Various images of St Mary's Church, Gateshead and its adornment on our Lodge Summons. The other pictures shows the Church's location in a prominent position on the Gateshead side of the Tyne Bridge; where it is recognised as the principal Church of Gateshead. Now a Heritage and Craft Centre, it is well worth a visit. The bottom image is one taken more recently. Read more about this proud historical building within this website

Below is a watercolour painted by Bro. James Alfred Armstrong, PPGReg, a Joining Past Master from Saltwell Lodge No. 3000, who is an accomplished watercolour painter

Above is a picture of St. Mary's Church, circa. 1885

A more up-to-date picture

Lodge 4864

WELCOME TO 4864
St. Mary’s Lodge
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If you would like to find out more about Freemasonry,
call Bill Baty on 07956 125851 for further details

United Grand Lodge of England

On the left is a picture of Bill Baty (middle row left) attending United Grand Lodge in London and representing St Mary's Lodge.

Many other Senior Brethren from Durham were also in attendance

Our Next Meeting will be on FRIDAY,
7th of FEBRUARY 2025, 5.30pm

This will be the ANNUAL MEETING
and the Installation of

Bro. Stephen John Connor, ProvGPurs, SWME

Visiting Brethren are most welcome

If you would like to come along, just let our Lodge Secretary, WM or DC know and arrangements can be made to accommodate you

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Brethren wishing to attend and dine at any Meeting should inform our Lodge Secretary of their intention to do so SEVEN days in advance please

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If you have any concerns or need any assistance at all, please call or contact our Lodge Almoner ALF FOX, or our Lodge Secretary George Tatters, or our WM, who would be happy to assist in any way

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WELCOME TO OUR FREEMASONS LODGE WEBSITE UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND

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St. Mary’s Lodge meet within The Masonic Centre, Alexandra Road, Gateshead NE8 1RB (https://www.gatesheadmasonic.co.uk/) and we are part of the large masonic family of Lodges in the former County Durham area of the UK, known as the Provincial Grand Lodge of Durham. We are Lodge Number 4864 on the role of the United Grand Lodge of England

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‘‘4864 NEWS’’ is the Newsletter of St Mary’s Lodge. The latest edition is available in printed format at the Gateshead Masonic Hall or a PDF version is available from the ‘About the Lodge’ section below or on request

from Bro W. Baty (wbaty@aol.com) for anyone interested in our

Lodge and Freemasonry. New issue are published regularly

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VISITING BRETHREN WILL ALWAYS RECEIVE A
WARM WELCOME IN ST MARY'S LODGE

Remember Brethren that if you cannot attend a Lodge Meeting or a Lodge of Instruction, please submit your apologies by contacting our Secretary, George Tatters. If you are an Officer please notify our Director of Ceremonies Bill Baty (contact details for both are on the Lodge Summons) so that alternative arrangements can be made if necessary

In both these cases, our Almoner, Bro. Alf Fox, can then be notified of all absentees and these can be included in the 9.30pm Absent Brethren's Toast on our Lodge Night

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February 2024 – Bro. Richard Davison, the Provincial Senior Grand Warden is pictured with our new WM Michael G. Kendall and Lodge Wardens Steven J. Connor and Paul Sutton. On the right is Bro Joe Kendall, our IPM who installed his son Michael as WM on the 2nd of February 2024 with over 100 attending on what was a very special occasion

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On Thursday the 29th of February, Bro. Geoffrey Hindmarsh Brown was presented with his 60 Year Certificate at his home by VWBro. J.D. Watts, Deputy Provincial Grand Master. Also in the picture are George Tatters, Bill Baty, and Malcolm Marshall. The Lodge presented Geoff's wife, Yvonne, with some flowers as a thank you for her support to Geoff over his many Masonic years

VWBro Watts' final duty was to promote Geoff to PPJGW, the highest Past Rank available remarking that this promotion was very fitting for a Freemason who has given so much to his Lodge, his Area, and his Province

Bro Geoff, now an Honorary Member, is frail but we hope that he will be able to attend a future meeting and hopefully our Centenary Celebrations in 2027

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If you are interested in finding out more about becoming a Freemason please refer to the ‘Contact Us’ area of our Website, indicating ‘Membership’ in the subject area. Or perhaps contact our Lodge Secretary or Lodge Mentor. A return call or correspondence in confidence will then be made with you OR send us your email address

Thank you for submitting!

You can also contact

GEORGE TATTERS on (0191) 4202079

or BILL BATY on 07956 125851

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About

About St Mary's Lodge

Events

Forthcoming Events

LODGE OF INSTRUCTION

Thursday,
30th of FEBRUARY 2025, 6.30pm

Always on the LAST THURSDAY of the MONTH. The business of this next Meeting is for the WM to perform the Installation Ceremony

All Officers and Past Masters are requested to attend. A cordial invitation is extended to all MM’s including any Visiting Brethren

Lecture Master will be Bro W. Baty, PM, PProvSGW, Director of Ceremonies

LODGE MEETING

Friday,
7th of FEBRUARY
2025, 5.30pm

This is a Regular Lodge Meeting

The business of the Meeting is for the WM to Install his successor Bro. Stephen John Connor, ProvGPurs, SWME. We then retire for our Anual Festival Dinner

Anyone wishing to attend and dine MUST notify our Lodge Secretary in advance so that our Caterer is made aware of the dining numbers

Visiting Brethren will always receive a warm welcome to St Mary’s Lodge. Come along and enjoy a great masonic evening, but if you wish to dine, please notify our Secretary

Please note, we do NOT meet in January, July or August, with February being our Annual Festival

Location

We are based within the Masonic Centre, Alexandra Road, Gateshead NE8 1RB, Tyne & Wear, where several other Lodges also meet. Search online for the Gateshead Masonic Hall (https://www.gatesheadmasonic.co.uk/) and follow the Link from this Website for more details of this splendid, purpose built, masonic building. You can find out who meets here and how the premises with its excellent facilities can be hired by anyone for their function, wedding, celebration, meeting, christening, birthday, seminar or any gathering

4864 News

St Mary's Lodge produce a Newsletter ('4864News') for our Members, Visiting Brethren and anyone else who is interested in who we are and what we do. The latest Winter 2023 and some 2022 Editions are here in PDF format for you to download. If you wish to contribute to the Newsletter please contact Bill Baty

< Click on the icon to open it up in Adobe Reader.

Date and Times

St Mary’s Lodge meet nine times per year on the first Friday of each of the months of February (Annual Festival), March, April, May, June, September, October, November, and December. We have an Annual Lecture in December with a good speaker and an interesting topic

Regular Lodge Meetings always commence at 6.45pm

The Annual Festival Meeting in February commences at approximately 5.30pm, with the Annual Festival Dinner following at 7.45pm

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Next and Future Meetings

Our next Meeting is our ANNUAL FESTIVAL and will be held on FRIDAY, 7th of FEBRUARY, 2024 commencing at 5.30pm prompt. On that occasion our WM will install his successor, Bro. Stephen John Connor, ProvGPurs, SWME.

Please contact our WM or our Secretary if you wish to dine at our February Meeting. All are welcome but dining places must be pre-booked

Our LODGE OF INSTRUCTION always meets on the ‘‘Last Thursday of the Month’’. This will be held in the Main Lodge Room at the Gateshead Masonic Centre on THURSDAY, 30th of January 2025, commencing at 6.30pm

The business of the Lodge of Instruction is for the WM to perform the Installation Ceremony. All Officers, PMs and Brethren taking part in the Ceremony are expected to attend and an invitation is extended to all Master Masons including Visiting Brethren. A Finance & General Purposes Committee Meeting will be held following the Lodge of Instruction, at approximately 8.00pm

The Lodge Summons for the February 2025 Meeting will be distributed by our Lodge Secretary to all Lodge Members ahead of the meeting. Please read its contents over carefully, it contains all the details about meetings, starting times, ceremonies to be worked and dates for your diary

Charities

Charities & Grants

Masonic Charities and Grants fall into three main categories:

Masonic Relief Grants: financial assistance for Freemasons and their families who are experiencing hardship

Grants to Charities: support for the important work of registered charities of all sizes. Community Support and Research grants are now provided by the Masonic Charitable Foundation (MCF)

Other Masonic Charities: when justifiable needs arise, to support the work of the many other Masonic charities

The MCF (Masonic Charitable Foundation) continues to donate large sums to areas that are suffering hardship, strife or natural disasters

The MCF is dedicated to helping people in need and has donated over £120 million since 1981

Each year, The MCF provides relief grants for hundreds of individuals who are experiencing financial difficulty, as well as donating millions of pounds to nationwide and international charitable projects

TLC Teddy Bear Appeal

The objective is simple: to provide TLC Teddies to all of the Accident and Emergency Units and Child Hospices within the Province of Durham. Since its launch, we have donated almost 100,000 teddies to local hospitals

What are TLC Teddies?
TLC Teddies are a small Teddy Bear bearing a label simply stating ‘Donated by local Freemasons’ these are distributed to the Accident and Emergency Units and Child hospice and Respite Care Centres of Durham and are given at the medical staff’s discretion to young patients to help alleviate distress. The Teddy helps to distract the child while giving them a friend and someone to hug while allowing the medical staff to get on with their urgent work

How are they funded?
The beauty of this appeal is in its simplicity. The fund collects donations from both Lodges and individuals and turns the money into Teddies, these Teddies are then distributed amongst the Accident and Emergency units within the Province. The success of the project relies on annual donations from each Lodge in the Province

Benefits for the Community and Freemasonry
The appeal benefits the community through the A&E departments that serve them. The use of the teddies has been proved to have beneficial effects for children admitted to A&E units by relieving their distress and alleviating the fear of being treated by complete strangers. They also act as a tool to help staff befriend the child as well as a reward for being brave. It has also been found that the medical staff can perform tasks i.e. injections on the Teddy first making the child far less frightened

The appeal is a Masonic initiative and therefore no reward is sought, however, the simple nature of the appeal has benefited Freemasonry by raising our profile in a positive way

The Durham 2021 Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys (RMTGB) Festival

This is the Durham 2021 Festival where we were targeted to raise £2.7m concluding in February 2021

Lodges are given specific targets relevant to their membership at the start of the Festival and are encouraged to donate either by continuous giving or supporting the many events, initiatives and fundraising organised

Awards are given at Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum stages of achievement and appropriate recognition is made to those Lodges who reach this. The RMTGB is now part of the all-encompassing MCF (Masonic Charitable Foundation)

The Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys aims to relieve poverty and advance education for children and young people. In addition to its main grant-making work, it also supports the exceptional talents of young people and those who need financial assistance to embrace life-changing opportunities. They award grants to both national and local children's charities and provide in-kind support to individual and separate charities

The actual amount raised was £3,477,887, a tremendous effort by the Province of Durham

St Mary’s Lodge and the Durham 2021 Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys (RMTGB) Festival

St Mary’s Lodge have been awarded the Gold Award for all their efforts and Festival contributions. This equates to 100% of our target of £16,000+ raised, a great achievement. Thanks go to Paul Sutton our RMBI Festival Steward for all his efforts and our Members

Durham Freemasons Charity

One of the three fundamental principles of Freemasonry is administered in locally in our Province by the Durham Freemasons Charity, a registered charity number 279313, previously Durham Benevolence

The Charity's Committee consists of an elected member from every Lodge in the Province, and they meet regularly

As a Charity with assets over £8m, they are very proud of their low administrative costs mainly due to the time and experience freely given by so many dedicated and enthusiastic Freemasons and by the staff in Provincial Office in Sunderland

Their two residential housing properties at Fulwell, Sunderland and Bishop Auckland are flagships of the organisation

The Durham Freemasons Charity provides assistance in many ways to local causes or individuals. An application can be made to them for this assistance, further information is available by contacting them directly

What is FM?

What is Freemasonry?

Above is a video from some Durham Freemasons, it gives their opinions on Freemasonry. There are other videos available on YouTube for the individual to view

Freemasonry

Means different things to each individual who joins or have an opinion on it. For some, it is about socialising and making new friends and acquaintances. For many others, it is about being able to help deserving causes – making a contribution to people less fortunate or assist a family. individual, the community or society in general. But for most, it is, and should also be, an enjoyable hobby

Freemasonry is one of the world’s oldest and largest non-religious, non-political, fraternal and charitable organisations. It teaches self-knowledge through participation in a progression of ceremonies. Members are expected to be of high moral standing and are encouraged to speak openly about their Freemasonry. The following information is intended to explain Freemasonry as it is practised under the United Grand Lodge of England, which administers Lodges of Freemasons in England and Wales and in many places overseas

Freemasonry is a society of men concerned with moral and spiritual values. Its members are taught its principles (moral lessons and self-knowledge) by a series of ritual dramas – a progression of allegorical plays which are learnt by heart and performed within each Lodge – which follow ancient forms, and use stonemasons’ customs and tools as allegorical guides. These are performed in the Lodge Room and afterwards, Freemasons retire to a Festive Board Dinner for a meal and refreshments where they can relax, enjoy each other’s company and also acknowledge an informal side of Freemasonry through various toasts and responses

Freemasonry instils in its members a moral and ethical approach to life. Its values are based on integrity, kindness, honesty and fairness. Members are urged to consider the role of the family as paramount but, just as important, Freemasonry also teaches concern for people, to care for the less fortunate and to help those in need

The joining of a masonic lodge is a commitment to be a good citizen as well as a good member of the Lodge and to attend and to support all the things that are organised within the Lodge, the place one meets and Freemasonry generally. However that support is not just a financial one; assistance can be forthcoming by giving a helping hand, making a gesture, an offer of help, a thought, a telephone call, or giving up one’s time to assist in some way

There are Three ‘Degrees’ in Freemasonry and everyone who joins has passed through these. They are symbolic ‘Ceremonies’ of Initiation, Passing and Raising which takes place over several months. Candidates for joining should also be made aware that membership of the Royal Arch Chapter is expected. This Order is directly attached to Craft Freemasonry and its ceremony forms the completion of a Master Mason’s membership. More information about this area of Freemasonry is available from the Lodge Secretary

Freemasonry used to play a very important part of community life in the 18th, 19th and early part of the 20th Centuries but has now had to come to terms with the popularity of other forms of socialising. Because of this, and other factors, membership of the organisation has reduced, but being a Freemason, the standards expected and the ideals it stands for have not, nor ever will be, compromised

Each Lodge, and there are about 160+ in the Province of Durham alone, have a group of Officers, led by the Worshipful Master (WM), who perform the ceremonies mentioned above. Others Brethren may assist in these ceremonies and all the words are expected to be learnt by the individual. Officers within the Lodge. Officers change every year, in a progressive system of advancement. The WM is the Senior Officer within the Lodge and is expected to represent the Lodge on all masonic occasions he attends. Of course, other Officers are expected to do the same. Freemasons visit each other's Lodges and friendships and relationships are struck with Lodges and individuals

St Mary’s Lodge meet on the first Friday of every month at 6.45pm, except January, July and August with the Annual Installation in February starting around 5.30pm

The costs associated with joining and staying a subscribing member of a Lodge are available on request from the Lodge Secretary or Lodge Treasurer but are not excessive. However, the individual must be aware there is a financial obligation and responsibility to becoming a Freemason

Freemasonry embraces family life and families are encouraged to participate. Many Lodges have meetings to which family members are invited and this is greatly encouraged

Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth are three foremost principles of Freemasonry and when put together with charitable work and good deeds, it is hoped that being a member of our organisation will make the individual a better person; respected and recognised as being a good and honest citizen and member of society

Freemasons support Masonic charities in a huge way, but also support many other charities and good causes. Freemasonry is one of the largest contributors to good and needy causes and emergency situations but it is rarely recognised or acknowledged. Freemasons donate, through United Grand Lodge and the Masonic Charitable Foundation (MCF), huge amounts for emergency appeals, distress situations, research and hardships, educational grants, family assistance etc. Members are expected to support Charity but never in a way that is detrimental to themselves or their families

Further information on Freemasonry and St. Mary’s Lodge can be obtained from the Lodge Secretary, through our Lodge Website or Lodge Members

Lodge Secretary: George R. Tatters (0191) 4202079

Lodge Mentor: William Baty (07956 125851)

Even more information on Freemasonry can be found at:

www.ugle.com. www.durhamfreemasons.org https://b.ugle.org.uk/membership https://solomon.ugle.org.uk