St.Peter's Operative Lodge No.284

The celebration of the Centenary of an individual must at all times be accompanied by mingled feelings, from the past come voices speaking of the pleasant days of that seeming far off period of happy youth, when opening life presented a wide horizon of great possibilities.
These are followed by the voices from the period when the bud burst forth into the full bloom of manhood, during which the notes of the glad song of life had lost none of the confidence of youth, and the outlook on life was still full of hope for the years to run.

In quick succession voices are heard from mature age, when the notes of the song had lost the confidence of earlier years, but were still full of hope for the future. Passing years, alas, glide all to quickly, leaving their impress upon the individual, and in decrepit old age the possibilities of youth have vanished, the hopes of the prime of life have faded, and grim Old Age bends an attentive ear to the voice which, wafted across the silence of the Great Unknown, fall upon the ear of the weary wayfarer, beckoning him out beyond the shadows.

Such are the conditions surrounding the celebration of the Centenary of an individual. Not so however, with the Centenary of an Organization, the principles of which stand forth as a Gospel of the Brotherhood of Man. For such, no mingled feelings need mar the harmony of the occasion, the note of rejoicing can be strong and clear, and to give ear to the voices speaking from the past will only be to receive an impetus for the future.

These voices speak of a Charter passing untarnished from generation to succeeding generation, bringing to old age a perennial youth, of a past wherein have been experienced the sunshine and the shade, fair weather and foul, but amidst all these the triumphant note of victory is heard.

So has it been with the St.Peter's Operative Lodge of Freemasons No.284, which celebrated its Centenary this year, when the rejoicings marking the occasion proved,
a  '' Red Letter Day '' in the long and honorable history of the Lodge.