Shortly after World War One, two young Freemasons proposed the idea of forming a Masonic lodge with a clear link to its local associations and origin and so the name ‘Hainault’ was decided upon.
Derived from the Anglo-Saxon words ‘hean and holt’ meaning ‘high wood’ it described the nature of the district much of which has now been deforested. Hainault Lodge, meets at Chingford Masonic Hall on four Saturdays a year, but its first meeting was at the Abercorn Rooms in Bishopsgate where the ceremony was conducted by Lord Lambourne, the then Lord Lieutenant of Essex and Provincial Grand Master of Essex Freemasons. To mark the centennial celebrations the current Provincial Grand Master, Paul Tarrant, and other members of the Provincial Leadership Team were invited as guests to a special meeting where a cheque for £500 was given to Paul Tarrant for his chosen charity, the Epping Forest Foodbank part of The Trussle Trust.
The members also held their traditional Hainault Hussle, a raffle which raised another £530 and was divided equally with £106 each to West Essex Hospice, Lee Valley Cats Protection, The Pulmonary Fibrosis Trust, St Nicholas Hospice and the Lodge Widows Fund.
Charitable Giving
With around 30 members, Hainault Lodge has built up a good track record for raising money for charity and other good local causes. Paul Tarrant thanked the members for their contribution of £21,013 to the Essex 2022 Festival which raised £5.4 million for the Masonic Charitable Foundation, which in turn has pledged £7 million to help local charities in Essex over the next few years. Following the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria, Essex Freemasons and those from other provinces, through the Foundation, immediately gave a £60,000 grant to the British Red Cross for vital supplies to help the relief effort.
The Celebration
Arranging the centennial celebrations of a Masonic Lodge involves a considerable amount of organisation, much of which was done by a Centenary Committee consisting of Maurice Sharp, Peter Corbin, Gerry Austin, Steve McConnell, Eric Husband, Terry Owen and Paul James.
Brian Crome delivered a short history of the Lodge, of which he is very much a part, having been initiated in 1964 and installed as Master in 1973 and again in 2005. Hainault Lodge members are now looking forward to next year to celebrate Brian’s diamond anniversary marking 60-years in Freemasonry at Hainault Lodge.
