Clerestory Lodge

Since its formation in 1947, to date, a total of 123 Brethren have been members of Clerestory Lodge.  Of these, a total of 69 have been joining members from other lodges, with the remainder having been Initiated into Clerestory Lodge, and would thus consider ours as their mother Lodge.

Of those 123, a total of 51 Brethren resigned, 9 excluded and a total of 7 have been made honorary members, in recognition to their service to the lodge.

Although there has been a presumption in recent years that the age profile of Brethren in Clerestory Lodge has reduced, the following analysis over the past 30 years reveals a remarkable consistency of average ages. However, in the past 5 years the average age on joining has dropped to 38.

If these values are compared with the entire membership, over time as illustrated in the graph, below, though there has been some reduction in average age, it will be noted that this has only been modest.

There is a more interesting analysis however, of the time it takes for a Brother to progress from his initiation to his being passed, and then raised to the rank of Master Mason.  The following tables illustrate this progression.

What is interesting here is that the actual steps of passing and raising have taken considerably longer over the past ten years when compared to the preceding ten, and the ten years before that.

The primary reason for this, given that Clerestory Lodge only meets four times a year, and even there, the December meeting is traditionally a formal installation ceremony for the incoming Worshipful Master and his officers, this slow progression reflects upon the health of the lodge.  A total of 16 Brethren have joined the lodge in the years 2010 to 2020, compared with 12 during the preceding 10year period, and 13 during the next previous period.  Given that it is possible for multiple Brethren to be Initiated or Passed together, it is not possible for Brethren to be Raised in groups.

We can therefore presume that by virtue of its membership numbers, and the time it takes to promote Brethren to higher office, Clerestory Lodge is currently strong.  The time for Brethren to “progress through the ranks” has been heavily influenced by COVID – 19 restrictions on meetings and gatherings. However, in 2021 Clerestory Lodge quickly resumed meetings as soon as Government restrictions allowed and held additional meeting to catch up on the backlog of ceremonies. We welcomed 4 new young Brethren into the Lodge in the Summer of 2021 and that has significantly changed the profile of the Lodge. We hope the tend of welcoming new members continues; we will ensure that Brethren progress by holding additional meetings when justified. That in turn would also mean a need to increase the amount of necessary mentoring that would be required to prepare the Brother, faster, before his elevation to a higher degree.