Honorary membership – History has been repeated …..

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HRH The Duke of Kent, KG, GCMG, GCVO, ADC Grand Master
President of Wellington College

History has been repeated …..

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 honorary membership of the Old Wellingtonian Lodge No. 3404. In 1909 the great, great uncle of the present Grand Master, HRH the Duke of Connaught & Strathearn KG, 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. Nearly a century later, and as the OW Lodge centenary year approaches in 2009, the Master and Brethren of the Lodge are indeed privileged to be honoured by the membership of the present Grand Master who is perhaps better known to us as the President of Wellington College.

Prestonian Lecture – “The Victoria Cross – Freemasons’ Band of Brothers”

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W. Bro. Granville Angell presented a stupendous lecture from the floor of the Lodge to an audience of just under 100.

In the presence of RW Bro. Michael Hooton, Provincial Grand Master of Berkshire, and many Masons, their wives and other non-masonic guests, Bro. Granville gave a brief explanation of the history of the Prestonian Lecture and stated that his aim was to educate and entertain. A certain amount of repartee occurred when he pointed to the lodge’s bronze statue of the Duke of Wellington and referred to him as Nelson.

Barely referring to his notes, Granville proceeded to give a marvellous exposition on the history of the Victoria Cross; surprising many, when he explained that the original ribbon colours were red for the Army and light blue for the Navy.

The story of Sir William Hewett VC kept the whole audience enthralled. Everybody was quite sad when the lecture drew to a close and had not noticed the passing of time.
Granville presented the WM with a bound copy of his lecture book, “The Victoria Cross Freemasons’ Band Of Brothers”. This is available in paperback for £10 and 75p for p&p in support of Granville’s charity , “VC Grave Concern”, which looks after the graves of holders of the VC.

Review of the September 2006 Installation Meeting

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The Lodge was set up in the Queens Court Theatre at Wellington College. After successfully securing the many exits, the Lodge was opened by W Bro Jeremy Morton-Moss for the last time as WM. The dispensations were read allowing the Lodge meeting to take place at Wellington as well as early as the Master Elect was to be overseas at the time of the usual October meeting. Brother Rory Shackleton was installed into the Chair of King Solomon with assistance of visiting Masters from Old Wykehamist, Old Tonbridgian and Whitehill Lodges. The meeting was very well attended with visitors including: W Bro Granville Angell, the Prestonian Lecturer and VW Bro Desmond Shackleton from Ireland.

Bro Jeremy Morton-Moss handed over the WM chair to Brother Tom Hawley who conducted the installation ceremony. The Addresses to the Master, Wardens and Brethren were given by VW Jervis Kay, a Past-Master and W Bro Bill Green respectively. The new Worshipful Master of the Old Wellingtonian Lodge looks forward to a busy year with a double initiation planned for November.

After the meeting, an excellent festive board was enjoyed by the Brethren, their wives and partners and guests in the Wellesley Room at Wellington College. A warm welcome was extended to all the visitors and as many were staying in The Waterloo Hotel as they were attending the Prestonian Lecture in the morning, most adjourned afterwards to the Hotel to celebrate the birthday of W Bro Nigel Birch.

Review of the May 2006 meeting

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The May meeting was held in fine style and we initiated a candidate into the First Degree. We even performed the Apprentice’s Chain which was most entertaining. A new Initiate was proposed and accepted. The Worshipful Master and Treasurer for 2007 were elected unanimously and the current IPM accepted the progressive office of Tyler. Due to the unavoidable absence of the Worshipful Master Elect on the usual date, it was agreed that the Installation Meeting would be held on September 29th at Wellington College rather than October 12th.

The Festive Board was merrier than usual due to the presence of several members’ wives and non-masonic guests. We were also graced by the attendance of the new Master of Wellington College in his first term, Dr. Anthony Seldon, the well-known author and biographer of the current Prime Minister. Although he divided his time between us and Turf, fairly in my opinion, he still managed to impress us with his erudite manner.

At the end of the meal an Old Wellingtonian Blazer (vintage 1938) in excellent condition was auctioned to raise money for the lodge charity fund. The meeting ended after a superb meal by the college catering staff.

Review of the February 2006 meeting

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The February meeting of the Old Wellingtonian Lodge was marked by the brethren standing for a minute’s silence in remembrance of W Bro Major John Underwood, who recently past to the Grand Lodge above. W Bro Tom Hawley, IPM, gave a eulogy marking W Bro John’s contributions to the Lodge including the important role John had played in ensuring the future of the lodge, and a résumé of his distinguished and well-travelled career with the Army and the Ordnance Survey.

This was followed by a fine ceremony of Passing, presided over by the Worshipful Master of the Lodge, W.Bro. Jeremy Moreton-Moss.

Looking forward, Bro Secretary reminded the Brethren of the a number of forthcoming events, including a memorial service for the 725 OWs and College staff who died in the war years 1914-18 at St Georges Chapel, Ypres (26th March 2006), The Prestonian Lecture to be held at Wellington College (30th September 2006), and the Public Schools Lodges Council Festival, this year being hosted at Uppingham.

The Lodge was closed and the Brethren dined at the Kingsway Hall hotel, where VW Bro Jervis Kay stood to commend the quality of the Worshipful Master’s work that evening and the Brethren parted, looking forward to the May meeting at Wellington, which being a white table would see us welcoming our families and friends once again to College.