The Dark Days
By this time the country was in the throes of a serious depression and it is indicative of the state of affairs that only eight Master Masons were advanced to .the Mark in the year 1929/30. The attendances and collections dropped off alarmingly and in November, 1930, it was proposed to reduce the initiation fee. After prolonged discussion this proposition was abandoned.
Though the brethren had deemed it necessary, in the year 1930/31 to restrict the social activities of the Lodge, it would seem that they soon found that a diet of all work and no play was not to their taste, for Bro. James Ralston, who was installed in December, 1931, was required to devote his energies to the task of restoring some of those social events which had declined gradually during the past few years.
In spite of these efforts, however, progress was very slow, and with the best will in the world money was hard to come by. Notwithstanding the optimism of Bro. Ralston and his office-bearers we now know that matters were to become even worse before conditions improved.
Leaving other considerations aside, however, it must have been with mixed feelings that Bro. James Ralston vacated the Chair on 8th December, 1932, for the Master elect whom he presented to the brethren as his successor was in fact his own son, Bro. Charles Ralston. Mixed with his natural regret that his term in the highest office of all had come to an end, Bro. Ralston senior would also have a sense of pride that he should be followed by the son whom he had seen initiated on that night, almost eight years before, when Lodge Possilpark's first regular meeting was held. Possilpark has always been a 'family' Lodge and it is indeed fitting that this example of the family ties should be fotind even in the roll of her Past-Masters..
Early in Bro. Charles Ralston's year he had the privilege of conferring honorary membership on Bro. John Marr Grant, the Provincial Grand Master. The ceremony took place on the occasion of Provincial Grand Lodge's visitation in February, 1933.A grimmer note had to be struck, however, when the brethern were forced to approach the Rockvilla Church Session with a request for a reduction in Hall rent. As a result the quarterly sum was reduced from £10 to £8, a gesture of goodwill much appreciated by the brethren, especially as in their letter agreeing to the new terms, the Church pointed out that their own finances were becoming depleted as a result of the prevailing conditions. They went on to request that as soon as circumstances permitted the Lodge should revert to the original figure of £10, and this the grateful brethern willingly resolved to do.
About this time, the Lodge was itself approached by Possilpark Estates, offering a piece of land comprising approximately 1,200 square yards in Ardoch Street, Possilpark. It was conveniently situated and appeared to be highly suitable for the site of a Masonic Temple. The price asked was 7/6 per square yard. Surveyors and Valuators reports were obtained which confirmed that the proposition was a sound one and the Committees favourable recommendation received much support in open lodge. In the end, however, the scheme had to be abandoned, mainly because there was insufficient money in hand to commence building at once, and in the meantime certain recurring expenses connected with the ownership of the land would need to be met for an indefinite period.
The year 1933/34 was to pass with only four candidates admitted to Lodge Possilpark. Yet the twenty regular meetings had to be held and the general expenses met with practically no ceremonial work to be performed for the instruction of the brethren and with virtually no income to meet our just and lawful debts. As an example of the problems which the Master and office-bearers had to tackle, it may be mentioned that an initiation was carried out on 22nd February, 1934. The next initiation did not take place until 25th October,1934.At meeting after meeting the minutes record that the Lodge adjourned to hear lectures and take part in discussions on Freemasonry and other subjects.
Financially, however, it was impossible to carry on under these conditions and on 11th October, 1934, the brethren were forced to vote the sume of £100 from their cherised Building Fund to replenish the almost exhausted General Fund.
When Bro. Wright finally left the Chair on 13th December, 1934, the worst of the economic crisis was over though several difficult years still lay ahead. Financially the year 1933/34 was almost disastrous for Lodge Possilpark but morally the success of the Master and Office-bearers hi keeping alive the spirit of the Lodge was in its own way a very real triumph - perhaps one of the greatest in the Lodge's history.
A HALL OF OUR OWN.
In the year 1934/35 the accommodation became unsuitable but despite the financial situation the brethren decided they must build their own Temple. Their decision was hastened by the knowledge that only three suitable sites were left in the district and it was agreed that arrangements be put in hand to borrow the sum necessary. Bro. Alexander Hepburn being Treasurer at this time, the matter was left in his hands, and right well did he carry out his task.
The sum of £600 was borrowed from the Lodge's own Benevolent Fund and a loan was negotiated from the Co-operative Building Society for the remainder. This, remember, when the Lodge's finances were almost at their lowest ebb. Looking back on the decision that the brethren had to take at that time, there is no doubt that the building of our Masonic Temple was a venture in faith - a faith that has since proved itself fully justified.
When the Lodge re-assembled on 8th August, 1935, after the summer recess it was to hear a letter read from Ashfield F.C. intimating that the Club had bought a new ground in the district of Possilpark, and that it was their intention to erect a hall on part of this ground, constructed to hold 500 people.
Many of the brethren were aware of this plan but the Secretary now went on to read the really startling part of the letter. This was a proposal that four representatives of the Ashfield Club should meet the brethren of Lodge Possilpark with a view to the Lodge becoming tenants of the Ashfield Hall instead of proceeding with the building of a Masonic Temple in Bardowie Street!
The matter was put to the vote and by an overwhelming majority the brethren decided that 'Ashfield F.C. be thanked for their letter, but we do not agree to meet their deputation,' The possession of a hall of their own had been too near the hearts of the brethren - and for too long a time - for them to consider any compromise solution.
In view of the progress being made in the matter of the Hall, the Treasurer's report at the annual Meeting of 28th November, 1935, was awaited with special interest. The General Fund stood at £65, the Building Fund at £310 and the Lodge Benevolent Fund at £674. At this meeting, Bro. Daniel R. Munro was elected to the Chair, and to him fell the duty of guiding the Lodge through the busy and exacting year that lay ahead.
On Monday, 6th June, 1936, the first spade was sunk into the piece of ground at the corner of Bardowie Street and Denmark Street, where the new Hall would one day stand. All during the summer and autumn the work proceeded while Bro. Munro's devoted Building Committee placed contracts on the most advantageous terms possible. Excavating work, bricklaying, joiner work, slaters, plasterers, plumbers and painters - each estimate had to be considered and decided upon. As in the minutes of the Founder Members' meetings, no mere record can possibly convey the amount of work that must have been performed by this Committee during 1936, but to these brethren the sight of the new Hall steadily rising from the clay and rubble was reward enough. We were fortunate in securing the excellent services of Bro. John Laird, Past Grand Architect, also Bro. Livingstone, the joiner. Their expert assistance smoothed out many difficulties and they were in no little way responsible for the fine Hall we now possess.
It was now, too, that donations began to flow in to help the Building Fund -donations voluntarily offered not only by the brethren of Lodge Possilpark but by visiting brethren also. By the end of October, 1936, over twenty pounds had been received in this way, and of this sum no less than eight pounds had been handed over by the Ladies' Committee from the proceeds of a cabaret tea and a bus run - for the ladies were no less keen on the project than the menfolk. Earlier, for instance, when the Lodge had run social functions to help swell the Building Fund, the ladies had come along to make the tea, cut sandwiches and to wash up afterwards. The brethren, in their innocence, had then suggested that as the ladies did all the work on these occasions they should not be asked to pay their halfcrowns.
This typical piece of twisted masculine logic produced a swift reaction from the ladies. They threatened a strike! If they weren't to be allowed to contribute to the Fund then they weren't coming to the functions at all, and the men could jolly well make their own tea! Faced with this horrifying possibility the men capitulated and the ladies continued to pay their halfcrowns for the privilege of working their hearts out in the kitchen.
Despite all these efforts and donations, however, funds were low in the autumn of 1936. The loans which had been negotiated certainly took care of the building itself but as the work neared completion the problem of furnishing had still to be solved.
Fortunately, in Bro. Alex. Hepburn, the Lodge possessed a Treasurer of unbounded energy and foresight. Three hundred tip-up seats were purchased at a cost of £116. A great deal of money, yes, but Bro. Hepburn arranged for them to be paid in instalments. Master's and Warden's Chairs were an obvious necessity. Obvious, too, that to buy new chairs would cost a lot of money that the Lodge could not afford - so three excellent chairs were obtained from a second-hand shop in Buchanan Street! Faith was indeed moving mountains.
By 26th November, 1936, the revival in the Lodge's fortunes was to be seen in the number of candidates admitted during Bro. Munro's year - twenty two brethren having been initiated. It was at this meeting that Bro. Peter McNiven Gordon was elected Master, and on 30th December, 1936, Bro. David Gordon had the proud privilege of installing his own son into the Chair of the Lodge which he had himself occupied eight years earlier.
If we except the night of his own installation, this was perhaps the greatest moment in David Gordon's Masonic career, but quite apart from its personal significance to the new Master and his father, that installation ceremony marked a turning point in the history of Lodge Possilpark as a whole, for the first regular meeting of Bro. Peter Gordon's year was to take place in the new Masonic Temple in Bardowie Street.
The official consecration of the Masonic Temple was conducted by the Provincial Grand Master, Bro. Sir Alexander B. Swan, D.L., J.P., on Tuesday, 22nd December, 1936. Among the Provincial Grand Office-bearers present was Bro. William Gillon, a Past Master of Lodge Possilpark, but here today in his capacity of Provincial Grand Steward, and Sir George G. Graham, Provincial Grand Director of Ceremonies. It may be of interest to reproduce here a prayer offered up by the Provincial Grand Chaplain on that occasion :-
'O God most holy and eternal, Who art the author and preserver of our being, grant, we pray Thee, that this Temple which we now set apart for the purpose of Freemasonry, may be the abode of harmony and peace. May brotherly love prevail among the numbers who assemble here. Prosper Thou the work of their hands and guide them by Thy spirit, that in all their deliberations and doings they may glorify Thy name and further the best interests of the Craft'.
Two days after the consecration ceremony, on Thursday, 24th December, 1936, Bro. Peter Gordon opened the first regular meeting in the new Temple. The dream of twelve years was a reality at last.
Back in 1928, in David Gordon's year, two candidates who were later to become Masters of the Lodge (Peter Gordon and Daniel R. Munro) passed through their Degrees together. Not to be outdone by his father, Peter Gordon had the same distinction in his own year of office, for on 25th February, 1937, William Strachan and Peter F. McPherson were initiated together.
Incidentally, the two earlier candidates both had a hand in the instruction of the second pair, for while Bro. Peter Gordon occupied the Chair in the year of their initiation, it was Bro. Munro, P.M., who conferred upon them their Third Degree.
During 1937/38 the affairs of the Lodge continued to prosper. The number of initiates was twenty-three, as compared to twenty one in the previous year, a further indication that the country was returning to a fuller level of employment.
We now know that the world was approaching another and even greater crisis than the economic one which it had only recently emerged, and during this term which was to be the last full year of peace until 1945/46. To the brethren at that time, however, it must have appeared that at last the clouds were lifting, and that the Lodge could look forward to a period of prosperity in the new hall which their labours had created.
Bro. Mowatt was installed by Bro. David Gordon in December, 1938, and later in the same ceremony Bro. Gordon was himself installed as Treasurer, Bro. Alex. Hepburn, who had so ably handled the financial affairs of the Lodge during the building of the hall, having intimated his retiral.
An indication of the growing financial stability of the Lodge is to be found in the minutes of 25th May, 1939, when a notice of motion was passed to transfer £50 from the General Fund and £50 from the Halls Fund to the Building Fund. Five years earlier, it will be remembered, during the worst of the crisis, money had to be transferred from the Building Fund to the General Fund in order to keep the Lodge solvent. Now the steadily growing General Fund was able to repay at last.
September, 1939, arrived and with it the commencement of World War 2 Soon, brethren were being called to the Forces and by the middle of October,1939, the brethren were meeting once more in their old home, the Rockvilla Church Hall, the Masonic Hall in Bardowie Street having been taken over by the Government for refugees. At the beginning of November, 1939, it was agreed to send gifts to all members of the Lodge serving in H.M. Forces. With the country at war Lodge Possilpark was determined to do all that she could to assist in the struggle.
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