Page 27 - Essex Mason Issue 85

Events

Gunfleet Lodge

Donation to Walton Lifeboat

Gunfleet Lodge based in Clacton on Sea, has had a close connection with the
sea since its consecration in 1949. Many past members have had professional
connections with the maritime world and several, still do. Indeed the Lodge
draws its name from the Gunfleet sands just three miles offshore from the Lodge’s
home at the Colvin Memorial Temple.
At the Gunfleet Lodge Ladies Festival back in February, the Worshipful Master,
W Bro John Carrington dedicated the raffle proceeds and his Master’s List to the
Walton and Frinton Lifeboat. More recently, W Bro John was able to present a
cheque for £500 to the Coxswain of the Lifeboat, Trevor Halls, when the Tamar W Bro John Carrington, [Centre] presenting the cheque to Coxswain
Class Lifeboat was berthed alongside the quay at the Walton and Frinton Yacht Trevor Halls and accompanied by Mrs Gayle Carrington.
Club Open Day.

Walden Freemasons
Donation to St. John’s Church

he Church of St John’s in Little Walden is a self-
Tsufficient daughter Church to St Mary’s in Saffron
Walden but over recent years this little village Church
has undergone a major three-year program of repairs
and maintenance that placed an extraordinary strain
on its finances.

Previously identified repairs to the exterior included the obligatory roof repairs for broken and missing tiles as well as the eradication of
large areas of moss on three of the Church’s five roofs, a badly worn retaining wall that needed to be partially rebuilt, an exterior fence that
had become unstable and had to be replaced, drainage problems that required two new soakaways and a new roof gutter and down pipe.
Internal repairs to the Church included the complete over haul and upgrade of the electrics, power extended to the vestry to allow heating
to be added, power cables that had to be protected from possible vermin attack, new lighting, the re-plastering of a vestry wall due to damp
ingress, the re-securing of the two altar rails and the replacement of a number of glass quarries in some of the windows to name just a few!
With the completion of the tasks over the three year period and to budget it was a shock to discover that the outside porch that on first inspection was
thought to require a repair to the two sole plates, (these are the large timbers that support the porch), proved on a later inspection that the two sole
plates were showing signs of rotting and the porch had started to show signs of movement that if not replaced could
have caused it to collapse. Specialist were called in to inspect and quote on the replacement of the two sole plates and
the Church was faced with a major cost that after the three-year repair program, the Church could not afford.
Extra funding was urgently sought and even with a £1,000 grant from the All Churches Trust this was not enough to cover
the cost of the replacement sole plates.
Through my association within the Masons I knew that Lodges support small and large organisations many of which are non-
masonic causes in addition to the call to support FEST2022 within Essex. With my initial approach to my own Walden Lodge I was
not surprised that to hear that the members had readily agreed to donate out of its Benevolence fund and further approaches
were made to other Lodges and Chapters who meet in Saffron Walden. With the summer break looming a sum of £900 was
pledged which was enough to commence work on the Church porch. This amount was later to rise to £1,000 and a cheque was
presented on behalf of all Freemasons in Saffron Walden to the treasurer of St John’s Church, little Walden.
My sincere thanks go to all the Freemasons of Saffron Walden for assisting us in a time of need. Dave Beare, the St John’s Church
treasurer is pictured accepting a cheque for £1,000, representing the Freemasons of Saffron Walden are Alan Coote, (on the left,
Audley Lodge), and David Bowman, (on the right, Walden Lodge).

Victoria Rifles Lodge 822

On Saturday 10th November 2018, Victoria Rifles Lodge No.822 (the Installed Masters Lodge
of the Circuit of Service Lodges) held its 2018 Installation Meeting in The Grand Temple at
Freemasons Hall.
Worshipful Masters of the 1,154 remaining Hall Stone Jewel Lodges were invited along to highlight
the part the Lodges had played in the funding of Freemasons Hall, and thus commemorating the
supreme sacrifice brethren made during the 1914-1918 war.
In attendance was the MW Pro Grand Master, Peter Geoffrey Lowndes, In-pensioners from the
Royal Hospital Chelsea, military Freemasons from around the country and many other brethren,
including a good number from the Province of Essex.
The Worshipful Master (W Bro Richard Bassett) of Belfairs Lodge No.4730 that meets at Saxon Hall, Southend, being a Hall Stone
Jewel Lodge, was invited to attend the meeting. He was accompanied by several other members of the Lodge, one of those
being W.Bro Danny Lowry, whose hobby is wood turning and making gavels, which has enabled him to raise in excess of £10,000
for various charities over the past five years.
W Bro Danny was keen to mark the occasion and thus made a fantastic looking gavel with a metal poppy recessed into the head.
Prior to the meeting W.Bro Danny presented the gavel to the Worshipful Master (W.Bro Capt. James Milne) of Victoria Rifles
Lodge No.822, which was gratefully received.
The gavel was used by the Worshipful Master throughout the meeting. W.Bro Danny later received an email from W.Bro James
thanking him for the gavel and commenting how it felt well balanced and easy to wield during the meeting, and that it made a
suitable “thump” in such a Grand setting.
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