At the March meeting of Peel Moat Lodge No 7633, members and visitors alike were honoured and delighted to receive the Assistant Provincial Grand Master Stuart Boyd as the principal guest and to give the presentation of Brian’s life.
The lodge members were gathered for a very special occasion, to celebrate Brian Cross’s 50 years of continuous service in Freemasonry. The initial lodge business, having been efficiently dealt with by IPM, Philip Lowe, there was a report and it was made known that Assistant Provincial Grand Master Stuart Boyd was without and demanded admission. Stuart entered the lodge accompanied by Patrick Walsh, Chairman of the Trafford Group, together with Assistant to the Provincial Grand Director of Ceremonies Phil Renney.
Having made sure that Brian was comfortably positioned, Stuart then proceeded with the celebration of his 50th anniversary in Masonry. Brian was born in May 1943 at St Mary’s Hospital in Manchester, the first of two children to be born to his father Frank, a policeman and his mother Vera, a seamstress. He was later to be joined by his younger sister Judith.
He attended St Peter’s Church Infants School in Levenshulme, followed by Chapel Street Primary School where he sat his 11-Plus. This led to him attending Spurley Hey Secondary Modern in Gorton, where he said he enjoyed history and geography, but certainly not maths, stating that the best thing he left with was the ability to read and write.
However, before leaving school at 15, Stuart recounted that, when his class was asked to give a talk about their hobbies, Brian was prompted to give one about his hobbies of fishing and shooting. His talk on fishing caught them all in a net of excitement and so he felt it was his plaice to give them a second talk, this time on shooting. He had an air rifle, his father a shotgun and he enjoyed going out together looking for rabbits, so he felt he was the perfect calibre to give a second talk.
To aid his presentation on how a shotgun and its various parts worked, he decided to wrap his father’s shotgun in a towel and walked with it through Levenshulme and Gorton all the way to school and then walked it back again after hitting the target in class with a very interesting talk. It is uncertain whether that would be allowed today on so many levels.
After the war, Brian’s father returned to the trade in which he had served his apprenticeship went self-employed as a plumber. Brian too, joined the plumbing trade, working for J A McCrae and attending the newly opened Manchester School of Building in Bridge Street, where he achieved his City & Guilds. After joining Longworth’s and working for them for three years, he left and went to work with his father, and T F Cross and Sons developed from there, with him ultimately taking charge of the firm.
In support of the business, in 1970 Brian applied for a Churchill Fellowship to study the American plumbing industry. This led to him setting off for the USA in 1971 with a plumbing tour that flowed and flushed through various parts of America, including New York, Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington and Dallas.
During his time in Los Angeles, he met Edgar Hokum who had a plumbing company in Beverley Hills with many prestigious clients. Brian recalled how Edgar had given him advice saying: “Whilst plumbing would give you a good living, you’ll never make real money as a plumber, so buy a property.” This was advice that Brian reflected on and then pursued as a second career coupled to plumbing as he encouraged T F Cross and Sons to move from general plumbing to heating engineering and commercial work.
When he eventually closed his plumbing business driven by the genetic work ethic, Brian carried out gas safety work to, as he put it, ‘keep his hand in’, eventually hanging up his plumbing tools at 72 years of age and he continues to work with his children managing his properties.
Travelling this journey with him was his wife, Carol. They met as teenagers at St Peter’s Church, him being in the Church Lads Brigade and Carol being in the Girl Guides. They were married in 1966 and have two children Kate and Richard and five grandchildren, Emily, Jack, Sam, Grace and Olivia who keep them busy visiting him and Carol, or with Brian driving grandad’s taxi dropping them off or picking them up at various activities.
Masonically, Brian was initiated into Ashton Lodge No 1140 on 10 March 1976 after being proposed by a friend and business associate of his father’s, Harry Emery and seconded by his father who had joined the lodge in 1958. After being passed in May and raised in November 1976, he progressed through all the offices of the lodge becoming master in 2003.
When Ashton Lodge handed in its warrant in 2010, he had already been a frequent visitor to Peel Moat Lodge and he joined the lodge. Being a brother always wishing to contribute, since joining Peel Moat Lodge in addition to being WM from 2013 to 2016, has served as junior warden for two years, senior warden for three years, almoner for three years, director of ceremonies for two years and ADC for one. A full roster of commitment to Peel Moat Lodge, whose pleasure it was to host his celebration evening.
In addition to this, he is a founding member of Athenaeum Lodge of Installed Masters No 9368 where he was senior warden for three years and was exalted into Chapter of Harmony No 4390 in the Province of Cheshire in 2004.
In recognition of his continuing support of Freemasonry in West Lancashire Brian was appointed PPJGD in 1995 and PPJGW in 2002. At the conclusion of the celebration, Patrick Walsh read the golden jubilee certificate from Provincial Grand Master Mark Matthews, which was then presented to Brian by Stuart.
At the social board, the toast to Brian’s health was proposed by his long-standing friend and lodge ADC, Terry Levison. A most cordial and enjoyable social board brought this special evening for John to a close.