At the September 2024 meeting of Cecil Lodge Number No 3274, David Wright, who is an honorary member of the lodge, celebrated 60 years since his initiation into Freemasonry. At the tender age of 24, David was initiated, by his father into Marlowe Lodge Number No 6506 in the Province of Cheshire.
David remained a member of Marlowe Lodge until 29 October 1976 when he joined Cecil Lodge. He was elected master of the lodge on 29 March 1984 and since passing through the chair he has served as director of ceremonies, almoner and chaplain. He was promoted to Past Provincial Senior Grand Deacon in 1992, Past Provincial Grand Superintendent of Works in 2000 and Past Provincial Junior Grand Warden in 2009. David is also an honorary member of Zetland Lodge Number 537 in the Province of Cheshire.
In the Royal Arch, David was exalted into Chapter of Justice Number No 6850 on 22 April 1983 becoming first principal in 1992. He gained promotion to Past Provincial Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies in 1998 and promoted again to Past Provincial Grand Sojourner in 2008. David is also a member of another Masonic Order.
David is the elder son of Harry and Ethel Wright, nee Marl, and was born in December 1940. His mother. having been rescued from an air raid shelter in Palatine Road, Wallasey, which had received a direct hit from a German bomb killing several others in the shelter, David was born the following day at Highfield Maternity Hospital, Mill Lane, Wallasey, after Ethel had spent the previous night on the floor under a bed. During a 3-night period from 20 to 23 December 1940, nearly a third of the 1,223 people who were killed or injured in the borough during the war were victims of those nights.
Following damage to the family home in Palatine Road, the family moved to 8 York Road, Wallasey for the remainder of the war. David was named after his maternal grandfather, a blacksmith named David Marl, and Paul after St Paul’s Church Seacombe where his parents were married, in March 1940.
During the period from the start until the end of World War II, his father Harry served with distinction in the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers, seeing action in the evacuation of Dunkirk, in the 8th Army at El Alamein in the Desert Campaign, the invasion of Sicily and Italy and at D-Day plus 2, where he assisted in the construction of the Mulberry Harbours.
Following the end of the war, David attended Somerville Infants School and then moving to attend Riverside Junior School where he passed the 11 plus examination to go to Oldershaw Grammar School, where he was a pupil from 1952 to 1957, achieving success in GCE examinations, rugby, cricket and athletics.
On leaving Oldershaw, he worked for 2 years in the Town Clerk’s department of Wallasey Borough Council before joining the Inland Revenue Valuation Office in London, working in the Westminster Office. He played rugby for the Civil Service RFC before joining Wimbledon RFC where he regularly played for the first XV. His passion for rugby continued for many years, rejoining Oldershaw Old Boys RFU where he played for the first XV, was club secretary for several years and became president in 1970. He represented Oldershaw on the Cheshire RFV committee undertaking the chairmanship of the disciplinary committee and became president of the county in 1999 and 2000.
On being selected by the Inland Revenue Valuation Office to be trained as a chartered surveyor, he moved back home to Wirral to live with his parents and worked in India Buildings, Water Street, Liverpool. Having successfully passed all his exams first time he became an Associate of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors on 3 October 1966 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors on 17 April 1984.
On 27 June 1967, David married Susan Bryan the younger daughter of Jack and Dorothy Bryan and was blessed by the birth of two daughters, Rachel on 28 June 1969 and Rebecca on 11 January 1971. Both went to Birkenhead High School for girls. Rachel eventually becoming a Chartered Accountant and Rebecca an Honours Degree Graphic Designer. Subsequently Rachel has produced two granddaughters, Ruby and Lily, and Rebecca, one, Beatrix. After 17 years of marriage, Susan and David went their separate ways and David was with his new partner, Joan, for over 40 years until she unfortunately passed away a couple of years ago.
In 1970, David joined Irby and Thurstaston Round Table, becoming its president in 1974/1975. In 2001 he became a member of the Liverpool Artists Club where he has served several years as a member of its council and was vice president in 2012.
David was elected an honorary member of Cecil Lodge in December 2022. He has not enjoyed the best of health for some years now and consequently he was unable to attend a lodge meeting for his 60-year anniversary.
However, to mark the magnificent milestone of 60 years in Freemasonry, several brethren from Cecil Lodge accompanied Assistant Provincial Grand Master John James, to visit David at the nursing home in New Brighton where David is being looked after. He was presented with his 60-year certificate to recognise his long years of service to Freemasonry and the home will ensure that it displayed in a prominent position.
With special thanks to Philip Gunning for finding the original information from David’s 50-year anniversary, when he was the principal guest, which formed the basis of this history of one of Cecil Lodge’s esteemed brethren.