End of an Era

19th April 1994. The last egular meeting in Masonic Hall, Airdrie Road, Caldercruix. The M.M. Degree was conferred by the Lodge Past Masters headed on this occasion by Bro. John Laird P.M.. A brief history of the Lodge was issued & a moving tribute from Bro. Jeff Spence R.W.M. to Brethren who had faithfully assisted in running the Lodge over the past 50 years. He also intimated that moving to a new meeting place would ensure the survival of Lodge Caldercruix St John 1314. Over 160 attended this meeting brethren form inside & outwith the Province

Here's the speech which Bro Jeff Spence PM gave to the assembled brethren

Caldercruix St John has a long history, a tradition that has been forged by many dedicated freemasons. Everything we are today, everything we aspire to is based firmly on the foundations which they laid. Our commitment to upholding the decorum, the integrity & principles of our order are why we have arrived at this difficult decision. Any failure in our responsibility would have sullied our proud name. To their eternal credit, the brethren tried valiantly to keep the building, for several years, but it was not to be. Never forget! We the brethren are the Lodge, we have grasped the opportunity to guarantee the future of our Lodge. To build & prosper, to forge a bright successful future is the aim we have in view. Indeed, being free of monetary constraints, we can once again become a benevolent institution, and take great pleasure in dispersing charity and enhance the great name of freemasonry. We have many great events to write in the history of Lodge Caldercruix St John. To our friends, our many friends, we thank them for their years of support. Friendship is the reason most of us are in freemasonry, it enriches our lives gives us great pleasure. It is what makes freemasonry great, & what will make it endure. We are very lucky in Caldercruix to have many friends, in & outwith the province, of the Middle Ward of Lanarkshire. We thank them for coming here tonight & I look forward to welcoming then, as well as the members of Lodge Caldercruix St John to our new home.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In The Beginning

Image
The History of Lodge Caldercruix St John doesn’t begin in1923 [The year of our foundation] as you would expect, but the year previous in 1922.  An old retired Master Mason from the village of Caldercruix became concerned for the welfare of his next door neighbour whom he believed to be a member of the craft.  It was very apparent to him that his neighbour and family had unfortunately fell on hard times, were in desperate financial difficulty and were in urgent need of relief and support.  As a means of offering his Neighbour financial assistance this old Master Mason arranged for a support fund to be raised by setting up a petition in the village enquiring if any Masonic brethren in the village were in a position to offer financial support for his distressed neighbour.  When Bro. T P. McCafferty saw the list of names he was surprised at the number of Masons in the village. He called a Meeting of these Brethren in the Craig Institute, Caldercruix, & put forward th...
Read more

1314 man meets the Queen.

Image
On the 2nd of March 1954. It was intimated that Bro. A. E. McVey had now become the Mayor of Barnsley, and the Secretary sent a message of congratulations on behalf of the Lodge. I therefore did some research and much to my astonishment I stumbled across this wonderful photo of Bro A. E . McVey and Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II. Bro A E McVey welcomed the Queen to his town at the town's railway station and then he and his wife escorted the new monarch on a tour of the town and the Yorkshire coalfields. I also found an oil painting of Bro McVey and his wife which hangs in the Cannon Hall Museum in Barnsley. Also pictured is a scanned article giving a full account of the day that The Queen visited Barnsley and was the very special guest of Bro McVey.  
Read more

Wet or Dry?

Image
On the 7 th  of December 1926 a debate took place among the brethren of Caldercruix St John 1314 on whether the installation ceremony should be a wet or dry occassion, and Im not talking about the weather! as up until then the installation ceremony of Lodge office bearers had always been an alcohol free event. In the end the brethren decided that for the first time ever the installation ceremony would be a wet affair. It was decided that the tickets for the installation would be set at 2/6d. This brought to mind a funny story I heard from my good friend and brother , Bro Larry Sloan who told me that at the installation ceremony of Bro Eddie Nelson in 1988 everything went well and then at the after dinner speeches PM Bro Norrie Muirhead declared that for the first time ever in the history of Caldercruix St John 1314 they had in the person of RWM Bro Eddie Nelson , their first ever tee-total RWM. He then said that in the coming year ahead that the brethren of the lodge hoped to cure ...
Read more