Welcome …
… to the home of Solihull Lodge 8088 on the World Wide Web.
We hope the information on these pages will be of interest to you, and if it stimulates you enough to visit us, or to join us, you can be assured of a friendly welcome at our meetings. We aim to offer information for Masons and non-Masons alike.
Perhaps we should start by telling you a little about the Lodge’s coming into being.
The formation of Solihull Lodge was instituted by a number of Solihull Freemasons in late 1964. The first preliminary meeting was held at The George Hotel, Solihull on Sunday, 28 February 1965.
As the Lodge was formed in the year that Winston Churchill died, it was initially proposed to name the Lodge after him. Solihull Lodge was subsequently chosen as the name, as Silhill Lodge had undertaken to sponsor the Lodge as its daughter Lodge.
On Tuesday, 24 May, 1966, Solihull Lodge was duly consecrated by the RW Bro Sir Stanley J Harley, DL, in the Old Temple at St Francis Road, Edgbaston. This was the first consecration carried out in the Province after his appointment as Provincial Grand Master for Warwickshire. 250 masons were present, including the 17 founders.
It is interesting to note that the wooden Working Tools used during Lodge ceremonies are hand-made from Japanese Oak, carved by an Englishman, polished by a Welshman, the silver inlays were mined in South Africa, rolled in Germany and worked and engraved by an Indian silversmith! Masonry universal?
Solihull Lodge was rarely without a candidate for initiation and the 50th initiate was initiated in the Lodges 25th year, in 1991.
The Solihull Masonic Temple was forced to leave the George Hotel in 1992 and the Lodge found temporary accommodation as a guest of Coleshill Lodge in the Town Hall, Coleshill. After a hard search for new premises in the Solihull area, the Temple Committee purchased a property in Knowle in 1993 and converted it into a superb Masonic Temple, with dining room, bar and meeting rooms. The Lodge moved there in 1999.
2010 saw the Lodge become Grand Patron of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.
Solihull Lodge has always ably supported Masonic Charity Festivals over the last 50 years and in 2012, the Lodge achieved its target of raising over £11,000 for the Masonic Samaritan Fund Festival.
Solihull Lodge then celebrated their 50th Anniversary with ceremonies of Initiation, Passing and Raising and a celebratory meeting in November.
The Lodge continues with many interesting and varied lectures, from Jack the Ripper’s Masonic Connection, The Masons Gavel, a history of the plaster plaques in the Lodge Room, a unique illuminated explanation of The Traditional History in Freemasonry and other interesting non-Masonic talks. (More …)