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City Elks pair the 'toast' of the town after sweeping coveted yearly Elks contest

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Bonnie Skidds, Exalted Ruler, Rochester, and Jerry Skidds, Past Exalted Ruler and District Deputy, South (Courtesy photo)

ROCHESTER - Two of the Rochester Elks' most recognizable leaders are the "toast" of the town after winning the state's annual Elks 11 O'Clock Toast Contest on Sunday.

The annual Elks rite was held at the Concord-Epsom Elks #1210, with

Rochester Elks Lodge #1393 Exalted Ruler Bonnie Skidds and her brother Past Exalted Ruler Jerry Skidds winning their respective contests.

There were two categories: Exalted Rulers and Past Exalted Rulers.

Exalted Ruler Bonnie Skidds topped her opponent Sherri Berry from the Derry-Salem Elks Lodge 2226 and Jerry Skidds bested Brian Dailey from the Dover Elks #184 and Kelly Dorgan Cote from the Nashua Elks #720.

Meanwhile, Jerry Skidds received the highest score of the day which qualifies him to represent the State of New Hampshire in the national competition to be conducted in Tampa, Fla. during the week of July 4th.

Contestants were judged on Word Accuracy, Impressiveness and Pronunciation. The Elks 11 O'Clock Toast dates back to the 1800s, and is a tribute to deceased Elks members.

It is also part of the Initiation ceremony and is often done at Elks gatherings and social events at the hour of 11.

The origins of the toast go back long before the BPOE came into existence, back to when a former iteration of the Elks, the Royal and Antedeluvian Order of Buffaloes, practiced an 11 o'clock toast in remembrance of the Battle of Hastings in October of 1066. Following that victory, William of Normandy imported a set of rules, both martial and civil in nature, to keep control of a seething Norman-Saxon population always on the edge of a revolution.

Among those rules was a curfew law requiring all watch fires, bonfires (basically all lights controlled by private citizens that could serve as signals) to be extinguished at 11 each night. From strategically placed watchtowers that also served as early fire-alarm posts, the call would go out to douse or shutter all lights and bank all fires.

In time the hour of 11 quickly acquired a somber meaning, and in the centuries that followed, became the synonym throughout Europe for someone on his deathbed at "the 11th hour."

From those origins was born the "11th hour toast," a somber yet powerful and emotive recollection and tribute.

For more information about the Elks, please visit www.elks.org

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