FREEMASONS IN BOURNE have moved into a new centre for their meetings to replace the old lodge in Wherry’s Lane that has been earmarked for demolition. A former snooker hall in Roman Bank has been converted over the past nine months and has now been brought into use. 

The move was prompted by a scheme to regenerate the town centre which was planned by South Kesteven District Council ten years ago and included the old headquarters which were purchased from the Hereward Lodge of Freemasons. This project has since fallen through but the building has now been included in the refurbishment of Wherry’s Lane and is soon to be demolished to make way for a development of shops and flats. 

An existing building in Roman Bank, previously used as a snooker hall, has been purchased and adapted for use as the new Masonic centre, much of the work being done by members between January and September this year. This included painting, plumbing and electrical wiring although contractors were used for the structural alterations such as laying floors, re-sizing several of the rooms and removing a mezzanine gallery in the new dining room. 

The Hereward Lodge is one of the town’s oldest organisations dating back almost 150 years and still thriving with around 80 members from all walks of life. Freemasonry is a movement whose members are joined together in a fraternal association based on brotherly love, faith and charity. It is non-political, open to men of any religion and is known for its rituals and signs of recognition that have been copied from antiquity and to the practices of the mediaeval Roman Catholic craft guild of stonemasons. 

During the middle years of the 19th century, lodges sprang up at Spalding and Grantham and those from Bourne who wished to join had to travel there to attend but eventually decided to form a lodge of their own. Hereward the Wake, having a traditional connection with the town, seemed an appropriate dedication and it came into being on Monday 9th November 1868 during an inaugural meeting at the Angel Hotel to constitute and consecrate a new lodge under the name of the Hereward Lodge No 1232, each lodge being given a number in order of its consecration, the first lodge, No 1, being that formed in 1717. 

A local newspaper reported the following Friday: "The newly created lodge bids fair to take a respectable position amongst the various lodges of the parish. After the ceremonial was conducted, Mr Henry Bott, mine host at the Angel Hotel, supplied a sumptuous banquet which was partaken by 40 of the brethren." 

The meetings were held in the long room at the Angel which was rented for six shillings a year. In 1882, it was decided to change the date of meetings to the Friday on or before each full moon and even today, the lodge still meets on the third Friday of every month from September to May inclusive. In 1889, the Prince of Wales, who was then the Grand Master of England, visited Grimsthorpe Castle, near Bourne, and the lodge held a reception when he was presented with an illuminated address, a grand royal occasion much enjoyed by the members. 

An interesting note in the minutes of the lodge from 1907 says it was agreed to a review of the rental for meetings at the Angel Hotel and to pay £6 per annum, but the increase stipulated that the landlady, Mrs Annie Townson, give an undertaking that “the nuisance of her piano playing during lodge hours be discontinued”. The minutes of 24th May 1912 also contain a tragic reminder of the British passenger liner Titanic, which sank off Newfoundland after striking an iceberg with the loss of more than 1,500 lives, because an entry records that the lodge agreed to send one guinea to the distress fund being raised for the survivors. 

The Angel Hotel remained a convenient and convivial place for meetings over a period of 70 years but there was a hankering among members to own their own premises and in 1933, a plot of land in Wherry’s Lane was purchased for a purpose built lodge which opened in 1938 at a total cost of £1,500. In recent years the building became the target of repeated vandalism and graffiti and the first floor windows facing the lane were bricked up to prevent further expense of replacing broken glass. It was then described as the ugliest building in the town, although this somewhat degraded its very pleasant interior. 

Nevertheless, it could not stand in the way of progress and was eventually sold to the district council in 2010 but leased back to the Hereward Lodge for the following twelve months until new premises could be found. "Acquisition was inevitable", said Derek Bontoft, who was the lodge secretary, "but this was a more agreeable way of going through the process rather than compulsory purchase. This has now been done and everyone is very pleased with the outcome." 

The new building was purchased for £280,000 and as a result of the voluntary work done by members, the total bill for the move was kept within the £375,000 paid by the district council for the old lodge building. The new centre is far more spacious, airy and lighter, the main temple having room for 120 people instead of a very crowded 100 while the dining room can seat 140 people compared with 60 in the old one. There is also the added advantage of car parking with a total of 50 permanent spaces front and back, a state of the art kitchen and toilets for ladies and gents. 

The official opening took place on Monday 5th September 2011 when the Provincial Grand Master, Graham Ives, and his team of Provincial Grand Lodge Officers joined with the freemasons of Bourne and other visitors for the dedication ceremony and a commemorative plaque was unveiled to mark the occasion. Among those who attended was Raymond Ringrose who, at the age of 97, is still the longest serving member of the Hereward Lodge, having joined in 1938, and was therefore chosen to lay the foundation stone.