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STOWMARKET MASONIC
Masonic Hall,Violet Hill Road, Stowmarket
JANUARY 2016 Issue No.
17
Pedal Up Ala
The WM of Ala (Joe Naughton) presenting at cheque towards the 2019 in the presence of the Provincial Grand Master who was present at the January meeting. Below a letter received by WB Andy Gentle.
Santa visits Stowmarket
The three lodges annual Widows Dinner was reintroduced early December with a lunchtime event.
The event took place at the Stowmarket Masonic Centre, with pre meal drinks. Followed by a sit down three course dinner.
Entertainment was given with music and carols, with a welcome visitor from the North Pole, who was encouraged by all the good cheer from our ladies.
Thank you to all the Almoners for organising this well worth event, also to all those who helped behind the scenes with lifts, serving drinks and the caters, not forgetting Santa.
W.Bro. Frost, Almoner of Phoenix Lodge who was delighted to tell Santa what a good boy he had been throughout the year!
Any caption comments please send to Codge for publication in our next issue!
Thank you for all those who have kindly contributed to this edition.
We look forward to all those who use the facilities at Stowmarket and welcome contributions to Oracle for future issues.
Please feel free to submit any articles you may feel of importance for Oracle to W.Bro. Codge [email protected], your secretary, or to the Stowmarket Masonic Association.
THIS PUBLICATION WOULD WELCOME ANY ARTICLES FROM OTHER DEGREES WHO USE THE FACILITIES AT STOWMARKET
Please also feel free to submit any events your lodge may have arranged i.e. Ladies Nights etc.
On behalf of Nick, Stephen and myself. I write this email to thank you, your WM and indeed all the Brethren of Ala Lodge for your kind hospitality and the manner in which you welcomed us to your meeting on last night. This was our 25th cycling visit and our second to Stowmarket. Although we are now classing Stowmarket as one of the shorter rides distance wise, last nights cycle over was definitely one of the most challenging to date. We followed our normal route which keeps us off the more main roads, which was a mistake. After Brettenham the roads were untreated and were sheet and black ice. I crashed off once and after that the pace was down to just 5-6mph which is why it took us 30 minutes longer than anticipated and we arrived after dark!
We have now covered over 700 miles cycled so far and together with your very generous donation of £100 we have also raised over £5000 towards the Festival.
Our quest has two aims, one is somewhat personal as Nick and I both enjoy visiting lodges and visiting all the Suffolk lodges will be fun for us over the next few years, whilst also hopefully making us a little fitter! But the second aim, and definitely the more important one, is to highlight the Festival and maybe act as a catalyst for the fundraising efforts of the entire Province. As mentioned we will be recording the donations received from each and every lodge during our quest. If we continue getting the same warm welcome and support in the future as we have done to date then we are well set for an enjoyable adventure and successful outcome.
Please could you convey our thanks to the WM and all the members of The Lodge for the way in which you welcomed us, for the brief ceremony, the excellent Festive board and Blue table meeting afterwards. I hope the evening went well for you and that some of the visitors go on to join Ala. Thank you also to the Lodge for the donation of £100 in support of what we are doing to raise money for the Festival. I also received personal donations of £20 & £5 from Bros Peter Turner and Alan Hall respectively. So a big thank you to all at Ala Lodge and indeed all the brethren there that evening.
Your support of our challenge and the 2019 RMBI festival is very much appreciated. To receive so many supportive comments and interest from a great number of the Brethren was also very encouraging.
Thank you once again.
Yours Sincerely & Fraternally, - WB Andy Gentle


Some of the newer Masons have shown an interest in the history of Stowmarket Masonry. Over the forthcoming issues of ORACLE we will be publishing a short history compiled by the Late W.Bro. Mike Catton. A booklet is also available on request from Codge Barber, Phoenix Lodge 516
A History of Phœnix Lodge No.516
...CONTINUED
The revival of the Lodge by the local Freemasons was entirely due to the assistance rendered them by the Perfect Friendship Lodge, Ipswich and the Freemasons in Stowmarket today should be even mindful of the kind assistance given by Perfect Friendship in 1845.
The next meeting of Phœnix Lodge No.757 took place at the Fox Hotel, Stowmarket on
24th September 1845 and among those present were brethren from Perfect Friendship Lodge, some from Virtue and Silence, St. Lukes, British Union, Doric Lodge and others. Bro. G. Bullen D.P.G.M. of Suffolk being the Consecrating Officer. The Consecration took place at the Assembly Room adjoining the Corn Exchange, after which the Brethren proceeded in procession to the Parish Church where a sermon was
preached by Rev. F.W. Freeman M.A. who was a member of the Lodge and who afterwards became the D.P.G.M. of Suffolk.
The Consecration took place in the usual form. W.Bro. F.W. Freeman, the W.M. appointed his officers and on the investing of Bro. M. Leedes Fox his S.W., Bro. Fox then presented the W.M. with the gavel which is still in use today. From that day to the present time, meetings were held regularly and were well attended. The search through the subsequent minutes did not reveal many items of historical interest but the following may be referred to.At the meeting in October 1851 the Lodge congratulated Bro. K.D.Aldrich on his safe return from the Arctic Regions, Bro. Aldrich being then present as a member of the Lodge.
Although there is no reference to the event in the minutes of Phœnix Lodge it has been a matter of tradition that at some time the Master Chair belonging to Phœnix Lodge passed into the possession of some other person and thence into the possession of Perfect Friendship. It would appear from the minutes of the Perfect Friendship dated 20th October 1858 that at the request of the D.P.G.M.of Suffolk‘Perfect Friendship restore the Phœnix Lodge their chair and receive from the D.P.G.M. the chair which had been used for meetings at the Provincial Grand
PART 4


Lodge.’Thus once again, Perfect Friendship came to the assistance of Phœnix Lodge.
In March 1859 Phœnix Lodge sent a petition to Grand Lodge for relief from the Fund of Benevolence for a Brother who had been a member of the old Phœnix Lodge and this appears to have been accepted. In June 1862 we have the first recorded visit of the Provincial Grand Master of Suffolk. Col. R.A. Shaftoe Adair, afterwards Lord Waveney, who delivered an address to the Brethren. In October 1862 the minutes record the death of William Andrews who was for many years a member of the old Phœnix Lodge, and who held the office of Inner Guard in the present Phœnix Lodge continuously from 1845-1862, being apparently a permanent Inner Guard.
On 14th January 1876 there is a reference to a Bro. George Tydeman, Jeweller, which began a long association between the name ofTydeman and Phœnix Lodge, which was carried on by W.Bro. Percy Tydeman P.A.G.D.C. who in 1965 received the thanks of the Lodge on the completion of 17 years as D.C. He died in September 1969 but the tradition is ably carried on by our Grand Officer.V.W.Bro, the Reverend Canon Richard Tydeman M.A. Grand Chaplain, who on 21st April 1971 gave the Prestonian Lecture held under special dispensation at the Copdock Hotel, Ipswich, under the banner of Phœnix Lodge. The lecture was entitled ‘Masters and Master Masons’ - a theory of the third degree.
The next milestone in the history of the Lodge occurred on 13th April 1938 when ‘Bro. W.G. Pritchard proposed and Bro. A.E. Palmer seconded, that the Master and Wardens be authorised to sign the Certificate on the Petition for the foundation of a New Masonic Lodge to be held in Stowmarket, the Petition being now produced and read by the Secretary and signed by some of the Founders viz,W.M.W.Bro. Mark Harrison, S.W. Bro. F. Heal, J.W. Bro. F. Cartwright, Sec. W.Bro. J. Manning Prentice, W.Bro. F. M. Wilson, J.J. Wilson, S.C. Hounsfield, Bro. A.E. Palmer, N. Haywood Smith etc. The new Lodge was named Ala Lodge No.5043.
Phœnix Lodge during the early part of the 20th century met regularly in St. Peters Church Hall in Church Walk, but there is an entry in the minutes as early as 11th October 1935 recording a proposition that more suitable premises should be found. During the war years, many dispensations were sought allowing the Lodge to meet inTemple Road, Oddfellows Hall, Congregational Church Schoolroom, County Secondary School etc. and in fact in 1919, three meetings were held on Saturday afternoons.
There is a very touching story attached to the meeting held at Temple Road on 9th December 1939. Bro. F.W.Whiting the S.W.
was critically and terminally ill but such was his determination and desire to be theW.M.of Phœnix Lodge that the members applied for a dispensation to hold an Installation Meeting at his home in order to install him into the Chair of K.S. He was so ill that he was only able to invest his S.W. and J.W. - all the other investitutes being postponed until a future evening. At the very next meeting held on 12th January 1940 the acting W.M. had to report the sad loss the Lodge had sustained by the death of its W.M.
On the 9th March 1945,theW.M.again referred to the advisability of seeking a ‘home of our own’ but nothing more was done about this until a Permanent Committee Meeting held on 22nd October 1963 when W.Bro. Aldis, W.Bro. L. Whitely and Bro. R.A. Bailey were asked to consider and report on the cost of alternative accommodation. At this period, the Annual Subscription was £2. and 16/6d for a country members. On the 7th September 1964 the Committee reported that‘Beech House had been secured privately by several brothers for £4,250, and was available to the Lodges at that price.
The Dispensation from Prov. G.L. permitting the Lodge to meet at the Masonic Hall,Violet Hill Road is dated 4th January 1965 and the 1st meeting was held there on 8th January 1965.The membership in 1965 was 113 in Phœnix and 65 in Ala Lodge.
We must now go back to 23rd September 1945 when the Centenary of Phœnix Lodge was held and a Service was held at Baylham Church after which the Congregation was entertained to tea in theVillage Hall by kind invitation of the W.M. Bro. W.H. Richards, Church Warden.
To be continued...
An extract from the minutes of 10th January 1947 records the next important event and is well worth recording here. W.Bro. J.J. Wilson P.A.G.SV.B. reported, that ‘The United Grand Lodge of England recognises 3 degrees in Freemasonry, the E.A. the F.C. and M.M. - the R.A. being the completion of the 3rd or M.M. degree and that is why G.L. permits the wearing of R.A. Jewels in our Craft Lodges, but not the jewel of any other degree.
We, in Stowmarket, have not the facilities for completing the work we begin and some R.A. Masons consider that such facilities should be provided.
Every R.A. Chapter must be sponsored by a craft Lodge and it is quite Masonic that the Founders should approach this, the Senior Lodge in the town to be its Sponsor..
The Proposition was seconded by W.Bro. P.J. Tydeman and carried unanimously. The


Almoners notes...
SOCIAL AFTERNOON -
Reminder
Brethren I'm sure you are aware by now that we are planning to open the Masonic Hall initially one afternoon per month to get everyone out of the house for a couple of hours, meet up with old and new friends. Nothing formal planned, just a chance to have a chat, play cards, dominoes or whatever. Members of Ala and Bosmere have been invited to join us so it should be a good time.
We plan to make it a regular event for the last Wednesday of every month starting at 2.00 and getting home in time for Tea! So the first event will be Wednesday 27th January 2016 at 2.00pm. Put it in your diary now and I look forward to seeing in there
Kind regards - David
Almoner Phoenix Lodge No516 M: 07585701230 H: 01359 230152
LODGE ALMONERS
Need an Almoner? Although the Lodges have a summer recess, the Almoner’s door is always ajar - 24/7.
Please keep these contact details where they are clearly visible - like by using a magnet on a fridge door.
Cut along dotted line
IN AN EMERGENCY RING AN ALMONER
Phoenix - David Frost
01359 230152 or
07585 701230
[email protected]
Ala - Keith Cadby [email protected]
01449 258406 Bosmere - Tony France
[email protected]
01359 240208 or 07759 442946
Supporting our Youth
W.Bo. Stephen Page of Ala Freemason Lodge presented Charity cheques to both the 1st/3rd Stowmarket Scout Group and to the 1st Mid Suffolk Boys Brigade. Pictures show Martin Gray of the Boys Brigade and Martyn Bonner of the Scouts each receiving their £400 donations.
Stephen Page said, “many of the lodge members had been past members of Stowmarket Scouts or Boys Brigade in their youth. The lodge was pleased to see that Stowmarket still has active Scout groups and a Boys Brigade that offers such
positive activities for the youth of the town and are pleased to support their work.”
Martyn Bonner of the Scouts thanked Ala lodge for their support and said the £400 will help towards providing equipment for the youngsters. Martin Gray of the Boys Brigade said the donation will be used to purchase indoor Curling equipment".
Save a Date...
Phœnix and Ala Royal Arch Chapter Dinner Saturday 20th February at the Masonic Hall, Time TBC Open to all including family and friends
Full details Robert Mullins
A big thank you to all those contributors please send articles events etc. to [email protected]