Oldest Warrington Masonic Lodge donates £14.8k to charity

WARRINGTON’S oldest Masonic Lodge, launched the same year as Lord Nelson’s HMS Victory, celebrated its 250th anniversary by donating £14,800 to charity.

The Lodge of Lights No 148 were highly honoured by the presence of the Deputy Grand Master, Jonathan Spence and the Provincial Grand Master, Tony Harrison who joined over 150 Masons, at the anniversary event at the masonic hall on Winmarleigh Street.

Gwilym Jones, a senior member of the lodge, rose to give a short history of the lodge.  An excellent oration was delivered by Rev Canon Godfrey Hirst, which was concluded with a solemn prayer of rededication.

Stanley then presented charity donations to Tony, to the grand total of £14,800 which was the target the lodge had adopted some time ago, being the lodge’s number with two zeros added!

Response by Tony was initially complete silence, which later at the social board he referred to as: “being gobsmacked”. Upon regaining his thoughts he said he was: “speechless to receive such truly magnificent charity donations and the largest he had ever received”. He continued by saying it would give him great pleasure to hand the cheques to the recipients and thanked the lodge for their tremendous generosity.

An excellent five course celebratory banquet followed supplied by the Masonic hall staff, which was enjoyed by all.

In response to the toast to the grand officers, Jonathan began by relating some of the events occurring in 1765, the year of the lodge’s consecration. A year when the HMS Victory, ship of the Royal Navy was launched. She is best known as Lord Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar.

Tony also presented a history booklet to all present and recommended its perusal saying it is very informative and thanked all the brethren who had brought the booklet to its present published form.

Tony continued by saying the brethren in 1765 could not have foreseen the future leading to this sestercentennial celebration event. He congratulated the lodge on its achievements thanking the lodge members for the support they have given down the years and continued to give to the Warrington group today.

Tony went on to give an account of some the historical events happening in the year when the lodge was consecrated: “Back in 1765, George the third was on the throne of this country. His reign was blighted by mental instability as depicted in the film `The madness of King George`. This lodge was consecrated 50 years before Waterloo!

Tony continued: In 1865 when the lodge celebrated its centenary the year that was dominated by the American Civil war which ended on 23 June. It is interesting to note that the last act of that war occurred nearly five months later when on 7 November that year, in the River Mersey, the Confederate ship CSS Shenandoah finally surrendered her colours. On 14 April that year in the Ford Theatre, Washington, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. It was also the year that the New York Stock Exchange was founded, as was HSBC and the Salvation Army.

In 1965, the lodge celebrated its bi-centenary, the ‘Swinging Sixties’, were well established and it was the year that saw the death of this country’s greatest statesman Winston Churchill. In America, the Vietnam War had begun, and racial tension was being fuelled by marches of the civil rights movements.

Having been consecrated in 1765 the lodge has existed under the reign of two of the longest serving Monarchs, Queen’s Victoria and Elizabeth. There have been nine others, three of whom were either Grand Master or Past Grand Master. The lodge has survived 35 major conflicts, witnessed man take to the air and land on the moon and goodness knows what else in terms of life on earth. It has witnessed the greatest advancement in technology in every possible dimension. The lodge has been in existence for a total of 91,325 days. If you have had eight meetings a year for 250 years that means there have been 2,000 meetings, which means that the lodge could easily have had 60,000 brethren attending meetings.
He closed by proposing a toast to the Lodge of Lights No148.

Stan Churm, responded to the toast, explaining and confirming that he was not a founder member but the most senior one!  He said the membership of the lodge stood at 41 with two candidates in the pipeline. He felt confident about the lodge’s future. In conclusion Stan said that the lodge was continuing on the very solid foundation placed 250 years ago.