History
The Aldworth Masonic Lodge is a School Lodge and takes its name from Aldworth’s Hospital, more generally known as The Reading Blue Coat School, a charitable foundation set up in consequence of a bequest made in Richard Aldworth’s will.
Richard Aldworth spent much of his childhood in Reading and became a very successful merchant in London where he died in1652. His will stated that the Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of Reading were to set up a school for 50 poor male children and that they were to be clothed in a Blue Coats and Blue Caps. These instructions were implemented in 1660, from which time the Aldworth Hospital, Reading Blue Coat School, has continued to flourish.
W.F.W. (Freddie) King had been both a scholar and Pupil Teacher at the school prior to the First World and when he become the Headmaster in 1929 he sponsored the founding of the Aldworth Masonic Lodge, the membership of which being open to Past Students, The Staff and the Trustees of the School and those closely connected to it.
A petition proposing the establishment of the Lodge was presented to the Grand Master in 1930. Freddie King was supported by the then Deputy Provincial Grand Master, The Reverend Canon, F.J.C. Gillmor, Vicar of the Parish of St. Giles, and being a trustee of the school was eligible to join and became its first Master.
It is reputed that Canon Gillmor had concerns as to the ability of the Old Boys of the school to support and sustain the Lodge. Freddie King assured him that it would be operated efficiently and economically and soon convinced him that the proposed Aldworth Lodge was a practical possibility.
In pursuance of this and to keep the Lodge expenses to a minimum, the menu for the Festive Board, (the meal held after each meeting), was to be Steak and Kidney Pudding, which at the time of the depression when the Lodge was founded, was a very cheap meal. This menu is still retained as a cherished tradition, as is the absence of speeches, the use of firing glasses and the singing of the school commemorative hymn at each festive board. These attributes or eccentricities make the Lodge Unique within the Masonic province of Berkshire.
The Aldworth Lodge No. 5191 was consecrated on the 4th November 1930 in the Morland Temple of the Masonic Hall in Greyfriars Road Reading. There were four regular meeting each year most of which were held at the School in Bath Road. These meetings were held on Saturday afternoons to prevent them from interfering with daily school life, they were also held during term time so that the boys were readily available to set up and dismantle the Lodge Room and to wait on table at the Festive Board. This of course ceased when the School moved to Holme Park in Sonning and the Lodge moved to the Berkshire Masonic Centre at Sindlesham, where it still meets on the First Saturday in March, October and December and usually the Second Saturday in April, avoiding the Easter Weekend.
A Lodge of instruction (LOI) was started in 1933 and continues to this day. It was set up to enable members of the lodge to meet in an informal manner, usually after work, to help each other to learn, practice and rehearse various parts of the ritual and ceremonies.