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Our Right Worshipful Master

A warm welcome from our Right Worshipful Master Bro. Brian Stewart McClure

Office Bearers & Past Masters

The office bearers of Lodge Firth Of Clyde Gourock No. 626.

Our

History

A brief explanation of why the lodge opened and a look at our past.​

Who We Are

Lodge Firth Of Clyde Gourock No.626

We are the oldest Masonic Lodge in Gourock situated on the sunny banks of the Firth of Clyde. We are of course a Victorian Lodge having been constituted in 1878. We would like to think of ourselves as a warm and welcoming Lodge and would be delighted to receive any visitors to our meetings. Thank you for visiting our site!

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Right Worshipful Master

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Welcome

On behalf of all the brethren welcome to the website of lodge Firth of Clyde Gourock. 

We hope to use this website to keep all our members, friends And visitors  up to date with meetings of the lodge, lodge events and any work in the community we are undertaking. 

I trust you find the information on the website useful and enjoyable, and I look forward to welcoming Freemasons into the lodge in the near future. 

Our RWM
Office Bearers
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RWM & Office Bearers 2022/23

Right Worshipful Master - Brian Stewart McClure
Immediate Past Master - Graeme Wallace PM
Depute Master - Raymond D Bruce PM
Substitute Master - Kenneth M. McCrae PM

First Past Master - David D Stevenson PM

Second Past Master - Nicholas R R Stetz PM
Senior Warden - Stewart R McFadyen
Junior Warden - Iain Wallace
Secretary - David D Stevenson PM
Treasurer - Brian G. Hopkins PM
Chaplain - James P. Livingstone PM
Almoner - James Turpie PM
Senior Deacon - Greig Turner
Junior Deacon - Kenneth R Campbell
Inner Guard - Scott Beaton
Architect - Nicky McAusland
Jeweller - Allan Anderson

Director of Ceremonies - 
Bible Bearer - Andrew J Samuel
Director of Music - Andrew G Pigott PM
President of Stewards - Alexander Black

Steward - Robert Love
Steward - Duncan Pigott
Steward - Corey Beaton
Tyler - Ian W. Savage

Past Masters
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By the second part of the 19th century, Gourock was fast becoming a developing and popular town with a need to satisfy the social and cultural needs of its people.  Gourock Curling Club was formed in 1858, a Chess Club in 1878 and the Gourock Sailing Club in 1894 (later in 1908 to become the Royal Gourock Yacht Club).  Ploughing matches were organised, tennis, putting, badminton, miniature rifle shooting clubs all flourished and there was even an organised clay pigeon shoot on New Year’s Day. It was against this backdrop that a group of local freemasons inevitably got together to consider a Masonic Lodge for the town of Gourock.  At that time, freemasons living in Gourock either had to travel to Lodge Greenock Kilwinning No. XII or to Lodge Greenock St John's No. 175 in Greenock or further to Lodge Doric Kilwinning No. 68 or Lodge Cumberland Kilwinning No. 217 in Port Glasgow. Given the poor transport facilities which existed, this must have been a difficult journey especially on cold winter nights. A petition was therefore compiled and submitted to the Grand Lodge of Scotland for a Lodge to be constituted in Gourock under the title of Lodge “Firth of Clyde”.  A Charter was granted on Monday 6th May 1878 and presented on Friday 10th May 1878 at the Commissioners’ Rooms which stood across from the former Municipal Buildings at the Pierhead on the ground now occupied by the Health Centre complex and the Lodge itself was consecrated on the 2nd July 1878, in the Gamble Institute. 

 

​The membership of the Lodge consisted of the 26 founder members supplemented by a further 8 honorary members and following the consecration of the Lodge, the first meeting was held on 15th July 1878.  Meetings were held in various locations, including the Commissioner’s Rooms, the Gamble Institute and the Free Church Hall in John Street, which is not the location of the current Temple but more likely the building recently occupied by the Ex-Servicemen’s club. While there was undoubtedly a desire on the part of the brethren to have their own premises, the minute of 17th April 1895 makes reference to a requirement to leave the present hall and a committee was therefore created to consider the options available. â€‹

 

The foundation stone of the new Temple was laid on the 1st February 1896 by the Right Worshipful Master Brother Captain Robert Duncan.  The brethren firstly met in the Gamble Institute and marched in procession led by a band of the local army volunteers, via Bath Street, Royal Street and John Street to the site.  The foundation stone was then laid, with full Masonic Honours by the Right Worshipful Master ably assisted by his office-bearers.  Under the stone were placed coins of the realm and local newspapers and the first meeting of the Lodge took place on 1st September 1896. 

 

In 1905, an extension was added to the rear of the hall to form what became known as the Burns Room, the Master’s Room and the kitchen at which point, the Lodge began to resemble the way it was shortly before the fire in 2008.    

 

Prominent early members  

If you have been carefully noting some of the names referred to above, you will have noticed the number of brethren of the Lodge who were prominent in the administration of the town’s affairs during those early years of the Lodge. Brothers Robert Binnie, James Adam, John M Adam, James Mathie and later Sloan Macmillan all served as Provosts and later had streets named after them in the town.  Brother Duncan McPherson PM, left a bequest to the town which enabled a small hospital to be built in Midton in 1925. 

 

The Lodge Jubilee 1928  ​

 

The Jubilee of the Lodge in 1928 was marked with the rededication of the Lodge on Monday 7th May 1928 by the then Right Worshipful Provincial Grand Master, Brother Sir Hugh Shaw Stewart with Right Worshipful Master Brother Arthur T Russell presiding in the Chair of the Lodge.   

 

Centenary Celebration  

 

​The rededication of the Lodge took place on Saturday 6th May 1978, with the ceremony being held in the Lodge Temple carried out by Grand Lodge headed by the most Worshipful Grand Master Mason, Brother Robert Wolrige Gordon of Esslement assisted by a very large deputation from the Grand Lodge of Scotland.  Centenary of the Lodge Temple  ​The Lodge continued to perform as well as any and in 1996, it held a rededication of the Lodge Temple, being by that time exactly 100 years old.  ​In 2003, the Lodge celebrated its 125th anniversary with a special meeting and dance chaired by Right Worshipful Master Brother Jim Porter. ​


Many thanks to James P. Livingstone PM for providing the website with this history!

Our History
Past Masters

Robert McWhirter

George Haldane

Robert McWhirter

James Fletcher

James Erskine

John Craig

Robert Binnie J.P.

Alexander McPherson

Cpt Robert Duncan

John Dixon

Charles E Stewart

Cpt Duncan McPherson J.P

Robert Campbell

John M Adam

James Mathie

Harry White

Robert C Cousins

Matthew McGlinchey

William Callender

William L Adam

David O'Reilly

William Gilmour

Fred Campbell

Arthur T Russell

Alexander Anderson

Alex Robertson

George Coltart

Daniel McLean

Robert Tweedie

Hugh Talman

Arthur Worthington

William Mc W Campbell

James C Wilson

William J Baggott

James H Gordon

William Ritchie

David Bogle

1878 - 1880

1880 - 1882

1882 - 1884

1885

1885 - 1887

1887 - 1890

1890 - 1892

1892 - 1894

1894 - 1897

1897 - 1901

1901 - 1904

1904 - 1907

1907 - 1909

1909 - 1912

1912 - 1914

1914 - 1918

1918 - 1920

1920 - 1921

1921 - 1922

1922 - 1923

1923 - 1924

1924 - 1925

1925 - 1927

1927 - 1928

1928 - 1929

1929 - 1931

1931 - 1933

1933 - 1934

1934 - 1936

1936 - 1937

1937 - 1938

1938 - 1939

1939 - 1942

1942 - 1944

1944 - 1946

1946 - 1948

1948 - 1950

​

Past Masters

John B Henderson

Robert Paterson

John H Watt

James Leitch

William G Brown

Robert McKinnon

Reginald G Ward

Archibald Glass

Robert Harvey

David K Steel

William C Munro

James Melville

Robert Hammond

Cornelius Coward

Robert Cameron

David Munro

Murdo Munro

Rudolf L Stetz

Raymond D Bruce

Stewart McClure

Robert M Wilson

James P Livingstone

John D Turpie

David J K Steel

James C Turpie

Ivor G W Gibson

George Banks

Brian G Hopkins

James G Porter

Kenneth M McCrae

Robert McIntyre Jnr.

Norman A Henderson

Thomas F M Trotter

Ian Mcfadyen

Andrew Pigott

Nicholas R R Stetz

David D Stevenson

​

1950 – 1951

1951 – 1953

1953 – 1954

1954 – 1956

1956 – 1957

1957 – 1959

1959 – 1961

1961 – 1963

1963 – 1965

1965 – 1967

1967 - 1969

1969 – 1971

1971 – 1973

1973 – 1975

1975 – 1977

1977 – 1979

1979 – 1981

1981 – 1983

1983 – 1985

1985 – 1987

1987 – 1989

1989 – 1991

1991 – 1993

1993 – 1995

1995 – 1997

1997 -1998

1998 – 2000

2000 – 2002

2002 – 2004

2004 – 2006

2006 - 2008

2008 - 2009

2009 - 2011

2011 - 2013

2013 - 2015

2015 - 2017

2017 - 2019

​

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Our History

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Office Bearers

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