The seventh in our occasional series of discussions with long-standing members of The Lodge of Dawn, is with W Bro. Jeff Hillman PAGDC, PPSGW, one of two Grand Officers in The Lodge of Dawn.
Tell us about your initiation into Freemasonry
Mr paternal grandfather was a very keen Freemason. He was initiated into Kirkdale Priory lodge in Liverpool in 1925. It was actually my mum who recommended that I join Freemasonry. She used to really enjoy Ladies’ Nights when the brethren used to sing to the ladies. My wife’s cousin was in lodge and proposed me for The Lodge of Israel in Birmingham where I lived at the time.
Time passed and I thought they’d forgotten about me; but it was 5 years until I was initiated. I found the initiation ceremony highly symbolic, but a good bit of fun. Almost immediately after my first degree ceremony I got a job in Leeds, but I went back for both my second and third degrees. I do remember that the brethren at The Lodge of Israel had a habit, when the question ‘should any brother have any questions….’ did indeed ask….. and they asked the candidate to recite their first degree obligation! Now that’s a test of merit !!! Because I learnt it so early in my Masonic career I’ve stood in a few times to deliver it. Until a couple of years ago I still went back to the Lodge of Israel once a year to give a lecture.
How did you end up at The Lodge of Dawn
Once I’d got my job in Leeds I visited a few lodges but decided on The Lodge of Dawn mainly because Tuesday nights was more convenient for me than any other night. However when I joined I was told that I couldn’t get onto the ladder until the start of the next masonic year and would be behind the third initiate of the previous year; a bright young dentist called Howard Bott! And because I was ‘last’ in the order, it meant over 18 years running up to my Installation.
I’ve done almost every job in the Lodge and I picked up a lot of the ritual over time simply by regular attendance. Whilst I was Tyler I found that the existing sword was a bit decrepit – it had been purchased many years previously by a senior brother as a souvenir from Spain and was falling apart. I bought our current sword….. at an arms fair at the then Astoria Hotel on Roundhay Road. I’m not sure how walking down Roundhay Road with a sword would be greeted nowadays!
Tell us about your installation into The Master’s Chair
I was installed into The Masters Chair in 1997, by the aforementioned W Bro. Howard Bott, and was fortunate to be Master during the Lodge’s Golden Jubilee. Because it was the Lodge’s Golden Jubilee there were a lot of Provincial ‘bigwigs in attendance, in a packed Dining Room at Castle Grove. As the toast to the Master was being completed, Jack Fixman, the Lodge Organist, unbeknown to anyone, apart from myself, snuck over to the piano. I suddenly started my response to the toast singing ‘I’m Master of The Lodge’ to the tune of ‘Master of the House’ from Les Miserables, which I’d re-written. As I was singing along, the bigwigs on the top table turned looking at me thinking ‘what the hell is this……?’ For some reason it hasn’t caught on as a tradition at The Lodge of Dawn!
[the full six verses are below, along with the real version for those that don’t know it]
What were the highlights of your year in The Chair?
I had what you would consider a pretty normal year in The Chair, with three initiates; Philip Dante, Nigel Zoltie and the late Richard Goldberg, all who subsequently went through The Chair. We had three socials;The first was a talk and video about the history of Freemasonry in the USA, and then back to ours for a Salt Beef & Beer supper. The second social was a trip along the canal from Skipton to Gargrave and back, which included a quiz and an afternoon tea – and I remember the sun shone for us. Because my wife, Beryl, wasn’t keen on a formal Ladies Night, my third social was a brunch at home for all the brethren and their wives.
Tell us about your time in Freemasonry since The Chair
Whilst I was Master I visited a lot of lodges as part of my Masters’ Circle. Somehow I seemed to become the nominated ‘responder’ to the Visitors’ toast. Because of this I ended up sitting next to the PGM on a number of occasions. The PGM at that time was the late RW Bro.Trevor Broadley and he was keen for The Lodge of Dawn to be active in the Province, and pressed me to suggest splitting The Lodge but I refused. He felt that previous Masters of the Lodge had been too old to get active. Along with the late David Friedman of Loyalty Lodge we arranged for the annual Provincial service to be held at the BHH synagogue on Street Lane. We ended up with around 800 Freemasons in the synagogue, all wearing sky blue yarmulkes, with parts of the service in Hebrew and parts in English. Fortunately, The Rabbi at the time, Rabbi David Sedley, had spoken at a previous Masonic event so wheeled out his previous talk, covering the way that friendship, charity and honesty of Judaism matched the brotherly love, relief and truth of Freemasonry. It’s interesting that at the time most of Province had never seen the inside of a synagogue so it was a great education for them.
I think the above event helped me to achieve the role of Past Provincial Junior Grand Deacon in Province before it would normally be due. I was subsequently promoted to Acting Senior Grand Warden. As Acting Senior Grand Warden I was part of the Installation Panel so, on many occasions, I was responding to the toast to the Province. I tried to visit lots of lodges and usually used the same speech each time. This almost created a catastrophe for me at Sheffield’s Tapton Hall. I was due at Brittania Lodge and then three week’s later at Hadassah Lodge. It was only after I’d spoken at the first did I realise that they were the mother lodge to Hadassah and most brethren would be in attendance again in three weeks time. My ‘only’ speech had to be quickly re-written.
As part of my work life I’ve been fortunate enough to travel the world. When possible I’ve tried to visit a local lodge. I visited an all black Prince Hall Lodge in America, and I have to say it was the best lodge ever for the quality of ritual. I was once in Vienna where I visited an English-speaking lodge. There was only a lecture that night, and for some reason their Junior Warden had to cancel very late on. I was invited to fill in. My obvious response was “but I don’t know your ritual”. Their response was “yours will do“, and I ended up delivering our JW ritual, which they had obviously never heard before, but thought was great!
Over my years I’ve met hundreds of people in Freemasonry, both home and abroad, and with very few exceptions they’ve all been a very nice bunch. The camaraderie within The Craft is wonderful.
What three pieces of advice would you give someone as they approach The Chair?
1 – Learn your ritual before reaching the chair, particularly the Obligations. You’ve got lots to do during your year, so get the biggest challenges out of the way early.
2 – Don’t read ritual. Invariably when it’s read, it’s mis-read and doesn’t flow or make sense. You really should only need a prompter for the first word of the next paragraph.
3 – Make sure you visit lots of lodges; they are all different. And in return make sure you invite lots of brethren to your Lodge too.
4 – Enjoy it…. it’s meant to be fun.
5 – Make sure that you are fully active in your Circle, and you’ll create a great pile of friends.
You can read more of our Memories of a Freemason, from The Lodge of Dawn in Leeds, here.
If you would like to find out more about Freemasonry in Leeds see our page here.
And if you would like to join The Lodge of Dawn in Leeds, or would like to visit our lodge at Castle Grove Masonic Hall, please feel free to get in touch via our ‘Contact Us’ page.