Tenby Lodge Installation

New Master of Tenby Lodge W.Bro. David Marshall presents a voucher for £2,000 to Assistant Provincial Grand Master .Bro. Mike Eckley toward the 2026 Festival

‘LONDON DAVE’ INSTALLED AS MASTER OF TENBY LODGE

Around 70 brethren attended the Installation meeting of Tenby Lodge on January 30th, including Assistant Provincial Grand Master W.Bro. Mike Eckley, the Provincial team, and a number of Grand Officers. They witnessed a sincere and accomplished ceremony, performed by the outgoing Master W.Bro. Brian Miller.

The new Master of Tenby Lodge is W.Bro. David Marshall. He is a comparative newcomer to West Wales Masonry but is a Past Master of St Bartholomew the Less lodge no. 7607 which is a ‘Saturday morning’ lodge that meets at Great Queen Street. The lodge has an association with St Bartholomew’s Hospital in Smithfield, and uses Calver’s Ritual which is practised by very few lodges. David was Master in 1993 and again in 1999. He was born in Billericay, Essex and moved to Pembrokeshire in June 2018. He and his wife Liz own and run a guest house in Tenby. He joined Tenby Lodge soon after moving and the first meeting he attended was the Installation meeting in January 2019.

Though not yet fully familiar with Emulation working it soon became clear after he had taken the chair of Tenby Lodge that he is an accomplished ritualist, and will be an able and active Master.

During the meeting the Lodge Charity Steward W.Bro. Steve Thurgood announced that a further 8 Tenby brethren were eligible to receive a 2026 Festival jewel, 6 of whom were present, so as the Assistant Provincial Grand Master was also present he kindly agreed to present the jewels. Steve commented that with these latest payment promises, almost 80% of the lodge membership now made a regular payment to Masonic Charity. He said that he was proud that the lodge was so clearly demonstrating it’s support for the 2026 Festival, and was now close to achieving it’s lodge target.

Steve also mentioned that he had received a certificate from the MCF congratulating the lodge on becoming a vice patron of the charity, as a result of it’s recent contributions.

The Festive Board at the Giltar Hotel on Tenby Esplanade was full of good cheer and laughter, and in his response to the Toast to the Master W.Bro. David demonstrated his eloquence and humour in assured fashion, saying that he hadn’t expected to take the Master’s chair any time soon, but on a recent visit to Narberth Lodge with a posse of Tenby brethren, he had been ‘approached’ during the evening and by the time he left he was Master Elect!

It had been mentioned earlier that in informal lodge communications he had been referred to as ‘London Dave’ and the name seemed to have stuck!

During the evening he was able to present the Assistant Provincial Grand Master with a voucher for £2,000 as a further contribution from the lodge to the 2026 Festival campaign. Also, with an impressive number of prizes on offer the raffle raised a bumper £430, which would be donated to the Pembrokeshire branch of Parkinson’s UK, the chosen charity of the new Master.

The Assistant Provincial Grand Master with five of the Tenby brethren to whom he had presented Festival Jewels. Left to Right: Bro. Bradley Davies, Bro. Matt Hughes, W.Bro. David Marshall, W.Bro. Mike Eckley APGM, Bro. Chris Ebrey, Bro. Andy Evans.