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Lodge Concord No. 204, Coimbatore
A brief history

Lodge Concord No. 204, petitioned by 23 brethren of Lodge Coimbatore No. 172 and various other Lodges from Salem, Pondicherry and Madras was consecrated on 1st May 1971 by R.W.Bro. Honorable Justice K Veeraswamy, the then Regional Grand Master, as representative of M.W.Bro. Prof. M.S. Thacker the then Grand Master.

The founder members of the Lodge consisted of the cross section of the Society.

Lodge Concord No. 204 was consecrated before Lodge Pudukottai No. 203 and hence Lodge was referred as a precocious child by Justice R.W.Bro. S. Natarajan, during its formation, because it was born before its elder sister.

Hon’ble Justice R.W.Bro. S. Natarajan, P.Dy.G.M., P.Dy.R.G.M., was the founder Master and W.Bro. N.R. Doraiswamy was the founder secretary. Justice R.W.Bro. S. Natarajan was succeeded by R.W.Bro.Cav.G.K.Devarajulu.

Though the Brethren wanted to elect R.W.Bro.Cav. G.K. Devarajulu, Junior Warden of the Lodge to the office of the Worshipful Master, he declined to accept the office saying that W.Bro. S. Srinivasan, District Judge who was the Senior Warden must first occupy the Master’s Chair and only thereafter he will agree to be elected as Worshipful Master. Since he was adamant, the brethren elected W.Bro. S. Srinivasan as the 2nd Worshipful Master of the Lodge. But W.Bro. Srinivasan declined the office and it was necessary to conduct an emergency meeting for the election of the Master where R.W.Bro.Cav. G.K. Devarajulu was elected as the 2nd Master of the Lodge. W.Bro. S. Srinivasan assumed the Eastern Chair in the third year.

The first regular meeting of the Lodge was held at Yercaud, where the initiation ceremony of R.W.Bro. D. Jayavardhanavelu, the first initiate of the Lodge, was conducted.

The meetings were held initially at Masonic Temple, NSR Road and subsequently at new Masonic Temple, Race course Road.

The Lodge was famous for its outstation meetings which made the members move together till their return as members of one family. Lodge used to have out station meetings in places like Bangalore, Coonoor, Kodaikanal, Madras, Munnar, Ooty, Salem, Tirupur, Wellington and Yercaud. All these outstations were like picnic as the brethren used to go with their families for these sojourns.

The Lodge members also traveled to Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Europe with family where they had interactions with local Freemasons.

Lodge used to have several distinguished visitors for the meetings. M.W.Bro. Prof. M.S. Thacker, Grand Master and R. W. Bro. P. M. Sundaram the Grand Secretary attended the 2nd Regular meeting at Ootacamund.

Many of the Senior brethren were honoured by the Regional Grand Lodge of Southern India and Grand Lodge of India. Three of the founder members have become the Regional Grand Master of Southern India and two, Deputy Grand Master of Grand Lodge of India. Six of the senior brethren were honoured with the rank of Right Worshipful Brother.

One of the most important achievements of the Lodge is the formation of Coimbatore Masonic Charity Trust.

Under the able mastership and initiative of our R.W. Bro. Cav. G.K. Devarajulu, the Coimbaiore Masonic charity Trust was formed. Eight out of fifteen founder trustees were from Lodge Concord. The land at the Race Course was purchased by the trust and the present Masonic Temple and the Children’s Hospital was constructed there. The Masonic Charity Hospital now stands as an important landmark of the Masonic charity throughout India. The temple has now become a meeting place for seven craft lodges and five lodges in side degrees.

The Regional Grand Lodge half yearly meeting was once conducted under the banner of Lodge Concord in the year 1972.

There were 23 founder members for the Lodge, 56 joined the Lodge and there were 67 initiations so far.

The membership of the Lodge was very selective initially. There were only 28 initiations in the first 29 years (from 1971 to 1999) and in the remaining 9 years (from 2000 to 2008) there were 39 initiations.

13 out of 23 founder members have occupied the eastern chair of the Lodge. In the year 1984 and 1985 all the officers were Past Masters.

The silver jubilee was celebrated at its 134th Regular Meeting on 7th October 1998 when a Silver jubilee pin was presented to members.

Lodge Concord and Lodge Tirunal of Bangalore shared the trophy for the first Ritual working Competition, introduced by Madras Masters Lodge in the year 1973 under the Mastership of W.Bro. S. Srinivasan. R. W.Bro. T.K. Shamuganadam was the Junior Deacon for the competition.

The brethren continue to maintain high standards with regard to rituals. During the last nine years the Lodge has reached the second stage of the ritual working competition eight times and won the GKD area trophy 4 times, 3 of them in a row.

The Lodge continues to pursue the ideals chartered by the founder members.

Compiled by W.Bro. Mani V Menon