James Ross, PGM and Brian Hearne in the foreground. WM, Bob Simister photo bombing in the background

It is a great pleasure to be here with you this evening to present Brian Hearne with a certificate and badge to recognise 60 years faithful service to Craft freemasonry and 50 years service to the Royal Arch.

W Bro Brian, you were Initiated into Old Priory Lodge no 4331 on 15th February 1964. I Feel Fine, by the Beatles was the number one record, Harold Wilson was the Prime Minister, a pint of milk cost the equivalent of 4 new pence, and a loaf of bread cost 8 new pence.

W Bro Brian, you were passed to the Second Degree on 19th January 1965 and Raised to the Third Degree on 16th March 1965. To put that into perspective, it means that you became a Master Mason exactly 6 months before I was born!

The very first supercomputer was introduced in 1964 and cost a very reasonable £9 million. Sadly, Old Priory Lodge couldn’t afford a computer in those days, so the details of your early masonic career are concealed in illegible handwritten minutes, but we can be certain that you served Old Priory Lodge as Worshipful Master in 1973.

In the Province of South Wales Western Division, you received your first appointment as Acting Provincial Junior Grand Deacon in July 1980.

You were subsequently promoted to Past Provincial Grand Superintendent of Works in 1987, and further promoted to Past Provincial Grand Registrar in 2015. In June 2023 I had the pleasure of appointing you to the very high rank of Past Provincial Junior Grand Warden.

In the Holy Royal Arch you were Exalted into the Kensington Chapter no 366 on 9th October 1973, the month before you were Installed in the Chair of the Old Priory Lodge.

In the real world, you were born on 4th August 1938. Just 4 weeks later Neville Chamberlain was declaring that there would be “Peace in our Time.” I am not sure if there is any direct correlation between the two events, but it gives a flavour of the world you were born into. You have two brothers, Sidney and Richard. Your father was the skipper of a Milford Haven trawler called “Night Hawk.”

You went to North Road Boys School and on to Milford Haven Grammar School. According to one of your lifelong friends you spent your teenage years in Pill Social Centre and at dances in the Masonic Hall where you were much in demand with the girls, because you were very hunky. I did look for a more suitable modern word for hunky, such as attractive, or handsome, or well-built, but if Roy Whitfield says you were both hunky in the 1950’s, who am I to argue.

You went on to join Lloyds Bank and although Roy moved abroad following his apprenticeship, you have remained friends throughout your lives. When Roy got married in 1961, you were his Best Man.

Brian Hearne (centre) and Roy Whitfield (right) have been firm friends for almost 80 years!

You were married for many years to Anne, and you have two children Nigel and Judith.

You have had a successful business and masonic career, but you have still found time for all sorts of other community activities. You and I served as Governors of Sir Thomas Picton School. Where your financial background was an invaluable asset to the school.

Both you and your wife Anne have been Mayor of Haverfordwest, but the passion which has been a constant throughout your life has been your love of tennis.

You qualified as a tennis coach in 1966, and you have held every position in the game through more than 50 years involvement, as a player, coach and administrator. Your achievements are too numerous to mention, but you have won well over 20 Pembrokeshire Open Titles, and you are still the President of Haverfordwest Tennis Club.

On 29th November this year, you were presented with a lifetime achievement award at the Sport Pembrokeshire Awards, mainly to recognise your contribution to tennis, but you were also involved in the Haverfordwest Swimming Club and Scarrowscant United Football Team.

W Bro Brian you are a legend amongst everyone who knows you and especially amongst those of us who are honoured to count you as a friend.

I congratulate you on all your many achievements in freemasonry and the wider community, both of which you have served so faithfully for so many years.

Before I present you with your certificates and badges, I would like to thank Bro Roy Whitfield for his help in preparing my remarks this evening and for deputising for the Provincial Grand Secretary by reading the two citations.

Roy has told me that you and he will remain friends forever because he knows where all your skeletons are hidden!

W Bro Brian I am delighted to present you with certificates and badges to mark a combined total of 111 years’ service to freemasonry in West Wales.

Many congratulations.