Old Huttonian Lodge No 7614 is a member of the Federation of School Lodges. It is very much a learning lodge as it frequently invites speakers to educate the lodge and visiting brethren.
The October meeting of Old Huttonian Lodge, held at Hutton Grammar School near Preston, was honoured to receive Glen Jackson of the North Fylde Group’s West Lancashire Century Lodge No 2349, who had prepared a fascinating lecture tracing the development of aircraft that formerly made up 617 Squadron, for example, the Avro Lancaster bomber, from the end of the Second World War through to today’s hi-tech F-35B Lightning fifth-generation combat aircraft.
The normal lodge business was efficiently worked through, during which lodge member and South Fylde Group Charity Steward David Jenkinson stood and thanked the brethren of the lodge for helping him raise a splendid £1450 from his Great North Run, on behalf of the Masonic Charitable Foundation. The lodge welcomed Glen Jackson to the meeting and he was escorted to the lectern by director of ceremonies Ian Heyes and delivered his presentation.
Glen had clearly done his homework and spoke in great detail regarding the contribution that other 617 Squadron aeroplanes, namely, Vulcan, Lincoln, Canberra, and Panavia Tornado, had made to the Royal Air Force over the last 60 years.
The WM, Trevor Partington, thanked Glen for his detailed lecture and suggested that a ‘question and answer’ session would be well received during the festive board.
In between toasts and other speeches, a lively ‘question and answer’ session took over the usual festive board banter and many brethren contributed to the 617 Squadron discussions. Glen was delighted to receive input from the almoner David Dickinson, who himself has spent most of his working life involved with aspects of military aircraft construction. A dynamic interplay of facts and statistics between Glen and David certainly added that extra dimension to the 617 Squadron lecture and definitely increased Glen’s appreciation of modern-day military aeroplanes.
Article by John Topping.