Oakridge 708

Meeting Schedule

3rd Thursday @ 7:30pm

Lodge Venue

Byron

District

London West

Email

[email protected]

Contact The Lodge

The first meeting of an “ad hoc” Planning Committee met on March 1, 1962, at the Cobblestone Inn, Byron (later to become the “Hermitage Club”) to discuss plans for the formation of a new Lodge to be named Oakridge Lodge. In attendance at this first meeting were R.W. Bros. Ross Fuller and Jack Irvine, the latter to become the Most Worshipful the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario during the subsequent year. The Lodge was instituted on June 7, 1962, at the Byron Masonic Temple. with the D.D.G.M. of the London District, R.W. Bro. Ross Fuller, acting as W.M. A total of 18 of the 23 Charter Members were in attendance, plus 155 visitors. Toward the end of 1964, two matters of concern came before the Lodge. The first, related to the new Masonic Temple almost completed on Dufferin Avenue, in London, which was to be dedicated by M.W. Bro. Jack Irvine on February 27, 1965. The previous Temple was quite an old building located on Queens Avenue, on the spot where the latest addition to the London Life Insurance Company now stands, and all Lodges had been supplied with information as to accommodation and rentals in the new building. A special committee was formed to look into the matter and report back to the Lodge. In October, 1965, following the report of this committee, the Lodge voted to continue to meet in Byron. It was suspected that the real “clincher” in the discussion was that the Lodge had been formed to serve the Byron area, and that this precept of the founders would be violated if they moved to the new Temple on Dufferin Avenue. The second matter concerned a proposal to split the London District into two separate districts, East and West. It had been realized for some time that the increasing number of Lodges in the District was imposing a rather heavy burden on the D.D.G.M. The motion was subsequently approved. It is interesting to note that although emergent meetings were not entirely unknown to the Lodge, provided that there were compelling reasons for holding one. The original precept of the Charter Members included a strong feeling that such meetings should not be used for degree work. However, one exception to this recognized policy was permitted on March 14, 1968, to conduct an initiation for a Canadian Army Officer before being posted elsewhere. Subsequent events have suggested that this departure from normal practice was without beneficial effect, either to the Lodge or to the candidate, and it was never repeated. In 1974, notification was received from Ashlar Lodge that the present Lodge building, owned by Ashlar Lodge, was to be torn down and replaced. The floor of the building at street level was occupied by a bowling alley, and many of the early members will recall quiet moments in Lodge being shattered by the crash of falling pins and cheers as someone down below bowled a strike! However, the plan had to be shelved for various reasons, and so, both Lodges continue to meet in the original building, though the bowling alley has long gone. However, some very agreeable improvements have been made in the ante-room layout since 1962.