Page 25 - Essex Mason Issue 85

Almoner

Maldon Masonic Hall
The Fallen Were Remembered

he fallen were remembered at services held across the Maldon district
Tto mark the centenary of the end of the Great War
In Maldon a wreath laying ceremony took place at the war memorial, in the High
Street. From 10:15 the Royal British Legion Parade Marshal gathered participating
veterans, members of the cadet services, emergency services, voluntary
organisations and young people from district schools leading them to the front of
the memorial from where the service started at 10:30.
Around 40 wreaths were laid this year including by town Mayor Jeanette Stilts, representatives
of the armed forces including the town’s cadet troops, and representatives of Maldon based
organisations, including one from the Maldon Masonic Lodge - laid by W.Bro Mark Jones
representing the Maldon Masonic Hall association.
The crowd that gathered joined millions of people across the world in a two-minute silence at
11:00 GMT that marked the end of World War One on the 11th hour of 11 November 1918.
The clock at Moot Hall in Maldon High Street striking the time, the face off which had been
covered in cascading poppies from the roof to the balcony of the building. Wendy Munnion,
Chairman of the Maldon Flower Arranging Club, came up with the design, and 60 volunteers
attached the 5,000 poppies which were draped from the roof of Moot Hall in the High Street.
After the ceremony a civic service to commemorate the centenary of the Armistice was held at All Saints Church. This included music from the
All Saints choir, All Saints hand bell ringers and Suki Swindale and Carol Bonard, who sung a song specially written to commemorate Suki’s great-
uncle, killed at Loos in 1916. MP for Maldon John Whittingdale said this years event was particularly poignant as it marked the centenary of the
Armistice which marked the end of the First World War.

Dagenham Lodge 4699
Air Cadets Visit Menin Gate Belgium

ssex Mason Mark Bryant of Dagenham Lodge No. 4699
Ealong with W.Bro Simon Constable of Lodge Neuhaus
No. 946 from the Grand Lodge of British Freemasons in
Germany and W.Bro David Purvis of Hervey and Kentish
Companions Lodge No. 1692 in the Province of West Kent
laid wreaths in Memoriam of all Freemasons and British and
Commonwealth Servicemen during the Centenary Armistice
VW.Bro. Paul Reeves, DepPGM handing the
Day ceremony at the Menin Gate, Ypres, Belgium. wreath to Bro Bryant
Simon and David, both RAF Regiment veterans, marched in the parade with the Air Cadet Contingent
from London and the South East, whilst Mark formerly of the Royal Hussars (PWO), marched in the
Veterans Contingent.
The parade started in the Square outside St Martin's Cathedral and ended half a mile later at the Menin
Gate, the famous war memorial in Ypres where the names of 54,609 fallen British and Commonwealth
soldiers who have no known grave are recorded.
Four Masonic wreaths were laid at the Menin Gate. Mark laid wreaths on behalf of the Provincial Lodge
of Essex and Dagenham Lodge. David laid a wreath on behalf of the Provincial Lodge of West Kent,
whilst Simon laid a wreath on behalf of the United Grand Lodge of England, on which the message
read ‘In Lasting Memory of those Freemasons who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Great War
1914 – 1918’.

A Wooden Cross was also placed later at Tyne Cot on behalf of the Provincial Lodge of Essex. Tyne Cot
is the location of the Memorial to the 34,951 fallen whose names could not be recorded on the Menin
Gate, as well the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in the world, containing
11,968 graves; mainly those fallen during the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917.

Mark said: 'It was my privilege to pay my respects
on the Centenary on the Armistice particularly as
my Regiment fought at Ypres in 1914 and 1915; I was
honoured to represent my Essex Brethren and my
Lodge on this emotive day'.
David said: ‘It was an honour to lay these wreaths
on behalf of all Freemasons and to pay respect to
the Brethren who fell during the Great War, and in
all wars since.'

Provincial Grand Almoner

W.Bro Nick Clarke PADGC nick@nickclarke.f9.co.uk

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