Sunday the 11th of June and the popular Afternoon Tea in aid of the East Lancs Mark Benevolent Fund  returned at the Rochdale Golf Club where our hosts Howard and Carol were waiting to great us on a warm, sunny afternoon.

The Afternoon Tea had been popular before the lockdown put a stop to them and it was good to see the room filled with Mark members and a large number of non Masons who had come to enjoy themselves.

Our Hosts

Right on cue at 2:30pm the staff began to serve the food to each of the tables and we were all soon enjoying the various sandwiches and sausage rolls.

A continuous supply of tea and coffee was maintained and then we were given a difficult choice of three different deserts and scones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a lively discussion as to what went on first the cream or the jam, jam and then cream was the most popular on my table!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were lots and lots of raffle prizes to be won and there then followed a charm offensive by four young (ish) ladies to sell the brown envelopes containing the four different coloured tickets that Howard had spent hours tearing up and putting in the envelopes the night before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The charm offensive worked as all the envelopes were sold!

 

 

The draw for the prizes was made by Janice Rainford and she was kept busy pulling out the tickets but,  just as she drew the first number the rain started to come down. It didn’t dampen the spirits as the prizes were shared out quite evenly amongst the tables.

 

 

 

After the last prize had gone Howard Nuttall the Chairman of the ELMBF thanked everyone for attending and for the magnificent sum of £550 that had been raised.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Deputy Provincial Grand Master, David Rainford then thanked Howard and Carol for the work they had put in to organising the event and he even managed to get Carol to come forward and receive a round of applause!