Lodge donates to RNLI

Parachute
Regiment
Lodge
9315

WHAT IS FREEMASONRY?

One of the oldest secular social and charitable organisations in the world, modern Freemasonry’s roots lie in the traditions of the medieval stonemasons who built our castles and cathedrals…

The lodge has held several social events such as witnessing the Tower of London Keys ceremony a lady’s festival at a hotel usually outside of London that provides opportunity for our families to enjoy the company that these types of events provide. Importantly we maintain links with the regiment and serving soldiers.

EVENTS

Delve into the rich traditions of Freemasonry as we gather to celebrate our shared values and principles

WHERE WE MEET

Our meetings are held on the 1st Saturday of March, June, September and December, at 60 Great Queen Street, London WC2B 5AZ. they usually start at 11am thus providing members ample time to travel to London to join the meetings. The June meeting is the installation meeting.

ABOUT

The Parachute Regiment Lodge was consecrated on 5th June 1989. Though named for our Regiment the decision was taken not to restrict membership to serving or former members, though the majority do fit that criteria. Our membership is drawn from a wide range of military, security and civilian backgrounds who all adopt our ethos, to be the best in all that we do…

ARENA

Engage in enlightening discussions, partake in meaningful rituals, and forge lasting connections with fellow brethren

On a visit to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s busiest station in Great Britain based on the Thames by the Tower of London, London’s Benevolentia Lodge No. 2549, donated over £1000. Their Lodge Secretary, Jonathan Bell, provided an excellent report on the donation as follows.

“We arrived at the Tower Lifeboat station expecting to be there for about twenty minutes for photos and to present our cheque! However, we arrived to be greeted by Andrew Stewart the Visits Officer for the Tower lifeboat with tea and coffee. Andrew then sat us down in their conference room and gave us a fascinating history of the lifeboat station on the Thames and how we were sitting on the oldest surviving pier on the river, all the time we sat there the whole thing rocked back and forth as the river traffic went by!

Lodge secretary Jonathan Bell presenting the cheque.

Andrew then went on to explain the work and rescues carried out by the Tower RNLI team and how it is the busiest station in Great Britain. We were then taken out on to the quay to meet the on-duty crew Dave, Helen and Jim. Coxswain Dave gave us an overview of the boat and what a magnificent machine it was, an E Class boat specifically designed to work on the Thames, with its powerful currents, submerged debris and heavy traffic, it had no wheelhouse so the crew (usually four) are exposed to the elements all the time. The boat didn’t have propellers but worked by water jet propulsion.

He went on to inform us that the boat was as powerful as one of the large passenger clippers on the Thames. He also told us the boat was powerful enough to tow just about anything on the Thames! We then presented our cheque for £1020 to Dave the coxswain. This was followed by the crew taking the lifeboat out on a training exercise. Andrew continued with his guided tour of the station with a visit to the medical room and the crew room.

We had a very illuminating and fascinating insight to the work carried out on the river by the RNLI and after an hour and a half we left thankful in the knowledge that the RNLI was present on the river and very pleased that as a Lodge we had donated the monies raised to a very worthy cause”.