Prince of Wales Lodge No. 1705

The Lodge of Instruction was formed and the inaugural meeting was held on Monday 14th November 1949.

W.Bro. H.F. Dent was elected as the first Preceptor with W. Bro. D.S. Boswell as Assistant. W. Bro. Dent held office for four years during which solid foundations were laid. The following 60 years have seen a number of excellent Preceptors, all of whom have continued and enhanced the good work, keeping closely to the original principles of instruction as well as rehearsal and retaining the custom of holding an Annual Festival in December at which much original work has been presented. The Lodge of Instruction Festival is still very popular and is one of the highlights of the masonic calendar for Gosport and Fareham.

Most Past Masters of the Lodge have passed through this 'school' where serving Officers are able to practice their craft.

The Lodge of Instruction meets at 7 PM on the second Monday of each month from September through to June. However, each December the Lodge of Instruction presents a Festival Lecture and this meeting tyles at 6:45 PM. This year, 2009, sees the occasion of our 60th year and our 600th meeting, we are hoping to deliver a special Festival in December to mark the occasion.

Intending members should apply to the Lodge Secretary - W. Bro. Bill West.

The Lodge of Instruction Preceptor is W. Bro. Malcolm Brice and the Assistant Preceptor is W. Bro. Bill Starkey.

The 2009 Lecture will be presented on the occasion of the 600th Meeting of the Lodge of Instruction. The title of the lecture is "The Initiate" and is concerned with tracing the Initiate's introduction into Freemasonry and through his entry into the Lodge. The meeting commences at 18:45 on Monday 14th December 2009.

The 2008 Lodge of Instruction Festival was held on Monday 8th December.
The lecture was entitled 'Aprons, Collars and Jewels'.

Preparations for the 2007 Lecture were virtually decimated by the unavailability through work commitments, illness, family requirements and various other difficulties of several of the Brethren that were due to take part in the Lecture. However, we were able to 'fill the breaches' as best as we could and the Lecture, entitled "The Pillars in Masonry" was presented on Monday 10th December 2007. The office of W.M. was occupied for the evening by a past Secretary of the Lodge of Instruction, W. Bro. Geoff Mecham, who journied over from his new home in Canada for the evening. We are sure that a journey of 3,480 miles each way must represent a record for any Brother to occupy the Chair of a Lodge of Instruction anywhere!

The Lecture itself was presented by the remaining members of the Lodge of Instruction, ably assisted by the Past Masters. We were particularly honoured to have welcomed two Assistant Provincial Grand Masters and four other Grand Officers to our meeting.

The Lecture was received very well and we were proud to be able to present a Festival Lecture once again.

Thanks to all that took part and to all that attended.

We were able to raise over £200 on the evening which we were pleased to be able to pass on to the Charity - 'Diabetes UK' - in memory of W. Bro. Gordon Jolly who passed to the Grand Lodge Above this month.

The lecture was entitled 'Light and the Lights', and was presented on Monday 11th December 2006.

There was a very good level of attendance at the meeting and the members of the Lodge of Instruction were particularly pleased to be able to welcome two Assistant provincial Grand Masters to the meeting. W. Bros. Graham Williams and Alan Hamilton were both able to join us.

The Lecture was presented by our junior members (ably assisted as ever by the Past Masters) and was very well received.