Chapter 8 - A Major Milestone – The Centenary Year

A Major Milestone – The Centenary Year

There was much work in the years and months leading up to the 100th Anniversary of the Lodge. As early as January 1960, the General Purposes Committee minutes record the decision that the Centenary would support the Royal Masonic Hospital. In June of the same year there was agreement to form a subcommittee to organise the event. Discussions about providing a new Banner were started as early as October 1964. There is little of interest in the Committee minutes in 1965 relating to the Centenary, and the records for the next few years seem to be missing. However, mention was made in May of 1965 that Lodge contributions towards the 1970 Provincial Festival had reached £1041-18-9. That works out at almost £19,000 in 2016 terms.

1966 - Events Outside the Lodge

Rightly or wrongly, there is very little mention in the minutes over the last 150 years of events outside the Lodge. Perhaps mentioning significant events since the Centenary will assist the reader in placing the Lodge in its historical context, as they are still within living memory of many of those celebrating our 150th year In 1966, England won the World Cup, that is in soccer of course, it then, as now, being a common topic of conversation before and after our meetings. For those who prefer cricket, unfortunately, in that year we managed to lose the test series against the West Indies 3-1. The year also saw the opening of the Severn Bridge. At the end of the year we witnessed one of the most haunting tragedies in Britain’s history, the Aberfan Disaster. On 21st October, 1966, at 9.15am,

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just after our Centenary meeting, the children of Pantglas Junior School, in the small mining town of Aberfan, South Wales were returning to their classrooms after morning assembly. After heavy rains, a slag tip slid down the mountainside and took everything in its path, swallowing the village and killing almost half of Pantglas’ students. The tragedy saw the loss of 144 lives, 116 of them schoolchildren. All of these events went totally unremarked in the minutes. The Lodge was not the only Masonic organisation gearing-up for a milestone, as in January 1966 details emerged from Grand Lodge, outlining proposals for its own, 250th, Anniversary in 1967. Although the Lodge meeting on 16th March 1966 was closest to the centenary of the Consecration, that was not to be the celebratory one, which was instead to be held in October.

At the meeting closest to the actual centenary in March, the Worshipful Master, WBro. D. Bellinger initiated two candidates, Mr Robert Bailey and Mr Leonard Silvester. Later, the Master congratulated WBro. R.S. Whiddett and Bro. Rev. C.W. Nicholson, who were to be appointed Provincial Assistant Director of Ceremonies and Provincial Assistant Grand Chaplain respectively. Also, a report was given on the progress of the Banner Fund, the unveiling being planned for the October meeting. The September, Installation, meeting was well attended with 43 Officers and Members and 24 Visitors, with WBro. C. N. Woodley, PGStdBr (interestingly, our own Grand Lodge Officer) appointed to represent the Province. Bro. Arthur Flisher was Installed into the Master’s Chair. The Centenary therefore saw two different Masters in the Chair, WBro. D. Bellinger for the meeting in the anniversary month of March, and WBro. A. Flisher for the Centenary celebration meeting in October, but for both of them the Secretary was WBro. C.N. Woodley. He had been Secretary 45

since 1949, and remained in office until 1967, a total of sixteen years. The Director of Ceremonies, again for both meetings, was WBro W. G. Baxter, who held this office from 1961 to 1977, until he was succeeded by WBro. Flisher, who held it for the succeeding ten years. These last two worthy Brothers are still mentioned within our ceremonies today, such was the impact they had on the Lodge. In addition, of course, WBro Flisher was the father-in-law of WBro Malcolm Brooks, Grand Tyler from 2008 to at least 2017.

The Centenary celebration meeting itself was held in the Masonic Temple in Queenborough, with the Festive Board afterwards at the Borough Hall in Queenborough, both in the presence of the Right Worshipful Provincial Grand Master, The Rt. Hon. The Lord Cornwallis, KBE, MC, PGW. There is no information on the reason for the move away from the United Masonic Club for this special meeting. Included in the proceedings was a reading of the minutes of the first meeting of the Lodge on 1st March 1866, and a presentation of some parts of the Lodge History compiled by WBro. T. S. Watkins (which forms the first part of this history). The Provincial Grand Master presented the Centenary Warrant to the Worshipful Master, and afterwards unveiled the new Lodge Banner, which is still in use today. The Provincial Grand Master was presented with a cheque for £290 to the Royal Masonic Hospital, bringing the total donated by the Lodge and the Brethren since 1954 to 1200 guineas, almost £22,000 in 2016 value.

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The dinner for the Centenary meeting consisted of:

Shrimp Cocktail Roast Turkey, Stuffing and Chipolatas, Roast and Creamed Potatoes Brussel Sprouts and Garden Peas Strawberr y Melba Ice Cream Cheese and Biscuits

Coffee

Dessert

Clearly the brethren still had appetites approaching those of our Founders, 100 years earlier! At the time of the Centenary meeting, the Lodge had 173 members, and two of those are still with us in 2016. Bro. John Victor Stupples is the longest serving member, being initiated on 19th December 1956. WBro. James Brindley (“Brin”) White is next longest, having been initiated on 18th December 1957, and taking the Chair on18th September 1971. He was Lodge Almoner from 1975 to 1978, and was appointed Past Provincial Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies in 1980.

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