St.Peter's Operative Lodge No.284

Brethren and friends, here at St.Peter's we have been faced with the problem of trying to think of a way to repair the floor covering in the Lodge Temple.
But after considerable debate, and advice from local experts in the carpet and vinyl industry it was decided that the only solution is to replace the inside working area, leaving the border and corner sashes in their original positions.
The existing covering is made from vinyl and unfortunately has now come to the end of it's working life; it must be said though that it has served the Lodge well over the decades, and has allowed thousands of Brethren to meet on the level and part on the square, and indeed the same number of candidates must have traveled east over it's checkered surface in search of light.
It has also provided a surface for the various other degrees within Freemasonry to carry out their work under the canopy of this beautiful Temple.
After deciding to replace the working area we were then faced with the problem of what type of material should be used, should we try one whole carpet, which many Lodges now use and indeed looks very grand. After more debate it was decided that because we are keeping the outer border and corner sashes, that we should stick with vinyl. Now comes the part that we all hate, the price for the material, supply and fitting costs.
After numerous estimates we opted for the best quality, for obvious reasons, we wanted the job to be done to the highest standard of fitting and materials used so that hopefully this surface would serve the Lodge and Brethren for many decades after it celebrates it's 200th Anniversary in 2020.

The above project is going to cost the Lodge in the region of, £3600, so we were then faced with the problem of how are we going to finance this much needed new floor covering, several ideas were bounced about, and then PM James Moodie suggested that we could sell individual squares, in much the same as the format used when selling raffle tickets, so this was agreed, and he was appointed as the Square-Man.

PM. Moodie has now set up a Square-Draw in the name of (Lodge Floor Fund) and will work as follows.
He has counted the number of squares, which there are, 581, and has numbered each,
1 to 581, and has set a price for each square at, £5.
RWM of St.Peter's Bro.Dave Warren has put forward a
FIRST PRIZE of a GALLON of WHISKY.

Below is an example of the Square Draw layout