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The Founders had decided that the first two Initiates to the Lodge were to
be given First Initiate Jewels, and the first three Joining Members were to
receive a jewel similar to the Founder members. In actual fact, when the decision
had to be made as to who were the first two Initiates, difficulties arose.
This was no doubt brought about by the fact that no less than four Brethren
were initiated on the same day, at the second Regular Meeting of the Lodge,
held on Friday, October 16th. 1914. They were initiated in pairs, and so one
can see the difficulty that arose in only giving the first pair a First
Initiate Jewel. The problem was resolved by giving a jewel to all four
Initiates, who were:
Julian Clifford, Rev. R E. Price, Herbert Barnes and Max Stanley Mountford.
Only one jewel was given to a Joining Member, Bro. Charles Smith.
Julian Clifford was in fact the first Initiate to sign the Declaration Book.
Mr. Reginald John Foort was also balloted for at that meeting, and presumably
he would have been one of the four Initiates, his name being first on the
list of candidates. A letter from him was read in the Lodge which stated that
he was now serving at sea in H.M. Forces and expressed “the fervent
hope that he would be spared to present himself for Initiation on the
conclusion of peace”.
He was in fact initiated on April 20th. 1917, as the 25th Initiate and was
Passed to the Degree of a Fellowcraft on February 15th. 1918, by his father,
W. Bro. R. C. Foort. He was Raised at an Emergency Meeting on April 26th. the
same year.
Reginald Foort was probably the most widely acclaimed theatre organist in the
world, certainly so in his day. He was the first BBC Theatre Organist, having
been a pioneer cinema organist and made records with HMV.
A survey conducted by the BBC, when he was making five broadcasts a week,
found that only 2% of the listeners wanted to hear less of him!
When he left the BBC in 1938, and went ‘on the road’, the organ
that he used was a £10,000 Moller and weighed 15 tons! It was carried on two
lorries and trailers.
His death at the age of 87, from a heart attack, occurred in Florida
on Thursday May 22nd. 1985. He had lived there for some 12 years, and had
previously lived in Chicago after
arriving there from England
late in 1951.
W. Bro. Reginald J. Foort became Master of the Lodge in 1950 and held the
office of Provincial Grand Organist. Earlier Lodge members who held this
distinction were: -
W. Bro. Dr. H. Simms, who was actually Provincial Grand Organist, at the time
the Lodge was founded, and W. Bro. Reginald C. Foort, was Past Prov.G. Org.
Northants.
Bros. Clifford, Price and Barnes, were Passed to the Degree of a Fellowcraft,
at the next regular meeting in November, and this ‘triple’
ceremony was then followed, at that very same meeting, by ‘two
pairs’ of Initiates. The Charge was read to all four Initiates in the
Lodge together.
Rev. R. E. Price later became the first Initiate to hold the position as
Master of this Lodge when he was Installed in 1925 and he remained a member
of the Lodge until his death in 1963.
He was the first Master to have to undertake a second term of Office due to
the indisposition of the Senior Warden.
(Written by W.Bro. Arthur Aston.)
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