A report from W B G H Hunt LGR, Treasurer & Mentor Red Scarf Lodge No 8448.

Members of the Red Scarf Lodge No 8448 celebrated a significant milestone in the Lodge’s history at its regular meeting on Thursday, 1 September 2022, at Freemasons’ Hall.

They were honoured with the presence of Deputy Metropolitan Grand Master RW Bro Matthew Hampson, together with numerous other visiting grand officers. The reason? They were holding not only the Lodge’s installation meeting but, more crucially, they were celebrating its 50th anniversary, together with the dedication by the Metropolitan Grand Chaplain of a new Lodge banner, Bible cushion & Fall-cloth. 

The Lodge has its roots in scouting and, more specifically, with the London Gang Show. Amongst its founder members was the late W Bro Ralph Reader, the ‘father’ of Scouting Gang Shows. The Lodge’s two remaining founders, W Bro Bob Corp-Reader (Ralph’s son) and W Bro David Catt-Camfield, were very pleased to take an active role in the installation ceremony of W Bro Colin Brown as worshipful master. Bro Bob acted as senior warden and delivered the address to the brethren, whilst Bro David acted as junior warden and delivered the address to the worshipful master. 

Red Scarf is a member of the Kindred Lodges Association (KLA), which was formed in 1952 to encourage Masonic Lodges formed by, or including, masons involved in Youth Work to link their brethren together. Many masons from other Scouting Lodges in the KLA were among the nearly sixty guests who joined with Lodge members at the September meeting for the celebrations. 

After Bro Brown was installed in King Solomon’s chair and had appointed his officers, the Deputy Metropolitan Grand Master formally presented him with the Lodge’s new banner, Bible cushion and fall cloth. These were then dedicated by W Bro, The Rev Niall Johnston, Metropolitan Grand Chaplain, who delivered a beautiful and very well-received oration in which he pointed out that the banner symbolises the spirit of the Lodge – whilst the design depicted the Lodge’s origins and all that it continues to stand for. He went on to draw parallels with the military use of colours and others’ use of flags as symbols of ‘belonging’. 

The new banner, which amongst other symbology bears the name of the Lodge’s fourteen founder members, was then borne ceremonially around the Lodge by W Bro Alan Bailey, Red Scarf’s second initiate and son of the late W Bro Arthur Bailey, another of the Lodge’s founders, accompanied by an escort. All the brethren present sang the scout hymn during the processing of the banner, after which it was placed in the South East corner of the Lodge, where it will stand for many years to come. 

The Lodge members were able to purchase the banner because of a generous bequest from Mrs Lillian Krelle, widow of W Bro Kenneth Krelle, who was himself a Founder. Likewise, the funds for the Bible cushion and Fall-cloth were generously donated by Mrs Johanna Sachedina in memory of her late husband, Bro Azim Sachedina.

After the formalities in the Lodge room had concluded, the members and their guests posed for photographs with the new banner. It was then time for them all to move to the Grand Connaught Rooms for a Prosecco reception and a most excellent celebratory festive board. 

This article is part of the Arena Magazine, Issue 50 December 2022 edition.
Arena Magazine is the official magazine of the London Freemasons – Metropolitan Grand Lodge and Metropolitan Grand Chapter of London.

Read more articles in the Arena Issue 50 here.