Lodge St. Bryde No. 579 Minute Books.

In 1984 Bro. James L. Jack, P.M. was asked by the Lodge to write a foreword for a commemorative brochure to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of the building of our Temple in 1924. Unfortunately, this proved to be very difficult as no Lodge records could be found prior to the Second World War. Bro. Joseph Polson, P.M. who was at the time one of the longest serving members of the Lodge suggested that the Title Deeds were held in the Bank of Scotland. A meeting was arranged with the Bank Manager, who was very supportive,  although we had no receipt or paperwork regarding Lodge possessions which may have been held with the Bank. Months passed, then a phone call from the Bank asking for a meeting. The Bank Manager explained that it had almost become an obsession to find the Lodge information, but nothing could have prepared Bro. Andrew McAlpine, P.M. and I for what was to follow. 

Expecting a small box with a legal document inside, we were stunned when the manager said “I`ll just get two of the lads to bring it in”, what we saw was a large box (see photo) but we did not have a key to open it ! Next day a visit to a locksmith in Glasgow who provided us with a key.  Imagine the feeling opening the box which had been deposited in the Bank at the outbreak of the War. It contained a complete minute from 1875, the year before the Charter was granted. What a find! 

This prompted the complete Lodge History to be written by Bro. James L. Jack, P.M. in 1984. But the minutes remained unseen by many until 2010, when as part of the Grand Lodge Information and Communication Committee initative we raised sufficient funds to have the minute books professionally digitalised. This means that with the new format for the Lodge Homepage the minutes can now be viewed by all.    

James L. Jack, P.M.

This is an ongoing project to publish all of the minute books at a steady rate.  For these documents to be read, you must have an up to date version of Adobe Acrobat Reader; to get the latest version please click here.

WARNING: This file is a very large 500MB PDF file. If you are on a slow connection you might want to start the download overnight.

Click here to read the first installment of the historical minutes.