Saturday, 7th June 2025, the Old Chelmsfordian Lodge hosted the annual Essex Federation of Old School Lodges Cluster Meeting at Freemasons Hall, Chelmsford.

The Essex Federation of Old School Lodges consists of 10 Lodges who meet once a year and take turns to host the meeting. This group is unique as it is the only one from the National Federation of Old School Lodges  that hold an Annual  Provincial Cluster Meeting .

The meeting was attended by our APGM, W. Bro. Neil March who was accompanied by his DC, W. Bro. Steve Durrant. The Lodge was also honoured by the presence of several Grand Officers, W. Bro. Joe Shearer,  W. Bros Cliff Thoms, Frank James, John Hubbard and John Davies.

The Lodge also extended a warm welcome to W. Bros Gary Duce and Chris Lee from the Old Framlinghamian Lodge in Suffolk.

Being an inclusive cluster, our Worshipful Master, Paul Yarwood invited the following members from the other school Lodges to participate in the ceremony of Initiation. W. Bro. Doug Sackey (Old Palmerians), Chaplain, W. Bro. Frank James (Old Westcliffians), SW, W. Bro. Simon Alexander (Old Easthameians), JW, W. Bro. Neil Watch (Old Parkonians), SD, W. Bro. Darryl Morgan (Old Libertians), JD, and W. Bro. Ian Taylor, (Old Loughtonians), IG.

The Worshipful Master then invited W. Bro Rob Bates to occupy the Chair of King Solomon to conduct the Ceremony of Initiation of Mr Ben Mumford, who is a friend and former work colleague of W. Bro Rob. He was ably assisted by Bro. Steve Gunshon, who presented the Working Tools, Bro. Paul Griffiths, who delivered the Ancient Charge, W. Bro. John Hubbard, who presented the White Gloves, and W. Bro. Andy “George” Hiller, who gave and explanation of the First Degree Tracing board.

At the Festive Board, The Old School Bell, a tradition started in 2024 by W. Bro. Paul Morgan from Old Palmerians was presented by W. Bro Paul Yarwood to W. Bro. Frank James from Old Westcliffians who will host the next Cluster Meeting in 2026.

The raffle raised £380:00 the proceeds of which were donated to Hamilton Court and a boisterous auction of several items was overseen by our Charity Steward, W. Bro. Kevin Thompson raised a further £260, which was donated to PTSD999.

The response from the visitors was given by W. Bro. Cliff Thoms from Old Easthameians who after giving a brief history on how the cluster meeting came to fruition, congratulated the Old Chelmsfordian Lodge for arranging and hosting a very enjoyable meeting and looked forward to meeting again in 2026 at Westcliff Grammar School.

“On 12th October 2024, the Old Chelmsfordian Lodge celebrates its 90th anniversary and the installation of its new master, W Bro Paul Yarwood.”  In the annual calendar of masonic meetings, the installation of a new master and his officers is always an important event. So, what made the installation meeting of The Old Chelmsfordian Lodge 5499 on 12 October 2024, stand out?  Many things, is the short answer.

First, the meeting marked the OC’s 90th anniversary, almost to the day. That, in itself, was a great achievement and it was made more special by the presence of not 1 but 3 Provincial grand officers, led by the Very Worshipful Deputy Provincial Grand Master, Nick Franklin, accompanied by a Provincial director of ceremonies.

The new master, W. Bro Paul Yarwood, was delighted to be able to appoint his son, Ben, as inner guard – a very special moment. Also special, was the support Paul received from several visiting brothers from Acacia Lodge, where Paul is the current master. Acacia Lodge is unusual in having members from across England, being a specialist lodge for funeral directors, and the guests included four  from Warwickshire.  Being an old school lodge, OC’s were very pleased that brothers from old school lodges, Old Palmerians and Old Easthameians to join the celebration.

But the meeting was obviously not just about Paul, the new master. It was quite an evening for the OC’s retiring master, Roy Shirley. What was remarkable was that Roy celebrated his 90^th birthday last December and being slightly younger than the Lodge, he was presiding over the OC’s 90^th anniversary meeting. Roy handled the meeting admirably, assisted by his officers, notably IPM W. Bro Paul O’Hare, who had introduced the new master into the lodge, after they had become firm friends while working together in the City. 

Before becoming involved with The Old Chelmsfordian Lodge Roy had been master of Lyonsdown lodge in Hertfordshire and also held provincial rank of PPJGW in Hertfordshire.

Roy was given his First Appointment in Essex in 2019 where he was made PPAGReg. But as rank earned in one province does not transfer to another, a situation Roy had accepted reluctantly and being mildly rebellious, he’d continued to use his Hertfordshire apron. Imagine his surprise and pleasure, then, when VW Bro Franklin used the rare field promotion process to award Roy the equivalent rank in Essex province.

Roy’s joy for the evening was compounded at the Festive Board, when W. Bro Jeremy Thompson, who Joined OC’s from Lyonsdown Lodge at the same as Roy in 2015, delivered  the Tyler’s toast to him. Roy also won a prize in the raffle – a box of 4 bottles/cans labelled ‘No Lo’, comprising 2 cans of Guinness Zero alcohol stout and 2 bottles of Adnams’ Ghost Ship 0.5% ABV pale ale.

The raffle raised £395 and will help to boost the Lodge Charity Account. W. Bro. Paul Yarwood announced his dedicated charity for the year will be SANCTUs, a local charity who care for the homeless people of Chelmsford.

BRO (Back Row Observer)