An outstanding celebratory meeting of the Worthing Lodge of Installed Masters took place at the Charmandean Centre on 24 June, the exact tercentenary anniversary of the founding of the first grand lodge. The meeting was attended by the PGM for Sussex and twenty-seven members of the provincial team, and around 100 Sussex masons were present to hear QC member Ric Berman deliver a paper to mark the occasion. The meeting was followed by an excellent festive board enjoyed by all.

Although several items from the Quatuor Coronati collection are on display within the main exhibits at the Library & Museum of Freemasonry, the bulk of the collection – another hundred plus items – are held in storage. The collection is unique and ranges from the early eighteenth century, through the Napoleonic Wars to the Victorian period, with many valuable and irreplaceable items. All being well, we intend to produce an illustrated guide to the collection and make this available to QCCC members.

A great turnout in Recife last Saturday (10 June) to hear a lecture and Q&A presented by Ric Berman with simultaneous translation into Portuguese. The afternoon presentation was followed by dinner and drinks and preceded on Friday 9 June  by a meeting of Lodge Academia do Paraiso. Many thanks to Emilio Elesbao, our QCCC Local Secretary in Recife, for organising; and many thanks to the Grand Master and Grand Officers of the Grand Oriente of Pernambuco.

Nearly 400 Freemasons celebrate the tercentenary of English Freemasonry at the Montego Bay Conference Centre. This article in the Jamaica Observer gives full details.

Welcome to our latest Local Secretary, Diego Arana, a member of Union Fraternal lodge, No 21, under the jurisdiction of the Great Lodge of Panama, and a member of Union Justa 257 lodge, No 351, under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Argentina. Diego will be representing QCCC in Panama and can be contacted at diegoaranaparera@gmail.com.

A warm welcome to our newest Local Secretary, Isaac Augusto Damsky, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Isaac is a lawyer and Senior Adjunct Professor of Administrative Law at the University of Buenos Aires Law School. He is also the current Secretary of Union Argentina Lodge, No. 134. Isaac is working on developing a research lodge in Argentina under the auspices of the Grand Lodge of Argentina; he can be contacted at isaacaugustodamsky@yahoo.com.ar.

There was a tremendous turnout at Snorri Lodge of Research in Reykjavik for Ric Berman’s lectures covering the early years of freemasonry through to the rivalry between the ‘Moderns’ and ‘Antients’. The lectures were either side of lunch and continued with a spirited Q&A session into the afternoon. Freemasonry in Iceland is more popular than ever and this was an excellent example of cooperation between two research lodges. Many thanks to Olafur Magnusson and his colleagues for organising the event.

Leif Endre, the incoming Master of Niels Treschow Lodge – the Norwegian Lodge of Research, and our Local Secretary in Norway, had the opportunity to promote QC in the latest issue of Frimurer Bladet, the official magazine for The Order of Norwegian Freemasons. We hope that this will encourage members of Norwegian freemasonry to consider joining the QC Correspondence Circle and visiting with us when they are in London. Thanks Leif.

The link to Frimurer Bladet is here: https://issuu.com/frimurer/docs/frimurerbladet-01-2017

We are pleased to welcome five new local secretaries: Dr Christophe Schinckus, an academic at the University of Leicester; Mark Bridge in Gibraltar; Dr Boris DeWall in Vienna; Leo Lusicic in Slovenia; and Steinarr Kr. Ómarsson in Iceland.  Welcome all.

Just a quick post-Christmas update to let QCCC members know that Aubrey Newman had a successful hip replacement operation in December and was discharged from hospital in time to spend Christmas at home. We are delighted to be able to report that he is in good spirits and making a steady recovery. Although Aubrey is not expected to have regained sufficient mobility to attend our February meeting, he is now able to work on QC matters at home once again. With best wishes to him and to everyone for a Happy New Year.