses Shrine Centre, and our Shriners Hospitals for Children. Noble John has a lot of experience regarding the Shrine Hospitals for Children – Montreal having served as the Deputy Director there for a number of years. He continues to keep in touch with the Administration and keeps our Club informed of changes with the many Shrine Hospitals in North America and the newer Clincs throughout Shrinedom.

Now that construction is moving ahead faster, rather than me photoshopping the Shrine Club sign over the top of the entrance to our new Clubhouse at 160 Catharine Street in Belleville, the Trustees and Building Committee removed the sign from 51 Highland Ave to it’s new location on 12 October 2022. Also moved was the the large dedication stone and plaque to our front entrance after the front gate was removed. Things are looking up as we get closer to moving in by the end of the year.

Looks like they are moving ahead with our renovations to our new Belleville and District Shrine Club at 160 Catharine St, Bellville, Ontario. The front gate area was removed from the front entrance to make it look more appealing and receptive to our visitors. The person-door to the shed has been installed. And now they are starting to close in the framing on the building extension. Once the roof is on they will be able to work during the inclement weather. Can’t wait to see what next week brings!

I dragged my COVID ridden body (now seven days of symptoms) out of the house today when I heard that some work had been done at our new Belleville and District Shrine Club buildings. I was careful to stay away from any humans in the area.

Taking pictures I see that all of the shed is now up. We only need to add electricity for lights and power and a door. Future work would entail insulating the interior walls and ceiling and erecting some shelving if space permits. We should be able to park our Camel Herder float and 71 Dodge Pumper Unit in the shed for safe keeping with room to spare for odds and sodds.

I also noticed that we have not made much progress on the addition to the main building. The studs are up for the walls on the extension however it has been almost a week with nothing completed. Looks like we may not be in the new building and out of the old building by year end. Fingers crossed!

We had a great representation of Nobles and their Ladies from the Belleville and District Shrine Club at Trent Valley Shrine Club’s annual dinner at the Stirling Farmers Museum. Also present were Nobles and their ladies from the Lakeshore and Kingston Shrine Clubs. The Potentate and his Divan were also present that added to the ceremony of this meeting. Thanks Nobles for a great day.

Looks like we are now moving much quicker with the renovations to our new Clubhouse on Catharine St. The foundation for the building extension is ready for the walls to go up and the first ribs of the drive shed are up. Looking forward to see how things look by the end of the week. Weather permitting!

Once this new floor has dried the construction team can start to install the pre-fab drive shed for our Camel Herder Unit and other equipment.

Great to see things moving along. The boys are in the process of pouring the foundation cement for our new storage shed/garage. Once cured the building can be installed.

Yes we are on our way with the extension of our new Shrine Club building. The contractors now have the footings in for our new extension and it looks like they are now preparing the footings for the storage shed. There is a light at the end of the tunnel!

Several of our Nobles met in Picton for a great visit with Noble Alex Rauket (Cycling Noble ) with the assistance of Noble Doug Gould and Noble Kevin MacKay of the Bruce Shrine Club. Attending from the Belleville and District Shrine Club were President Noble Jim Preston, Ambassador Noble Leonard Bedford, and Ambassador Emeritus Noble Clarence Stevenson. After a short break they were on their way to Kingston.

To end the weekend of the 2022 Rameses Spring Ceremonial in St. Catharines a Drumhead Ceremony was conducted on Sunday, 12 June 2022 at the Holiday Inn & Suites Parkway Conference Centre where the majority of our weekend events were held. This ceremony was well attended lead by Rameses Chaplain Illustrious Sir Noble Bevan Carrique.

A great ceremonial feast was held at the Holiday Inn & Suites Parkway Conference Centre in St. Catharines on Saturday, 11 June 2022 where the 2022 Spring Ceremonial was held. The food was excellent and the program memorable.