Not many Brethren reach such a milestone and so Monday the 10th of March 2025 was a great night to celebrate such an achievement at Pudsey Lodge of Mark Master Masons No.658. On hand to do the ‘this is your life’ story was the Provincial Grand Master R.W.Bro. J. Trevor Bolton. Trevor thought he was in for an easy night but that wasn’t quite true. Graham is a great friend of V.W.Bro. Keith Hardwick Trott who, just a few weeks ago celebrated his sixty years in Mark Masonry and gave Trevor a ‘tough’ interview! Very funny and entertaining and made for a super night. Graham and Keith must be cut from the same cloth as the night took much the same direction. Great entertainment for the Brethren and the many friends of Graham present.
Graham was born in December 1941, the youngest of four. He left school in 1956, met his wife Doreen in the Central Ballroom, Leeds in 1958 and they got married in 1963. They have a son Trevor who lives in Liverpool with his wife Vivien and their son Tom. Tom works in the car manufacturing industry interestingly at the plant Graham helped to build in his career as an electrical engineer.
His work life was always in the Electrical Engineering field working for such companies as N.G. Baily and, A.B.B. where, he was a director.
Graham is an active Mason and still regularly attends his Craft, Mark and, Royal Ark Mariner Lodges and is very active. In Mark he is P.Prov.G.S.W. and in RAM holds the West Yorkshire Distinguished Service Award. He was also a member of many other orders such as Rose Croix and Knights Templar.
He talked of his many friends in Freemasonry and mentioned with fondness Keith and the antics they got up to. He also talked of great friends such as Carl Whitehead Provincial Grand Master for thirty years in West Yorkshire and, his nephew Norman Whitehead who he remembers once beating in a Mark Golf competition which, he says didn’t go down too well!
Perhaps his greatest friend was Brian Emmett who was Deputy Provincial Grand Master between 1999 and 2002. Graham referred to Brian as a dear dear friend and they got on famously as did their wives and family. Only ever falling out once when he remembers Brian couldn’t decide which tie to wear for dinner one night! Needless to say, that was quickly forgotten once they sat down gin and tonic in hand! They went on countless holidays together to such places such as Austria and Tenerife. Their most exiting trips though were two fly drives they did to America. The first time down the West Coast visiting such places as Pheonix, Arizona, The Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and, San Francisco. The second time was to drive down the East Coast visiting such places as Florida, South Carolina, Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans and Key West.
A really brilliant night of Mark Masonry. Graham closing the night with a short and sincere thank you to all his friends and to everyone who had made the effort to come out and make this such a special evening for him.
Andrew Johnson
Communications Manager