It is a great pleasure to be here with you this evening to pay tribute to a very special man and freemason and to celebrate David Russel Lowther’s 50 years as a member of Cambrian Lodge no 464.

W Bro David, you were Initiated on 1st March 1972, Passed, on the 3rd of May 1972 and Raised on 2nd May 1974. You served in all the progressive Offices in the Lodge finally becoming Worshipful Master on 3rd of February 1982. During your year in the Chair you Initiated, Passed or Raised 8 candidates.

You served the lodge as Secretary between 1999 and 2003 and you are currently the Lodge’s representative on the Provincial Grand Lodge Committee.

You were also a member of Kensington Lodge of Installed Masters for 28 years between 1984 and 2012.

In the Province of West Wales, you hold the rank of Past Provincial Junior Grand Warden, a very high rank.

In the Royal Arch, you were Exalted on 1st of April 1974 and although you haven’t been through the Chairs, you did get as far as Principal Sojourner.

W Bro David, what no computer record can capture is your total commitment to Cambrian Lodge over the last 50 years. Certainly, in the last 22 years while I have been involved, you have barely missed a meeting, or social event.

You can be very proud of all that you have achieved personally in freemasonry and perhaps even more importantly the support that you have given to other members of the lodge who have gone on to hold the highest offices in the province.

W Bro David, your father, Francis Russel Lowther was also a member of Cambrian Lodge for 55 years between his Initiation on 1st of June 1927 and his death in May 1983.

There must have been something in the air back in those days because you were part of a double Initiation Ceremony with W Bro Terence William Read who only resigned from Cambrian Lodge in 2020, despite doing nearly all his freemasonry in Somerset, where he is a member of Alfred and Guthrum Lodge no 4535.

W Bro David, you are a Haverfordwest boy, having been born here. You attended Haverfordwest Grammar School, prior to moving to Christ College Brecon at the age of 13.

When you were 16, you started an engineering apprenticeship with Vauxhall Motors where you became a planning engineer. You must have been a bit of a daredevil back in those days because you were taking part in car rallies of National Standard, and you were also a member of Luton Flying Club where you learned to fly single engine aircraft.

In 1971, following a holiday in Pembrokeshire you went to work for the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation in Milford Haven where you were a Senior Production Engineer.

W Bro David, you have had an exemplary masonic career. You have been a committed and loyal member of Cambrian Lodge for 50 years and you richly deserve this certificate and badge to mark the wonderful milestone of 50 years in the Craft.

Many congratulations