The Cestreham Lodge Working Tools by W.Bro Morris Hogg

The “box” holding our working tools is an interesting bit of Cestreham history.  How many of our members know it was gifted to the Lodge, made of Australians hard woods and made in a suburb of Sydney, Australia.

Until 2012 Cestreham was still using the original working tools purchased for our Lodge consecration in July 1948. Bearing in mind that this was still in a post war era and there was a shortage of quality timber. Availability for wooden furnishings was limited and in some cases rationed. Most furniture had a “Utility” label and was poor quality.

Our founders had acquired a simple “box” with compartments which held a set of wooden tools for all three degrees.  Over the years some of the tools had been replaced and were no longer a matching set. It had the disadvantage that as each different degree was opened or closed the tools had to be selected and or returned to the box. When wearing gloves and selecting tools it became a fiddle and was not particularly slick.

In May 2009 my older brother Richard was visiting the UK from his home in Australia. Having retired some years earlier he had taken up wood working as a hobby. As a young man he had trained as a watch and clock repairer so not surprisingly he specialized in producing small wooden cabinets, jewelry boxes and small wooden decorative pieces.

He brought with him on that trip as a birthday gift for me, a glass fronted box designed to display a bottle of whisky.  The craftsmanship was fantastic.  He also supplied the bottle of Balvenie single malt it contained.

During that holiday I asked him if he would consider making a three drawer box for our Lodge working tools. Richard was not a freemason  and I had to explain to him the significance the working tools had in our ceremonies. I showed him pictures of boxes that could be purchased and obtained measurements. He agreed that it would be on his “To do list” for 2010/11.

We agreed in various letters and phone calls over the next 24 months that it should have

  • A three drawer cabinet, one drawer for each degree.
  • A lift up lid with compartment for holding our Charter/ Warrant
  • It would be made from Australian hardwoods with a polished finish.
  • Inset on the top would be a metal plaque showing the Cestreham Lodge banner.
  • I would source working tools in the UK.

With the original 1948 hand drawn Lodge artwork used to design our Cestreham banner I sourced a pewter metal worker who agreed to produce the Plaque.

After a wrangle with UK Customs and Excise over duty, they would not accept it was a gift; the box arrived in Chesham late in 2011. The pewter plaque and the working tools were fitted.

I had the pleasure and considerable pride of presenting the box to Cestreham Lodge at our meeting in January 2012 with Bro Tony Power in the chair.

I must confess this was an emotional moment for me.  My brother Richard had been diagnosed with dementia during 2009 and that awful illness had steadily progressed.  He no longer had the ability to pursue his woodworking hobby.

The Cestreham “Box” was to be the last thing he made. Each time I see the “box” in use at our ceremonies it brings back happy family memories.

Richard passed away in 2014.

Morris Hogg – November 2018

On the evening of presentation, W.Bro Morris Hogg made a speech to Lodge dedicating the box and new working tools to the Lodge. Here’s a transcript:-

Brethren If you will excuse me, I will read this, as I might get a bit emotional 

In December 2010 I visited my brother Richard in Australia, having been told in advance, that he had been diagnosed with dementia. 

I found him well and cheerful.  He was no more forgetful than he had always been, indeed just as I remember him through most of our adult life. We had an opportunity to talk over our childhood and growing up in Scotland and latterly when he worked in England and before he with his family immigrated to Australia, more than 40 years ago. Our happy memories of Scotland and our families flooded back. 

He told me that the doctors had recommended as part of his Dementia treatment that he took up a hobby. As golf, his life long time passion, no longer appealed he had taken up fine woodwork and cabinet making. 

He showed me some of his work and I was impressed. I asked him if he would consider making a box for our Lodge Working Tools, knowing ours was past its sell by date. 

As Richard was not a Freemason, he was a bit taken aback. He imagined what I wanted was a rough box for storing construction sized tools.  Some explanation, pictures and drawings and measurements were required. 

Fast forward a year and just before Christmas 2011 the box arrived 

  • It is made of native Australian hardwoods.
  • On the top is pewter plaque displaying t our Lodge badge showing Thomas Harding, the Chesham martyr and St Mary’s church.
  • The lift up lid hides a compartment for holding the Lodge Warrant, the book of Constitutions, and our lodge bylaws
  • The three drawers display the working tools for each of the three degrees
  • My task for the project was to provide the pewter plaque which is a facsimile our Lodge badge and supply the working tools.
  • My wife Joan made the box a protective cover. 

You could say a family effort

Worshipful Master it is with much pleasure and great affection, I present Cestreham Lodge 6674 with a new set of working tools stored in what I hope you will agree is a fine Aussie box. This replaces its predecessor which has done sterling service for the 64 years

 

W Bro Morris Hogg

Thursday 25th January 2012