In the last few months, I guess. Weird thing was that sometimes at work if there was a small staff meeting I'd be half-expecting someone to say at the outset, "Well, first we'll just ask Jehovah's blessing ..."
What's that mean? It's a habit and nothing more. I doubt that anyone much listens to the prayers said from the platform. It's just a chance for the brother to give an example of how righteous he is, which is kind of what Jesus taught his followers NOT to do. Those droning prayers to close the DC were a prime example.
Prayers before meals were equally a sham. My kids ribbed me a year or so back about how all my pre-dinner prayers were always the same. But I just couldn't think of any way to vary them. Years ago I was at someone's place for dinner and we'd all had many beers before we ate. The guy whose place we were at picked me to "ask Jehovah's blessing" on the meal and I thought, "Hell, I'm half-pissed." The prayer was very incoherent, but I didn't want to make it too short. Since it was a pretty big gathering you have to turn it on a bit. They all said "Amen" to it, but I reckon most of them would have been wondering what the hell I was going on about and why I kept going round in circles. I felt pretty embarrassed.