W.Bro. Eric Young 50th Celebration in the Mark Friday 10th October 2025 |
|
 |
|
| Good evening, Brethren, and welcome to this very special meeting of B W N Mark Lodge, the Premier Mark Lodge being held this evening. Today, of course, we are here to join with Bro. Eric Young in celebrating his magnificent achievement of 50 years as a Mark Man. | |
| We are of course joined by our Hon Member, Our PGM this evening, GMRAC, who heard we were celebrating your achievement Eric, and was most keen to come along. Our PGM is a great innovator, and it was he who invented the wonderful tradition of placing our candidate not on some random chair which looks as if it has been overlooked, when the Lodge room was tidied, but in the Masters Chair for this presentation! | |
| You are therefore able to see the faces of the brethren, when I reveal embarrassing details of your past. Provincial Grand Director of Ceremonies, will you please place our Celebrant in the Master’s Chair, that we may celebrate with him. |
|
| Despite the fact that many members join the Mark Degree a little later in life, there are a growing number who go on to celebrate 50 years as a member. Congratulations Eric on joining them tonight in your late 60s having joined when you were 10……….they do things differently in Scotland brethren ! You are a member of that rare club, those who were not advanced in England, but in Scotland on June 23rd 1975. | |
| We now join you, with all the members and guests, in celebrating this memorable achievement, and I hope you enjoy your evening. | |
| Your Life and Work | |
| Eric, you were born on Sunday the 18th of August 1946, in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland, with that famous golf course close by, owned by that well known Scotsman – Donald Trump | |
| Your father, Arthur was a sergeant in the SAS. He got you attention when telling you off! Your mother, Agnes (Nancy) Alexander, was a housewife, looking after you, your two younger brothers, Jimmy and Dennis, and a younger sister, Nancy. Sadly, Dennis is the only one still alive. And of course you DESPITE YOUR RECENT HEALTH ISSUES | |
| During your school years, you played in the school football teams, and you then played football for Ayr Burgh and were a founding member of the Ayr Bruins Ice Hockey Team. That’s where your son gets it from. You left school at the age of 15 to pursue a 5-year Plumbing and Slating apprenticeship. AN OPERATIVE SLATER & PLUMBER, working with SLATE & WATER, but I know you prefer Scotch! |
|
| You joined the Police at the age of 22, (NOT TRAFFIC) stationed in Prestwick, and whilst stationed at a Police College, you started a Boys Club focused on football, basketball, and indoor games, which was your first experience in organizing a club, and it proved to be highly successful. After two years, your Chief Constable moved you to Troon to take over the Symington Youth Club, which was facing challenges with the local youth. The club ’s success was remarkable under your command, and it expanded to operate six nights a week and Saturday mornings. You had five leaders and coaches assisting you in managing all the sporting activities for both boys and girls. |
|
| In addition to running the Youth Club, you were President of Troon FC and managed the youth team taking the senior team to the first division. The youth team won the Ayrshire Under-12 Cup, and you even led the under-12 team on a trip to Norway, where they won the Fredrikstad Cup. | |
| After a decade in Troon, you endured two severe road accidents, resulting in prolonged absences from work. In 1983, you were reassigned to Ayr. Unfortunately, on Christmas Day of that year, you sustained another injury while on duty. Your new nickname became LUCKY! | |
| This incident occurred during the miners ’ strike, although it was unrelated to the strike itself. While assisting an undertaker in transporting a deceased body down a staircase to a mortuary, the undertaker suddenly dropped his end of the stretcher. With the dead man’s son in attendance, you were determined to prevent the deceased from falling, so you held on tightly, but this action resulted in severe muscle tears in your neck. Consequently, you had to take a year off undergoing physiotherapy. ERIC, IF EVER I PASS AWAY, I WOULD WANT YOU ON ONE END OF MY STRETCHER! |
|
| In September 1984, you LEFT the POLICE, THE FORCE WAS NO LONGER WITH YOU & you opened a coffee shop in Troon And then a plumbing business, using your previous training. | |
| In 1993 you left Scotland and headed South to England ON MISSIONARY WORK to Huddersfield, where you married your wife, Susan, (who is awaiting a knee operation) whom you had met the previous year through your sister. You then moved to the village of Cark near Grange-Over-Sands. | |
| You then purchased a country inn called the Glengarry near Gainsborough, Lincolnshire - YOU MOVED AROUND A LOT – DID YOU OWE PEOPLE MONEY? Whilst there, the local inline roller hockey club in Scunthorpe discovered your past as an ice hockey player and invited you to take over as the club ’s coach. | |
| In your Roller Hockey career, you were later promoted to the national Scout and then to the Great Britain Manager/Coach. Just like Gareth Southgate! You took both the men ’s and women ’s teams on promotional tours to LA, Las Vegas, France, Spain, and Gibraltar. | |
| You also conducted promotional tours all over the UK and you were one of the first Directors of the British Roller Sports Federation. | |
| You then moved again to La Linea, on the Spanish side of the border with Gibraltar, and you and Sue found local jobs. Sue started as an assistant nurse in the Gibraltar Health Authority, while you managed Gibraltar ’s junior and senior inline hockey team, The Rock Wolves. | |
| You remained there for 15 years, during which time you served on the committee of the “English Speaking Club.” You also volunteered at the tourist office in La Linea, assisting English-speaking tourists and organising tours of the area. | |
| Brexit made you feel it would be better to return to the UK. You chose Blackpool as your desired destination. You have been here ever since enjoying life with your wife Sue. |
|
| Susan has 2 daughters from a previous marriage, Jenny and Joanne. You have a son Eric who is a PE Teacher and involved with Ice Hockey | |
| Freemasonry | |
| Your grandfather was a Mason in Ayr for 33 years, and this led you to approach Troon Navigation Lodge No. 86 in the Province of Ayrshire, and you were initiated on May 1, 1975, and As is customary in Scotland, you became a Mark Master Mason in the same Lodge on June 23, 1975. |
|
| In 1978 You joined the Knights Templar, and then the Order of Malta Royal Ark Mariners, and the Royal & Select Masters – all in Ayr St Paul. You very wisely took life memberships in all these Orders for a total cost of £18. | |
| In his Mark career Eric visited 3 Lodges in Gibraltar, English, Scottish and Mediterranean flavors, with 50 steps up to the Lodge, and yes, the rain in Spain did fall mainly on the plain. BUT HE DIDN’T LIKE THE COLD FISH SOUP, SO HE LEFT AND ARRIVED in Blackpool. | |
| You joined Brotherhood Lodge No. 3967 on April 13, 2017, became IG at the Installation, and progressed to WM on October 13, 2022. | |
| In 2022, you joined Saturnian Lodge No. 7563 and were installed into the chair later that year. AND AGAIN AT PRESENT, WORKING HARD You also joined: |
|
|
|
| Your fund-raising activities within Freemasonry in West Lancashire has been legendary, with around £30,000 raised from Social Events. | |
|
|
| Your favorite whisky is Tamnavullin. | |
| Brethren, this evening Eric celebrates his Golden Jubilee in Mark Masonry, and I am sure that we all wish him the very best of health and happiness for many years to come. | |
| Brethren, I now call upon the Deputy Grand Provincial Secretary, W Bro Andrew Dickson, to read the Certificates from Grand Lodge, and the Province of West Lancashire from our Right Worshipful Provincial Grand Master. | |
| THE PROVINCIAL GRAND MASTER THEN PRESENTED THE CERTIFICATES & 50TH BADGE and INVESTED Bro Eric Young with the collar and jewel of a Past Provincial Grand Steward, along with his Patent of Appointment, to tremendous applause. | |
| Delivered by V.W.Bro. Giles Frederick Berkley PGJO Deputy Provincial Grand Master |
