Page 2 - The Essential Travellers Guide

A very warm welcome to our fellow travellers.

This year’s MBF festival as you know, is hosted by the Province of Kent Mark
Masons. Kent being the ‘Garden of England’ county, it was decided that we would
develop the ‘Garden of England’ theme for the 2020 festival.

This booklet has been designed to provide you with as much information as
possible about the venue, how you navigate through the buildings, what you can
expect when you arrive and it will assist you and your party in experiencing
everything that has been created for your ultimate enjoyment.
So let’s set the scene, imagine that you are travelling back in time….
The year is 1950 and the décor on arrival will reflect this. You will be arriving at
one of two railway stations: ‘Detling Halt’ or Maidstone Cut’. Both of these stations
are the starting point to your journey. The ticket collectors, porters and ‘Bowler
Hatted’ guides that you will find in the stations will be in period dress of the era
and are there to fulfil an important role—looking after you!
You will experience sights, sounds and smells associated with a railway station
during the golden age of steam locomotives. Of course, you will have to produce
your rail tickets that you will have received at ‘Mark Parkway’ station prior to
boarding your train. These tickets are return tickets so please keep them safe, you
will need them to catch your train back to ‘Mark Parkway’ station after the evening
has concluded or earlier if you have booked to return at 10:30pm.

Before you embark upon your journey and experience the ambience and
atmosphere of the occasion we have a message from our Provincial Grand Master;
Right Worshipful Brother Archie Torrance:

“I would personally like to welcome each and every one of
you to the Kent Event Centre & Showground, for what I am
sure is going to be a superb evening and a magnificent
culmination of eight years of unflinching effort by the Mark
Masons in Kent in raising a significant amount of money in
support of the Masonic Benevolent Fund. We are delighted
that so many of you have given your support by attending
our celebration. I wish you all a very enjoyable evening and
a heartfelt thank you for your support.”

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