John Curry Errington was born in 1921 and was no stranger to Dunston Masonic Hall ahead of his initiation into Crowley in 1956. The reason being John had visited the building on many occasions from the age of 12 with his father, a Past Master of Crowley.
John has now managed the rare but honourable position of being awarded a 60th Certificate of Craft membership to sit alongside the previously awarded 50th which resides in his home. The presentation took place at the April meeting where Assistant Provincial Grand Master, John Watts was pleased to describe the years of service that John had given to his lodge and Freemasonry in general before noting the grateful thanks of the Provincial Grand Master and the Province.
John considers himself fortunate to have shared his time at Crowley with his friend and former employer Charles Scott, son of the founder of the building contractor Bewley & Scott. This proud connection includes the fact that the company actually built the hall in Dunston and that John followed in his father’s footsteps as a builder.
World War II saw John in RAF uniform honing his practical skills on airfields in the Far East. As terrible as the loss of life caused by the dropping of the atomic bombs was, it cannot be argued that the consequent surrender saved so many more lives and allowed soldiers such as John to return home unscathed and to enjoy building civilian careers.
The evening continued downstairs with John Watts able to present two Festival Jewels to add to the fabulous efforts of the lodge, the Charity Steward and all who have given. Crowley Lodge is proud that they now have 47% of their members contributing through the continuous giving scheme and whilst the Province is grateful for any and all contributions this level of pledge does deserve due note. Indeed the charitable nature of the lodge was emphasised by their Diamond Jubilee awardee humbly passing on a collection, that the members had taken to present a gift to the brother they hold so dear, in the form of a £100 cheque to John Watts to help towards the Festival target.
John Watts made up for John Errington’s humble, simple reply of thanks to his friends for their attendance at his award by giving talks – upstairs and downstairs – on the work being done for charity, the variety of projects served and the aim to open up freemasonry to the world in general. These talks noted the origins of freemasonry, previous festivals and fund-raising efforts and the forthcoming 300 year celebrations. The link to a move to open up to
the community and the media in both the pride that people have in their membership and in the ways we help those around us was made and how the reaction to the impending Nazi invasion in 1940 caused an understandable withdrawal of our public face to avoid the persecution in occupied Europe and led to a perception of secrecy for reasons that have spawned many years and pages of conspiracy theorists. John informed the lodge of the latest in a programme of openness that is a short Sky TV series which is being filmed on freemasons, what we do, why we do it and even includes time spent with the Widow’s Sons bikers.
John Watts finished his talk downstairs with note of his role in Durham Benevolence and the funding available to community projects. John then put his words into action as one of the members invited him to retire to the bar to discuss potential funding of just such a project, a fitting end to a fabulous evening.