John Hayes was proclaimed WM of Torrisholme Lodge No 5245 for the second year running in the presence of Daniel Crossley, Past Provincial Grand Senior Warden who was the representative of Provincial Grand Master Mark Matthews.
Daniel was accompanied by Past Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies and Past Provincial Grand Almoner Paul Broadley, Lancaster and District Group Chairman Chris Larder along with Provincial Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies Steven Ellershaw, Provincial Assistant Grand Standard Bearer Steve Murray, Provincial Grand Pursuivant Syd Bateson and Provincial Grand Stewards Stuart Bateson and Andy Baxter.
The lodge was opened in the first degree by WM John Hayes, who invited Bryan Cambidge from Morecambe Lodge No 1561 to take the post of installing senior warden, Michael Reeve from Heysham Lodge No 4108 to act as installing junior warden and Mark Ormerod to act as installing inner guard. John was then proclaimed as WM by director of ceremonies Graham Taylor.
John appointed Paul Marshall as senior warden and Dave Tarbun as junior warden. The address to the master was given by John Bates, the address to the wardens by Paul Dent, the address to the brethren of Torrisholme Lodge by Daniel Crossley and finally to the stewards by Stuart Bateson.
Danniel Crossley was presented with a list of donations that the lodge had made within the past year to Masonic and non-Masonic charities totalling £2,135. Daniel thanked the brethren of the lodge on behalf of all the recipients for their very generous donations.
The organist for the evening was David Tattersall and the Master’s Song was performed by John Bates. A total of 50brethren attended the festive board. The toast to the WM was given by Paul Broadley. The total charitable donations raised on the night from the raffle, masters swindle and charity envelopes was £460.
WM John Hayes was born in County Wexford, Ireland in 1947. He came to work in England in 1963 to join his sister in Ellesmere Port. His first job was working in a coal yard during the hard winter that year. John worked in the coal yard for three years and then worked at Shell Stanlow and then Calor Gas where he met his wife Valerie who he married in 1968.
John became an operator at Associated Octel and remained there for 10 years before employment in the Middle East and various other countries. John came to Morecambe Bay to work on the gas rigs in 1983 and after 8 years he was offered a nine-month contract in Scotland which turned out to be for 18 years. John retired to look after Valerie who was in poor health, and she sadly passed away in 2012.
John joined Heysham Golf club and met a lot of nice people. He also does voluntary work at St Patricks Church and cuts the grass to keep it looking tidy. John is also a bingo caller and cooks meals for the homeless on Wednesday evenings in addition to doing home visits to those not able to get out. John is the almoner for Torrisholme Lodge and is kept very busy!
John was proposed as a candidate for initiation by Chris Dentin January 2015 and was passed and raised in February and March 2016. He is a member of Lancaster Castle Chapter No 5952 and another Masonic order.
