Beacon Lodge No.5208

Warranted: 23rd May 1930 Consecrated: 15th October 1930 Held at Loughborough on the Second Thursday from September to April    Installation meeting: October

 

History

Beacon Lodge was born out of the success of Freemasonry between the First and Second World Wars. It was a daughter lodge of the Howe & Charnwood Lodge No.1007, which had outgrown its ability to cope with demand for membership. By 1930, Howe & Charnwood had 135 members - with an extra six to eight being added annually. Nearly all ceremonies were “doubles” and the lodge was expanding at such a rate that it was decided to form the Beacon Lodge.

There were 26 founding members, 17 of them members of Howe & Charnwood. There were four hosiery manufacturers, two builders, a decorator, saddler, boot maker, draper, master baker, jeweller & silversmith, as well as a bank manager, solicitor, head postmaster, dental surgeon, optician, six engineers of various kinds, an accountant and a secretary. The first Worshipful Master was the railway district agent.

Within the first years of its existence, Beacon took part with its mother lodge in a special joint meeting to celebrate 100 years of Freemasonry in Loughborough.

Although the Lodge found a permanent home at the Town Hall and then Ashby Square, finding a venue for committee meetings was not always easy. In the Thirties they were often held in the boardroom at hosiery company Hanford & Miller. Other meetings were held at various public houses. In the Fifties, meetings were often held at the Deaf & Dumb Mission in Ward’s End and especially at Smith’s Studios in the High St. The custom of a summer committee meeting followed by a meal and refreshments provided by the Master was started in July 1952.

The keeping of Lodge banners in specially-made cabinets in the lodge room was suggested during the 1960’s, but it was not until more than 20 years later that the Lodge finally got the splendid cabinet used today, made by a superb craftsman and present Beacon Lodge Past Master. He also made and presented a beautiful lectern for the use of the Lodge. Three elegant silver candlesticks that grace the Secretary’s table at Lodge meetings remain a visible link with Beacon’s past. These were made by the jeweller and silversmith referred to in the list of Founders and bear emblems of the Square, Level and Plumb Rule as well as the lodge’s crest.