It was in Corinthian Chapter No 2350 that Stanley Oldfield celebrated his 50th anniversary in Royal Arch. The chapter was opened by the three principals Paul Joynson, Raymond Pye and Daryl Grundy, with the minutes of the previous meeting rapidly approved.
The Deputy Grand Superintendent Chris Butterfield then took the floor and requested that Stanley be brought to him, in a nice break with tradition. Stanley was then seated at the chair of the first principal so that all attendees could see him.
Stanley was born to William and May Oldfield in September 1939, at home in Platt Bridge, welcomed into the family by an elder brother Norman and sister Margaret. Stanley’s father, William, was a miner at the time of his birth but later went on to serve in the Royal Engineers throughout the war in India and Burma. Stanley continued to live in Platt Bridge until his call up in 1959 to National service.
There was much activity in the UK on the lead up to the announcement of war in 1939, the first Anderson shelter was built in London as early as January 1939, but at the same time, January saw the highest attendance at a football league game where 118,000 watched Rangers beat Celtic. September was also an important month as the Sutton Ho treasure, the Anglo-Saxon ship burial was excavated.
A man’s average annual salary in 1939 was £320, a semi-detached house cost the equivalent of two times an annual salary, at £ 659 and a car was £170 with a 3-year lead time!
The public were first able to buy clothes made of nylon and the discovery of nuclear fission was announced with Albert Einstein warning the President Roosevelt of the USA, of the possible use to construct an atomic bomb. The company Hewlett Packard was founded as an electronics company and cavity magnetron was invented, the technology used in microwaves, although the first domestic one wasn’t available until 1958.
Some famous people were born the same year as Stanley, they were Peter Purves of Blue Peter fame, Ron Atkinson, David Frost, Alan Ayckbourn, Marty Wilde, Jackie Stewart, Sir Trevor McDonald, and John Cleese. Music of the day was Glenn Miller with In the Mood, Judy Garland singing Over the Rainbow
Stanley’s schooling started at St Nathaniel’s Infant and Junior School in Platt Bridge, followed by Hindley and Abram Grammar School, where he met lifelong friends Jack Lyon, John Brownlow and Brian Rollins.
The family were regular attenders at St Nathaniel’s Church, and Stanley took the opportunity of joining the Lifebuoys and then the Boys Brigade where he qualified for the Queens Badge, the highest award possible. He carried the mace for the Boy’s Brigade, practicing for many hours in fields around the village until he could throw it up in the air at the start of every tune, twist it horizontally in the air in front of him and after a spot of marching, could throw it over his shoulder from behind and catch it on the forward march.
There was a rumour going round at the time that he had managed to throw the mace from one side of the Moss Lane railway bridge and caught it on the other side. Being a modest man, Stanley didn’t dispel this rumour until many years later when he heard the story had developed further, a bit like Chinese whispers, to the effect that at the time he threw it over the bridge, there was a train going past the bridge.
In 1959, Stanley was called up for National Service where he served in the Military Police. As part of his National Service, he volunteered to go to Cyprus and was based in Nicosia and afterwards as Famagusta, returning from National Service in 1961, he decided to join the Wigan Borough Police.
It was also this year, and on return from National Service he decided to marry. Stanley met his future wife, Marlene when they both attended the infant’s school and were in the same class. They were married on the 23 December 1961 at St Nathaniel’s Church in Platt Bridge, followed by a honeymoon in Paris.
They have been well travelled during their marriage, to places such as Japan, Alaska, New Zealand, Egypt, Athens, and they have seen many of the wonders of the world, the Great Wall of China, Taj Mahal, Acropolis in Athens, the Pyramids in Egypt, Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, Table Mountain in Cape Town, Berlin Wall, Holy Land, Falklands Islands. He talks about hot air balloon safaris in Africa, danced the tango in Buenos Aires, cruised the rivers Rhine, Danube and Yangtze in China and even pedalled to the Isle of White on a tandem.
During all his travels, he did manage to fit work in. He served two years on probation as a uniformed constable in Wigan but then was transferred as a detective to the CID. A further 5 years’ service saw him promoted to Uniform Sergeant, followed by volunteering to go to Skelmersdale New Town, which was in the process of being developed with population of the town increasing by 1,500 a month. Whilst service there he received a Rotary Foundation Award and went to study policing in Louisiana and Texas for a period of 6 weeks. They made him a Colonel on the Staff of the Governor of Louisiana, an honorary Policeman in New Orleans, a deputy sheriff in Houston Texas and gave him the freedom of several cities, all in 6 weeks!!
Stanley was transferred to Salford as an Inspector and after two more years to the traffic department, two years later he became a Chief Inspector and moved to Ashton-in-Makerfield, later being transferred back to the Wigan Traffic Unit.
Reorganisation never stops and on the next one Stanley was transferred to the HQ Personnel Department to review Special Constables, after which he was then put in charge of the management and specialised training at the Force training school where he was promoted to Superintendent and after 6 years retired.
After his marriage to Marlene in 1961, they were blessed with two children Kate and Andrew, born 1963 and 1964 respectively and no doubt immensely proud of them both, and they now have an extended family as both of their children have had children of their own, giving them four grandchildren in total, Kate’ s are Molly and Charlie and Andrew’s are Beatrice and Max, the youngest of the four being 17 and the oldest 26.
Stanley was taken back to 1973, the year of his exaltation! 50 years ago, it was a different time yet again. 1973 saw the UK join the European Economic Community but we were also still experiencing the Cold War with Iceland. There was a celebration that year as Princess Ann married, for the first time. There was also discontent with the workforce in the UK as there were many strikes and disruption.
By 1973 a semi-detached house would now have cost you £9,900 with a pint of beer costing you 18.5p and a loaf of bread 11p. A gallon of petrol cost 39p and a family car would have set you back the princely sum of £ 1,285 when the average annual wage was £1,539.
Stanley, was initiated in 1971 into Pemberton Lodge No 4686 and in 2021 reached the milestone of 50 years membership of the Craft. He served as their WM in 1984 and served for a good many years, firstly as ADC and subsequently DC. It was only six years after service as their WM he was appointed to a very distinctive Provincial Rank, that of Provincial Grand Steward.
It was after only two years membership of the Craft that the Royal Arch beckoned and he was exalted into Corinthian Chapter. As well as being active in his Craft lodge, during this time he played a key role in the life of Corinthian Chapter becoming its first principal in 1988 and serving 3 years as ADC.
He was then offered the position of Wigan Group Secretary in 1991, followed by Wigan Group Vice Chairman in 1995, quickly followed by Wigan Group Chairman in 1996, a position he held until May 2004. He led the group for those eight years, exercising patience and tolerance but with great leadership.
Provincial promotion came as a result of all his hard work and was promoted to the special rank of acting ProvJGW in the Craft in 1994 and receiving appointment to grand rank, that of PAGDC in 1997 followed in 2005 by the very high and rare rank of PJGD. Stanley was then invited in 2008 to become an Assistant Provincial Grand Master which he held until 2013.
Having served as first principal of Corinthian Chapter in 1988, appointment to acting Provincial Grand Sword Bearer came in 1992 and in 1995 he was promoted to PPGSN followed by first appointment to grand rank in 1997 to the rank of PGStdB being promoted to PAGSoj in 2004. It was in 2004 that he was invited to become an Assistant to the Provincial Grand Principals.
Having finished as an AProvGM in 2013 he was invited to move back across to the Royal Arch to take up the position on Third Provincial Grand Principal, which he held until April 2016. Following this splendid presentation, the certificate was read out by John Selley.
Once the chapter was closed, everyone present retired downstairs for a splendid festive board. During the proceedings, the toast to the Deputy Grand Superintendent was proposed by John Selly during which he thanked him for all his hard work and especially for making Stanley’s celebration such a special one.
As part of his response, Chris thanked all those attending and in particular Corinthian Chapter, Malcolm Alexander for allowing him to make the presentation, the acting Provincial grand officers present and Stanley himself.
The toast to Stanley was proposed by Barry Dickinson who dedicated it to a very special, funny and entertaining person celebrating 50 years in the Royal Arch. He remembered their first meeting in the early 1980’s when Barry himself was in CID and Stanley was a traffic inspector, the first impression being of an imposing and immaculate figure that has remained throughout his Masonry.
10 years later at Bryn Lodger No 6553 Olde English Night, Stanley was the group chairman who thanked Barry for the evening’s entertainment in his own polite, thoughtful, generous and gentlemanly manner.
Stanley’s organisational abilities in arranging and making things happen are legendary, for example; Bikers’ Chapter No 1380 which moved to Bryn in 2017, indeed Stanley is a sight to behold on his 1942 BSA 500 flanked by the Widows Sons Bikers.
As the Provincial Third Grand Principal, he referred to himself as ‘The Rev’ and went out of his way to introduce Barry to all the hierarchy in West Lancashire Province when he became acting ProvJGW in 2018. In summary, Barry read a quote from ‘The True Gentleman’ by poet John Walter Weilands which perfectly described Stanley. He thanked him for his help and support, his good company, his wit and his good nature and asked him to please keep inspiring all future Masons.
In his response, Stanley thanked Corinthian Chapter companions and officers, especially Eddie Atherton the scribe Ezra. Jack Lyon then presented Stanley with a Corinthian Chapter jewel to replace the one he had lost; this was originally presented to him by his seconder Harry Hurst who was the old head of his junior school.
Remembering the end of the war, Stanley remarked upon the soldiers returning home and presenting their kids with either a great coat or a warm blanket for the winter, as his father had been in Burma, Stanley received a mosquito net, all was not lost however as he went on to win a 1,000-piece jigsaw by wearing it to a fancy-dress competition. In closing, he thanked all the guests for attending and Barry for proposing the toast.
Following the presentation of flowers to Chris Butterfield and the janitor’s toast, the retinue retired after a wonderful Royal Arch 50th celebration for Stanley Oldfield.