Dear Brethren All, On the evening of the seventeenth day of the month known to the Saxons as Ærra Liða, in the year of our Lord two thousand and fifteen, before the evening star dipped low in the west, a band of nine brave warriors, from the district known as Somersetshire in the kingdom of Wessex, made a friendly excursion southwards to the neighbouring district of Devonshire. All nine warriors were respected elders of the Court of ÆÐELRED, number sixty-six in the records of our noble

king Æthelstan Rex Totius Anglorum. This Court is situated at Burnham, on the south shore of the sea that divides the Saxon Kingdoms of Wessex and Magonsætan. On entering the district of Devonshire, they made their way to the market town of Honetone, meaning a farm belonging to Huna, now known as Honiton, and from thence to the Court of King Cerdic, recorded as number eighty-two. The reason they assigned for this visit was to develop a bond of friendship between the two Courts. But their true aim was to remove the Beehive, a potent symbol in the kingdom of Wessex, and to carry it back to their own Court at Burnham. This important emblem of industry had remained undisturbed since its discovery at Honiton in the Saxon month of Ðrimilcemonað, in the year of our Lord two thousand and fourteen. The elders of the Court of King Cerdic greeted the visiting warriors with much good ceremony and, when formal Court matters were at an end, the leader of the nine Somersetshire warriors acquainted the Court of King Cerdic with their true aims and, according to ancient laws that bind, put forth a forceful argument for the Beehive to be placed in the keeping of the Court of ÆÐELRED. The nine warriors were successful in their mission and, after much feasting, merriment and honorary toasting, transported the Beehive back to Somersetshire in a steel chariot, where it now has pride of place in the Court of ÆÐELRED at Burnham on Sea.

The names of those intrepid ÆÐELRED Court warriors have been recorded as: W.Bro David R. Attwater ProvGOrg – Master of the Court & Acting Secretary Bro John P. Housden – Senior Warden Bro Kieran J. Hughes – Junior Warden W & Em Bro Michael G. Williams ProvEmGPrior – Eminent Prior W.Bro Martin C. Slocombe ProvSGD – Treasurer W.Bro Julian A. N. Frost ProvGGuard – Almoner Bro Marshall G. Westley – Organist Bro Kevin N. Roberts – Captain of Guard Bro David L. Preece - Burgh Kind fraternal regards, David Attwater capture Master of the Court & Acting Secretary - Ædelred Court No. 66 COURT RULES TO CAPTURE THE BEEHIVE

!!! THE FIRST WAVE OF CAPTURE !!!!!!

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