On Friday 24th of January disaster struck the lodge in the form of a severe storm which resulted in a phone call being made to Pm John Gardner from a neighbour of the lodge to indicate that our roof was lying in his garden, this obviously was a major shock to PM John as his first thought was the whole roof had came off but fortunately it was "ONLY" the felt which had came away in basically 3 large pieces destroying part of the perimeter fence and narrowly missing the neighbours pidgeon loft.

A call went out to the members by various platforms looking for assistance on the following morning to at least try and mitigate the damage and cut up and clear the felt from our various neighbours gardens. This was an extremely difficult task as the felt was in very large pieces and was very heavy and in the end up a still saw was required to cut it and thankfully we had a number of our own brethren to assist and indeed were joined by a band of willing helpers from our sister lodge Caldercruix St John 1314.

The efforts of these brethren was gratefully appreciated in particular as the weather that morning was absolutely abysmal with rain, snow and continuing high winds but thankfully they managed to tidy up the mess successfully. Meanwhile inside we were running about putting anything that could hold water underneath the numerous drips which were pouring in through the roof, indeed we had to purchase at least a dozen rubble buckets and pails to try and cover as much of leaks as possible. Over the next few days we set about removing lodge carpets, wardens chairs, past masters boards, photo's etc as possible. watching this was heart breaking but totally out of our hands.

We were grateful for the assistance of Goldie Roofing who were on the roof on the Monday morning and over the next few days managed to put a temporary covering on the roof which was crucial but unfortunately the damage done over the weekend had took its toll. The insurance was informed and were on site within a few days and our claim was submitted.

26th Jan 2025

25th Jan 2025

23rd June 2025 The work begins

24th June 2025 The scary part, what have we done

Brethren, just a wee update on the hall, now that all the drying is completed work is progressing at a steady pace. Things are coming together quite quickly and you can now see the shape of things to come, a wee bit more work required and we should be looking at getting things painted, floor sanded and laquered and should soon see carpets etc going down. Obviously its the smaller details that seem to take the most time but be patient it will be worth the wait in the long run. (pictures of progress below)

Tuesday 8th July

Work on the roof has begun

Joiners are in strengthening the roof purlins and jacking up the sagging truss and securing it back to its original position. You can actually see the difference from the outside

Hopefully early next week we will have some sort of graphic on hear giving you an indication of the proposed colour scheme and design of the hall for your proposal

Sunday 20th July

Over the weekend the roof has been re-covered and all that remains is some of the guttering and flashings to be fitted. The hall should now be wind and watertight allowing for the drying process to be started shortly

Brethren, now that work is progressing well with the roof and hall we need to consider how the hall should look, obviously it is a masonic hall and that has to be our main priority, but our hall is also well used for private functions which generates a good income for the lodge so we need a balance, All the past masters boards etc. will be put back up as will the plaques with the working tools, banner and other paraphernalia.

We have had created some sketches and AI generated images for you to consider and would welcome your comments, please take into account that whatever we decide needs to be achievable by the contractors doing the renovation, we hope this will give you an idea of what we are trying to produce.