The President of Wellington College, His Royal Highness, The Duke of Kent, KG, GCMG, GCVO, ADC and Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England has graciously accepted the position of Permanent Worshipful Master of the Old Wellingtonian Lodge No.3404. As Grand Lodge required him to be physically installed he was proclaimed as Honorary Worshipful Master in the meantime.
In 1909 the great, great uncle of the present Grand Master, HRH the Duke of Connaught and Strathearn KG etc, became the Worshipful Master of the Heroum Filii Lodge at its consecration, later to be renamed the Old Wellingtonian Lodge. He remained in that office until his death in 1942 – arguably the longest period a Worshipful Master has ever stayed in an office in any lodge.
A century later, as the OW Lodge celebrates it centenary year, the Master and Brethren of the Lodge are indeed privileged to be honoured by the present Grand Master, who is perhaps better known to us as the President of Wellington College, becoming Honorary Worshipful Master of the Lodge.
A total of 43 brethren met at Freemasons’ Hall in London. This included five visiting from other Public Schools’ Lodges Council member Lodges and nine other visiting guests. This historic occasion marked the exact date Centenary of the consecration of the Old Wellingtonian Lodge, having been consecrated on 26th November 1909.
Exemplifying the health of the Lodge membership in recent years, a ceremony of Initiation was performed. W.Bro. Henry Hopking was the ruling Master for the ceremony, ably assisted by W.Bro. Tom Hawley.
The meeting recorded another historic moment, as HRH the Duke of Kent, KG, GCMG, GCVO, ADC, MW Grand Master and President of Wellington College was elected Permanent Worshipful Master of the Old Wellingtonian Lodge. As Grand Lodge required him to be physically installed he was proclaimed as Honorary Worshipful Master in the meantime.
After the meeting, the members and visitors dined very well at Bucks Club.
The brethren of the Old Wellingtonian Lodge met at Freemasons’ Hall, London for the annual Installation meeting. W.Bro. Quentin Hunter (Talbot 85-90) installed W.Bro. Henry R. Hopking (Anglesey 89-94) into the Chair of King Solomon as the Master to rule the Lodge during our Centenary year. W.Bro. Hunter was ably assisted in the ceremony with members from Sir Thomas White Lodge No.1820, Christ’s Hospital Lodge No.2650 and the Old Cheltonian Lodge No.3223.
The Address to the Master was delivered by W.Bro. Geoffrey Baber, with fine style and aplomb. This was especially meaningful as W.Bro. Baber proposed W.Bro. Hopking into Freemasonry seven years previously. The Address to the Wardens and the Address to the Brethren were delivered by W.Bro. James Milne and W.Bro. Rory Shackleton respectively.
After the meeting the brethren retired to St James’s and they dined at the East India Club. The festive board was held in the Canadian Room where everyone enjoyed the superb cuisine and merry fraternal banter. Many have since commented that they hope the Lodge will return there for future festive boards.
The Master and members of the Old Wellingtonian Lodge look forward to the year ahead. It is an exceptional year with 2009/10 being the Centenary of the Lodge. The Lodge has a full programme of events planned. Our meeting on the 26th November will mark the historic date of the Centenary, from when the Lodge was consecrated in 1909. We then look forward to the summer meeting at College, where we will welcome a large number of visitors and guests to join us as we conclude our Centenary celebrations in fine style.
The brethren of the Old Wellingtonian Lodge met at Wellington College for the annual college meeting. At the meeting Bro. Matthew Saunders and Bro. Simon Reed were raised to the sublime degree of a master mason. In the double ceremony W.Bro Quentin Hunter was assisted by a Past-Master who recalled with élan the third degree tracing board attracting a deserved Masonic applause. The Working Tools were similarly explained in graphic detail by W.Bro. Rory Shackleton. W.Bro. Nigel Birch presented Bro. Matt Saunders with a Master Mason’s apron. Books of Emulation ritual were presented on behalf of their proposer by seconder Bro. Junior Warden, John Edwards.
A Grand Lodge Certificate was presented to Bro. Simon Wilson and explained in detail by W.Bro. Nigel Birch. All the other offices of the lodge did an outstanding job in assisting the W.Bro Quentin Hunter in the ceremony.
The lodge welcomed a number of visitors including visiting Masters from our sister public school lodges: Christ Hospital; Ardingly and Charterhouse. We also welcomed our newly elected Visiting Officer, Edward Bottomley. The lodge looks forward to welcoming him to future lodge meetings.
W.Bro John Ross-Barnard announced that he would be stepping down as secretary after ten years serving the lodge so that he can go on a world trip. W.Bro Quentin Hunter thanked him for his hard work and dedication to the lodge over the years. He reminded the brethren of how much work W.Bro John Ross-Barnard has done behind the scenes to ensure all our meetings happen and that all Masonic business is conducted and communicated promptly and correctl. There was a spontaneous and enthusiastic round of applause to thank the retiring secretary from the rest of the brethren.
The brethren then dined in the Driver rooms in College. A few of the brethren met at the bar in the Waterloo Hotel for further libations!
The brethren of the Old Wellingtonian Lodge met at Freemasons Hall, Great Queen Street to raise Bro. Simon Wilson to the sublime degree of a Master Mason. W.Bro Quentin Hunter was assisted in the ceremony by a member of Old Reptonian Lodge 3725, who delivered the Exhoratation, a Past-Master who delivered the Traditional History and W.Bro Rory Shackleton who explained the Working Tools. All those assisting the WM delivered their parts not only with great accuracy but also communicating the true meaning of the ritual in fine style.
Due to bad weather, transport problems and illness a number of brethren were unable to make the meeting. The following brethren did an excellent job and stood in at the last minute to fill the following offices. W.Bro Hew Dunn as Director of Ceremonies, W.Bro Robin Tilbrook as Immediate Past Master, a Past-Master as Inner Guard and W.Bro Derick Barrett as Mentor. The WM was very grateful for their last minute assistance. Similar problems occur every year at the February meeting and W.Bro John Ross-Barnard raised the idea of changing the meeting to March for future years. This was generally favourably received.
The rest of the regular offices of the lodge did a fine job in assisting the WM in raising Bro. Simon Wilson.
A member of Old Westminster Lodge No. 2233 did a splendid job of playing the organ for the lodge. The organ has not been played in the OW lodge for some time. This gave an extra dimension to the raising and made it a truly memorable occasion for the candidate and the brethren of the lodge.
We welcomed five visitors to the lodge four of which were from our sister PSLC lodges (Repton no. 3725, Westminster no. 2233, Marlborough no.3533 and Dulwich no. 4165). It is always a great pleasure to welcome visitors to the OW lodge.
Congratulations to W.Bro John Ross Barnard JP on advancement to Past Provincial Grand Sword Bearer (Warks) and W.Bro Nigel Birch on his advancement to Senior London Grand Rank. Congratulations to W.Bro James Milne on his recent marriage.
The brethren dined afterwards at Beoty’s.
