St Wilfrid Lodge No.5439, which meets at North Shields Masonic Hall, had cause for a double celebration when young met old at a special meeting to acknowledge sixty years in Freemasonry of one of their number and the initiation of a Pathways candidate
W.Bro Michael Cutts was initiated into Freemasonry in December 1961 when he joined the, now erased, St Oswin Lodge No.2327. He was the Master of the Lodge on two occasions in 2004 and 2010 and subsequently joined St Wilfrid Lodge in 2012, just prior to St Oswins closure.
His dedication to the Craft was acknowledged in 2013, when he was appointed, in Provincial Grand Lodge, to the rank of Past Provincial Assistant Grand Standard Bearer, being subsequently poromoted to Past Provincial Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies in 2019.
Michael was born in April 1940 and worked for British Rail from 1955 to 1980, starting his career as a cleaner, then a fireman and finally a driver. In 1980, until 2001, Michael was then a driver on the Metro. Michael has been married to his wife Joan for 51 years and the paur enjoy cruising, having been on twenty four different cruises over the years. Away from Freemasonry and travel Michael and Joan enjoy carpet and outdoor bowls.
On the flip side of the coin St Wilfrid Lodge also initiated their newest member on the same evening. Scott Hildreth commenced his Masonic journey two years ago this month when he was interviewed after showing an interest in Freemasonry, through the Pathways Scheme. Throughout the pandemic he continued to keep in contact with the Provincial Pathways Scheme Team until he was finally able to join. When he initially applied to join he worked at the Spanish City, as an assistant food and beverages manager, however last year he moved to Jesmond Dene House as a waiter. He is single, 25 years old and has a girlfriend.
Congratulations from Northumberland Freemasons to both Michael on reaching the magnificent achievement of 60 years of uninterupted service to the Craft and to Scott on being finally initiated into Freemasonry. We wish them both many more happy years in the Craft.
Many thanks go to W.Bros Greg Smith and Daryl Hall for the submission of this article.
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