Members from Scunthorpe’s St Lawrence Lodge have been to their mother Lodge, Ancholme in Brigg, to kick off a new tradition of regular visits between the two.
As well as a slick second degree ceremony led by Master Dave Harness for Ben Gray, who was also surprised to have Happy Birthday sung to him by the entire company, Lodge DC Dave Gilman and stalwart Sean O’Donovan gave a superb performance of Kipling’s poem The Mother Lodge.
Said St Lawrence Master Nick Burton: “We were made exceptionally welcome, even paraded in as if it were a formal Provincial visit. That made it particularly special.”
Both Lodges are planning a reciprocal visit, which members hope will take place in March next year.
Brigg’s current Ancholme Lodge number 1282 is the second in the town to bear the name. The first was created in 1847, and numbered 785. In 1852 the Provincial Grand Lodge met in Brigg, perhaps to help restore the Lodge’s flagging fortunes. If that were the case, efforts failed, because the Lodge made its last return in the December of the same year, when it had just ten members. Its warrant was returned in February 1859. The second incarnation included no members who had been in the first.
St Lawrence Lodge was formed in 1885.