Versa: Issue Ten

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19
John Seabrook
(OA 1951)
1932 – 2022
Written by his daughter,
Hilary Robertson
John Allan Seabrook
was born in Harpenden
to Robert William Eric
and Doris (née Halsey)
Seabrook. His older sister
Nancy had been born in
1930.
Chris Wilkinson, OBE, RA
(OA 1963)
1945 – 2021
Written by Rod Argent (OA
1963)
Chris was a lovely person;
kind, helpful and, of course, a
wonderfully talented architect.
In spite of extraordinary and
groundbreaking worldwide success, he remained exactly the
same quiet, helpful, considerate and generous person in later
life that I first knew as a close friend so many years ago...
OA LODGE
By John Williams (OA 1964)
Looking through the old minute books, Emergency meetings
were most common in the early years of the Lodge in the late
1920s and 1930s when Lodge membership was building up. I
cannot recall one in the last 30 years.
The young John joined
St John”s Infants School
in 1937 and in 1940 St
Nicholas Church School. In May of the same year, he joined
3rd Harpenden Wolf Cub pack, moving onto the Scouts in
January 1943. On 27 September 1946, he was presented with
the King’s Scout award – the highest youth award achievable
in the Commonwealth.
In February 1943, John passed the eleven-plus and joined
St Albans School. One of his biggest regrets was leaving
school at 16 and not going on to university, but he passed the
School Certificate with flying colours in 1949 and became an
apprentice at Home Counties Newspapers before National
Service in the RAF.
John took part in the first Harpenden Gang Show in 1949
(and the 70th in 2019!) In 1961 he became the youngest
councillor in Harpenden and he played an active part in local
politics throughout his working life as a teacher and writer.
John will be missed by friends, family and especially his
wife Liz (née Hossack), children Tim and Hilary and
grandchildren Florence, Freddie, George and Grace.
He had a passion for art and architecture from an early
age, and after fruitful apprenticeships developing his
talents with Norman Foster and Richard Rogers and
forming his own company with Jim Eyre, he soon took the
world of architecture by storm with his stunning designs.
WilkinsonEyre’s goal was always to fuse the openly technocentric
with beauty of form and structure, and they soon won
the prestigious Stirling Prize two years in succession (Magna
Science Centre, 2001 and the Millennium Bridge, 2002). Chris
Wilkinson and Jim Eyre continued this approach unabated,
right up to Chris’s death, both in the UK and internationally
with enormous and constantly growing success.
Goethe described music as liquid architecture, and
architecture as frozen music. I believe Chris’s sense of design
is described beautifully in this way. As a man passionate about
good music of all kinds, he brought his wonderfully fluent
sense of line and motion, both essential ingredients in the
inherent structure of music, to all his projects.
Chris lived a successful, full and fulfilled life. He was a fine
abstract painter, who was elected to the Royal Academy
in 2006. He enjoyed a close and very happy family life and
is survived by his wife Diana (née Edmunds) and his two
children Zoe, a creative consultant, and Dominic, an architect.
HRH THE EARL OF WESSEX CELEBRATING THE
£300,000 DONATION AT FREEMASONS’ HALL
The Lodge held its first regular meeting of the year
at Ashwell House on Saturday 8th January 2022, a
meridian meeting held in the late morning. Despite the
ongoing pandemic, it was very well attended. The ceremony,
the initiation of a new candidate into the Lodge, was
conducted in an exemplary manner.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme
Introduced by his father-in-law King George VI, His
Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh started his life in
Freemasonry in 1952, at the age of 31. He was initiated
into the Navy Lodge No. 2612, on 5th December that
year. The Navy Lodge prides itself on being the premier
Naval Lodge in the world, with an unparalleled history
that includes four monarchs as past members – King
Edward VII, King Edward VIII, King George VI and
King George II of the Hellenes. In 1956, the Duke, with
Kurt Hahn, became founding chairman of The Duke
of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme, a self-improvement
programme to give young people aged 14 to 24 “a sense
of responsibility to themselves and their communities”.
He remained its chairman until his death.
The Masonic Charitable Foundation became a strategic
partner of the The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme
in 2021 and has funded a new national programme to
upskill its team and volunteers. More than 30,000 young
people with disabilities and special educational needs
will be able to do their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award,
thanks to the three-year strategic partnership, which will
donate a total of £300,000 from the Freemasons.
ENGAGEMENTS
James Sinclair
(OA 2013)
On Friday 28th January 2022, James
Sinclair and Niamh Deane got
engaged in Oxford, on the feast of St
Thomas Aquinas. They are hoping to
marry in August 2023 in Oxford.
Following seven years as a pupil
at St Albans School, James went to
Magdalen College, Oxford, where he read Literae Humaniores
(commonly known as Classics ‘Mods’ and ‘Greats’).
After graduating with a 2:1 degree, he went to Homerton
College, Cambridge, where he obtained his PGCE teaching
qualification in Latin with Classics, and later a master’s degree
in Education, Researching Practice. James is now in his fourth
year of teaching Classics at St Edward's School, Oxford, where
he is also the Acting Head of Year 9.
Niamh grew up in Worcester. She read History at the University
of Leicester, where she obtained a first class degree, before
moving to Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford to read the MPhil in
Islamic Studies and History. After graduating, Niamh worked
as the Assistant Chaplain at St Benet's Hall, Oxford (during
which time James and Niamh met) before she moved to The
Oratory School, Reading as their Chaplaincy Assistant.
The wedding will hopefully involve a number of OAs from the
Class of 2013, including Jonny Phillips, Yoan Stoyanov and
Daniel Heydecker.
In March, the Lodge donated £2,000 to the Masonic Charitable
Foundation (MCF) which has launched a national appeal for
donations to the Ukraine Crisis Fund. All donations are being
sent to the British Red Cross as the NGO on the ground in
Ukraine, to add to the £50,000 already donated by the MCF.
The Lodge held its second meeting at Ashwell House on
Saturday 2nd April. Unusually, this was an ‘Emergency’ not
a ‘regular’ meeting. Emergency meetings are held when
Lodges do not have an adequate number of regular meetings
to cater for the ceremonies outstanding. As a result of the
pandemic, when all masonic meetings had to cease, the
Lodge has a significant backlog of candidates for a variety of
degree ceremonies. In this case the candidate, who had been
initiated into the Lodge in 2019, was raised to the 3rd degree
some three years later! Sadly as a result of the upsurge in
Covid-19 cases, the meeting was less well attended than usual.
Nevertheless the ceremony was conducted superbly by W Bro
Chris Whiteside, a past master of the Lodge.
The United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) celebrated
the donation of £300,000 by the Masonic Charitable
Foundation to The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE)
during an event at Freemasons’ Hall in Covent Garden
on 8 March 2022. HRH The Earl of Wessex and HRH
The Duke of Kent attended the event.
Dr David Staples, chief executive of the United Grand
Lodge of England, said: “Prince Philip was well known
for his charity work, having been involved with
numerous organisations. At UGLE, we looked for a
project that would honour Prince Philip’s memory.
Helping young people with special educational needs
and becoming a strategic partner of the Duke of
Edinburgh’s Award is therefore a great honour for us.
Helping the DofE was an easy decision as Freemasonry’s
core values are charity, integrity, respect and friendship,”
he added.