Picture the scene 150 years after the founding of the Union Lodge of Mark Master Masons No 171, over 60 excited brethren crowded into The Uppermill Lodge room.
Mark Masons from across East Lancashire and beyond gathered on the 7th February 2025 in Uppermill to celebrate 150 years of Mark Masonry. The Union Lodge No 171 was warranted in in 1873 but it took a little while to get things going.
The Brethren received the Provincial Grand Master RW John Hartley Smith and the Officers of the Year, accompanied by RW David Sowerby, Northants, Huntingdon and Beds PGM. Also in attendance was MW Pro Grand Master John Herbert Prizeman. What a night it was.
VW Brother Eddie Barton gave a history of the Lodge this included the fact that the first Mark Masons in Oldham were made Mark Masons by Ashton Travellers Lodge, who travelled by horse and cart which is about as fast as you can travel through Uppermill to this day. From those early beginnings Union Lodge was eventually formed in Oldham, during a cotton boom and moved to Uppermill recently. Although an East Lancashire Lodge it meets in West Yorkshire and many of those present were Yorkshire men.
Eddie told us a tale of members present and past, Tony Adler who passed away had a model railway worth a fortune, Garry Errock has raised over £85,000 for Masonic Charity, Rodger Fielding holds a medal from the Pope for organising a visit to Manchester in 1982 and so the list went on. We were even entertained by Caribbean steel band music.
RW John Hartley Smith said it was a proud moment for the Lodge which had many distinguished members, MW John Prizeman joked he had been taken on a tour of the moors on his way to Uppermill. The Worshipful Master Roger Leach was delighted to welcome all the Brethren.
After the lodge received the formal paperwork MW John Prizeman and RW John Hartley Smith did the honours and presented each member with a 150th Commemoration Jewel. Then it was down to the social board where the atmosphere was lively. All in all the night was a night to remember, as a Lodge we hope the 200th will be just as entertaining and special, and the lodge will proudly display its new Warrant within the Lodge Room.