I don’t think the Morris was ever put to the test,
but it was happy to putter around the district, never broke down, and never
caused us any trouble. The racing green Alpine was the first sports car I had
owned, and gave me immense pleasure driving around the district doing home
visits. It was occasionally let loose on a stretch of dual carriageway. Despite
that, there were recurrent minor problems, and I became friends with Giuntini
who became Mr. Fixit. He belonged to Margate Round Table, a sort of young man’s
Rotary (motto: ‘Adopt, Adapt, Improve’) and said that he thought I might enjoy
becoming a member.
I have never been a great ‘joiner’ of
organisations, and nor has Jan. Getting together so young, we were quite happy
with our individual careers and our time together even if Jan’s focus was now
on our two little boys. But we discussed it, and I was nominated. There was a
linked organisation for wives of Tablers called the ‘Inner Circle’, the thought
of which made Jan shudder, but which eventually became fun. Table and Circle,
and the people we met, became an important part of our lives even if we were
already busy with the house, the extended family and the practice.
The other odd connection that opened up followed a
telephone call to my old Biology teacher at Chatham House; the one who had said
to my parents in 1961 that I ‘would not amount to anything unless I applied
myself’. I suppose there was a small part of me wanted to say: “So there; here
I am a doctor!” But Bob was not only congratulatory, and pleased that his
intervention had paid off, he was enthusiastic about a meeting. So one evening
after surgery, I drove over to Ramsgate and I had the opportunity to bring him
up to date with my career. What I did not know, of course, was that he had an
ulterior motive (don’t we all!). After half an hour of general chat and catch
up about some other Old Ruymians who had been through his classes, he asked if
I had ever considered becoming a Freemason? I was a bit stunned. I had had
random thoughts from time to time given overheard conversations with family
members. As I understood it, my great grandfather had been a member of a Lodge
in Liverpool, my grandfather had followed the tradition, and my father and
perhaps a couple of his brothers had also been masons. More than that I knew
nothing, although I had seen some smart flat cases brought out of wardrobes at
various times (although never the contents). I was not even sure whether they
were committed members, although I assumed my great grandfather had been, given
the rumour he had been a Grand Master at one time.
Bob took all of this in, and told me that a new
lodge had recently been created for former pupils of Chatham House (The Old
Ruymian Lodge), that he had been appointed Master, and he and the other members
had been looking for their first initiate. I was told it would entail a meeting
once a month, and some learning and coaching on a ritual for which there was a
tiny book. By the way, did I have a dinner jacket? (Yes!) Somewhat perplexed,
given I had just become a father for the second time, a GP with a reasonably
busy and consuming practice (and a steep learning curve), an owner of a home
which needed some attention before the winter, and a Tabler, I needed time to
discuss with Jan as well as time to think. But there was a bit of me quite
intrigued, and when I talked about on the phone to my father, he sounded
excited that I had been invited.
So, over the months I began learning ritual, and
duly attended regular meetings of the Lodge. Given my many years as a choirboy
there was some intrigue in the way that religious texts had been adapted to
Freemasonry. Of course, there was also the precision of the ritual and the
implied threats if anything was divulged to outsiders. The members of the Lodge
were somewhat older than I was, and their memories of school shared over the
dinner after Lodge were quite remote, and often linked to a wartime Britain
that was before my time. So it was sometimes a struggle, but I was determined
to complete the pathway followed by my forebears, and I did. But I often gave
thought to the purpose of the whole thing. The Lodge was a young one, and had
not yet begun to support charities, nor ‘do good works’ in the local community.
And it began over the years to be awkward to spend yet another evening away
from Jan and the boys. So what was it that had so intrigued my great
grandfather and led him to need to go higher and higher up the ranks? I am not
sure I ever found out. As I said, I am not very good at joining groups that
appear not to have some purpose, especially purpose in the community. Funnily
enough, that thinking may have derived from my long years as a choirboy;
perhaps I had become imbued by a lifelong need to be useful. Ultimately,
perhaps I was never a mason for long enough to learn about the charitable side.
The contrast with Round Table was marked. The
members were mainly around my age, they were lively and sociable (if sometimes
rowdy), there were events for families, but most of all there were projects
specifically designed to assist one or other group in the community, with a
large project decided each year, and driven from the chair and executive. And
there were like thinking people including another GP David Diggens (who was to
become a godparent to our younger son), and Colin Logan - a local dentist who
had been a year behind me at school, and subsequently trained at King’s
College. And there were international connections. The Margate club was twinned
with clubs in Holland and France, and that meant hosting families from abroad,
and then return visits. There was a sense of excitement and collaboration; and
it provided useful support to the community.
A spectacular example of being part of the
community was taking part in the annual Margate Carnival. One year we came up
with the idea for a carnival float “The Knights of the Round Table” (not very
original I am afraid). Someone loaned us a flat top truck, we spent weeks of
evenings and weekends building a set that looked like a castle, and costumes
with grey woollen balaclavas, and tunics, and shields and swords. We had a high
old time, but best of all we collected money later used for charity.
Somewhat later, (and sadly after my time) the main
charity was to become the Anthony Nolan Fund for bone marrow matching for
transplants. But that is a story to be returned to later.
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