Lodge of Benevolence No 6340
Worshipful Master W. Bro. Alan Seymour, P.Pr.A.G.Supt.Wks.
Senior Warden Bro. Graham Sturzaker
Junior Warden Bro. Antony Taylor
Secretary Bro. Chris Wade
Just over fifty years ago, on Thursday the 20th March
1947, the Lodge of Benevolence No 6340 was consecrated at the Masonic
Hall, Blackpool, by the Right Worshipful Provincial Grand Master, Bro. Arthur
Foster. The Installing Master was the Deputy Provincial Grand Master,
Right Worshipful Bro. W. S. S. Hannay, P.G.W. Seventy-two visiting brethren
joined the seventeen founders, the four brethren of the Provincial choir and the
seventeen consecrating officers at the
Ceremony of Consecration. The
petition to form a new Lodge in Blackpool, which was sent to Grand Lodge was
signed by members of Progress Lodge No 4120. who had sponsored Benevolence
Lodge.
The Lodge celebrated its Golden Jubilee on 20th March 1997. The exact date of the consecration 50 years earlier and the same year that the Queen celebrated her Golden Anniversary. To mark the occasion the Lodge commissioned a Banner, which was dedicated on this date by W. Bro. Peter S. Walker, P.S.G.D., Assistant Provincial Grand Master assisted by other Provincial Grand Officers.
So what for the next 50 or even 100 years? Will Benevolence Lodge still be meeting at the Masonic Hall, Adelaide Street? Will man set foot on Mars? Will we find life there? Will we find a cure for cancer and AIDS? We can only wonder what life will be like in 2047 when the Worshipful Master sits down to record his views at the Centenary Celebrations. It would be nice to think that he would look kindly on the contributions made to the history of the Lodge by those of us who have had stewardship of it at present.
Picture - Benevolence Lodge Banner