999 FLEETWOOD LIFEBOAT TELESCOPE

The Mark Master Masons of the two Mark Lodges meeting at Fleetwood, Wyre Mark No.754 and Cleveleys Mark No.1176, with the assistance of the Mark Province of West Lancashire, having previously donated a ‘public address system’ for the new Lifeboat Station opened in 2005, wished to make a significant contribution to the sesquicentenary celebrations and, after consultation with the Cox and crew, it was agreed that a specialist bi-ocular telescope be purchased at a cost of £1,500 to ‘keep watch’ over Morecambe Bay and the Wyre Estuary.

The Masons of Fleetwood are never forgetful that theirs is, traditionally, a fishing town nor that the Fylde Coast is surrounded by water on three sides and the local Lodges extend the 9 o’clock toast to absent and seafaring Brethren.

Remembering that you dial ‘999’ to summon any of the emergency services, including Lifeboat and Coastguard, the opportunity to thank the Lifeboat Station generally and some members of the crew in particular arose when Fleetwood Lodge No.3711 agreed that their regular meeting on the 9th of the 9th of the 9th could be used for that purpose.

Consequently, following a brief business meeting, the Lodge was closed and four members of the Lifeboat crew together with their wives and the wives and partners of the Lodge members and other visitors packed the Lodge room to hear an illustrated lecture by W.Bro John Ogden entitled ‘The Lifeboat Connection’.

W.Bro. Ogden, a member of Semper Fidelis Mark Lodge No.880 which meets at St. Annes, the other extreme of the Fylde Coast, originally devised this lecture for the 35th Blackpool & District annual Festival held on 26th April 2005. On that occasion John had focused his lecture on the St.Annes lifeboat, on this occasion more detail was placed on the Fleetwood Lifeboat but the emphasis remained on the important part the RNLI has played and continues to play, in the lives of the people of the whole of the Fylde Coast, on some occasions at the expense of their own.

After the presentation, all retired to the dining room for dinner during which Rt.W.Bro. Peter Connolly, Provincial Grand Master for the Mark Province of West Lancashire, formally presented the telescope to Paul Ashworth, Cox of the Fleetwood Lifeboat. During his short address Rt.W.Bro. Connolly made mention of the recent naming ceremony by the Grand Master of the Mark Degree, HRH Prince Michael of Kent, of the ‘Mark Mason’ a Tamar Class lifeboat purchased with the assistance of a £1.6 million donation from the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons, which is stationed at Angle.

In accepting the telescope, Paul Ashworth thanked the Brethren for all the support given over the years, both to Fleetwood in general and the RNLI in particular. He went on to say that the telescope would make a significant contribution towards saving lives in the area for many years adding that not only will it play a role in the observation of potential life-threatening incidents, but will enable the station to watch over its crew when the lifeboats are launched.

During the remainder of the evening there were a number of fund raising events resulting in the presentation of a further sum in excess of £500 to the RNLI.