On 16 April 2026 the Brethren of Stanley Lodge 2917 met for the final time, accompanied with our Eatern Area APGM, WBro John Curry, with members of the area team and several visitors.
Closures are always a solemn event, however, it is great humility and reverence everyone in attendance celebrated the lodges achievements over the 124 years it has conducted its business. The lodge had a rich history and has welcomed many hundreds of masons through its door over the years.
In a short ceremony the minutes of the previous meeting was confirmed, accounts brought into order and history reminisced upon before the warrant was received by our APGM to be returned in due course to its rightful owner, the Grand Master.
In the words of the acting Worshipful Master we remember and celebrate the achievements of Stanley Lodge 2917:
In preparing the address that I shall now give, I have used extracts from the Oration given by WBro Revd Harry Edwards, at our Centenary meeting held on 3 October 2002.
Following a meeting of the Worshipful Masters and Past Masters of Tudor and Clemency Lodges to discuss the formation of a new lodge. Stanley Lodge 2917 was consecrated on Thursday 10 July 1902 at the Congregational School, Queen Street, Oldham by the Assistant Provincial Grand Master Capt. C. R. N. Beswick-Royds.
Subsequent to this, and other meetings, permission was sought of Lord Stanley, for his name and Arms to be used by the new lodge. Lord Stanley, the 16th Earl of Derby, was both prominent in Freemasonry, and in the life of the nation. He served as Secretary of State for War, the Colonies, and as President of the Board of Trade. From 1888 to 1893 he was Governor General of Canada.
Agreeing to the request he wrote:
I gladly give my consent to your taking the name and Arms for your lodge – indeed, l am highly honoured by your wishing to do so. I thank you for your kind invitation. I trust I may someday be able to avail myself of it. It would be interesting to know how many brethren attended the consecration in horse drawn carriages (or bicycles).
The founding of a new Lodge can be seen as an expression of optimism and confidence in the future. That this is the last Oldham lodge once based at Union Club now 124 years later, justifies the faith shown by Lord Stanley and the 26 founder brethren of Tudor and Clemency Lodges, decades ago.
1902 was a time of change. The long, what some might describe as sombre Victorian age, had ended the previous year. Now after many years of waiting, or as one person put it, a self-indulgent period. Edward was crowned King and so the Edwardian Age began. 1902 also saw relief amongst the populace, with the end of the Boer War— a successful outcome for the British Empire.
This was also the year when the newly formed Automobile Association took on horse power. But most important for us, it was the year that brother masons, who have now passed to the Grand Lodge above, invested, and placed their trust and confidence, in all those brethren, of Stanley Lodge who were to follow them in the future.
It is a matter of continuation so that as far as the Lodge of Stanley is concerned there is no break. You are directly related to the Founders and through them to the lodges of Tudor and Clemency and, by the consecration, to Provincial and Grand Lodge.
Some of the most wonderful words in Freemasonry is to be found in the Closing Prayer in the First-Degree Ceremony:
Let us with all reverence and humility, express our gratitude to the Great Architect of the Universe for favours already received; may he continue to preserve the Order by cementing it with every moral and social virtue.
The prayer embraces the past, the present and the future. This is where we are in our deliberations this evening, and we cannot ignore any one of the three dimensions. Stanley Lodge was blessed from its beginnings. Granted the name and Arms of one of our national leaders and with twenty-six founders who like the Earl of Derby were committed to public service in their community and to Freemasonry. All were distinguished pillars of the community, a Chief Constable of the Borough, an Architect, Manufacturers, a Head Teacher.
Even the first initiate was a leading man in Oldham being the Master of the Workhouse and later Registrar. This tradition was to continue throughout the history of your Lodge. Three members have served long terms of office as Wardens of Oldham Parish Church. Several sons have followed their fathers in joining this lodge. Our Present Worshipful Master’s father was in this chair 50 years ago.
And service to the community was complimented by the great contribution which members of Stanley Lodge have made to Freemasonry, not only in the lodge, but also in the other degrees, and in Provincial and Grand Lodge in its generous support of festivals, and other charitable works.
We should remember the valuable service that this Lodge gave to the Union Club. Five members being elected President for the required two year period of office. Suffice to say that this Lodge has indeed received many favours in the opportunities for service, which have been offered and taken up by brethren.
There is some profit to be made in comparing the intervening 124 years with today. 1902 was something of a vintage year, society was relatively stable. But this security and gaiety did not last long twelve years later came the Great War. Then the depression followed by the Second World War, to be succeeded by the Cold War and several minor wars. And throughout, the transition to the nuclear age. More recently we have experienced the devastation of the Covid epidemic.
In addition to an increasing feeling of insecurity, there were other changes throughout the years:
In January 2008 the Union Club, Oldham Masonic Hall, Closed. This lodge moved its meetings in November 2004 to The Gables, Shaw. And in May 2008 again moved to Middleton Masonic Hall.
The reason for this third change in venue was, this lodge has a long proud history of support from our ladies. Originally ladies were only allowed in the Union Club for Ladies Nights and social occasions. They had always held meetings on the same evening of the lodge regular meetings, originally in the cafe Monica on Union Street. Eventually rather than having to stand waiting for their partners in the foyer the rules changed and they dined in the Union Club.
The only reason we moved to Middleton was that the ladies room at Shaw was unsuitable for the number of ladies attending. It is only recently that our ladies’ numbers have sadly made impossible for them to continue meetings Stanley was not immune to what was happening around it. As Freemasons we should be sensitive and responsive to the changes happening in our society.
And so as regards the present situation, we ask that we are given hope, reverence and humility -a sense of awe and wonder so that we may grasp and celebrate the opportunity to continue our masonic journey in other lodges conscious that in spite of all that is challenging to our freemasonry we are truly aware of the favour shown by The Great Architect over the past 124 years.
Someone once said that it takes great courage and certainty of belief to realise that what you believe can be applied to others different from yourself, If we were to go back over 124 years, or fifty, or ten, we would find some characteristics and aspects of our predecessor’s freemasonry which in some way differs from our own. Yet there are truths in Freemasonry that remain immutable and unchangeable in their essence may he continue to preserve the Order by cementing and adorning it with every moral and social virtue.
Finally, brethren, may I refer you of the closing words in the charge given to us at our initiation:
And as a last general recommendation let me exhort you to dedicate yourselves to such pursuits as may enable you to be respectable in life, useful to mankind, and an ornament to the society of which you have this day become a member; That you will more especially study such of the liberal Arts and Sciences as may lie with the compass of your attainment, and that without neglecting the ordinary duties of your station in live, you will feel yourself called on to make daily advancement in Masonic knowledge.
Assistant Provincial Grand Master, Brethren all
May the Great Architect continue to bless the practice of Freemasonry.
Brethren, I thank you for your kind attention.
