The members and visitors of Yachtsman’s Lodge No 3698 met at Woolton Golf Club to celebrate the 50 years in Freemasonry of Frank John Squires. WM Len Jones accompanied by his wardens entered the temple and then opened the lodge. Len informed the brethren of the sad passing of Thomas Charles Woods and asked the brethren to stand in respect of departed merit.
Kevin Poynton (left) welcomed by Len Jones.
After conducting some lodge business it was opened to the third degree. PrDGDC Mark Barton entered the lodge and informed the brethren that APrGM Kevin Poynton stood without and demanded admission. He entered the lodge accompanied by other grand officers and acting Provincial grand officers. Kevin was offered the gavel of the lodge by the WM which he accepted with great pleasure and was saluted in due form. Kevin then closed the lodge to the first degree and asked if the tyler could tyle from the inside, which was agreed to by the WM.
In true Kevin fashion, he then requested that the celebrant Frank Squires, be placed before him and asked the PrDGDC to ensure that he was extremely comfortable and then related to the brethren the life and times of Frank Squires.
Kevin said that the career facts on paper were very interesting, but reading between the lies he felt there was more to the story than meets the eye, and so it proved to be! Frank had sailed the world. Frank was born in Hazel Grove off Lodge Lane, Liverpool on November 11 1935, His dad and mum were ‘jobbing’ printers by trade but during the depression there was little trade so his dad joined the Merchant Navy and sailed with the Blue Funnel Line on the passenger ship MV Nerissa en-route from St Johns Halifax and was straggling behind the convoy. At 00:27 hours on 1 May 1941, the ship by then being unescorted was making great knots back to Liverpool when she was torpedoed with the loss of 291 souls. Even more tragic was that at the age of three Frank’s mother died and he was farmed out to his grandmother who wasn’t very nice to him. Frank was intelligent enough to get into St Edwards College, but was always getting into trouble because his grandmother would not allow him to do the homework!
Frank Squires (left) congratulated Len Jones.
At the age of 17, Frank joined the navy and started his training in Portsmouth before moving onto Devonport for some square bashing and then moved to the training squadron at Portland where he lived aboard HMS Indefatigable, one of two aircraft carriers. After a sort while he was transferred to HMS Caister Castle (K690) to undergo some naval training. It was here Frank began his specialist training in radar.
For some reason Frank ended up in the south Atlantic on the frigate HMS Sparrow (Black Swan Class) based at Simons Town, not far from Cape Town and from here sailed all around Africa, America, Antarctica as well as seeing action in the Persian Gulf with anti-gun running and anti-slavery duties. Kevin continued by telling everyone that Frank’s ship HMS Sparrow had a broken boiler and all the crew were transferred to HMS Magpie which had been commanded by Prince Philip. Frank continued his travels for a while longer and made the rank of Leading Seaman, quite an early promotion with pay of 11s a day!
Kevin had met with Frank previously to clarify his career history and said he had asked Frank if he ever got into lumber. He recalled that when he was in Simons Town on the occasion of his birthday he found he had missed the train back to the docks. He eventually got back but had to ‘borrow’ an admiral’s barge which was just riding at anchor at Naval HQ. It cost him four years pay!
Frank (centre) receives his certificate from Ken Poynton (right) being watched by Andy Whittle.
Frank eventually got back to Blighty and ran a telephone network where he first met Irene who was working for the GPO telephones and they got married in 1957. He was then drafted to HMS Tamar, a shore based station in Hong Kong, for 18 months. This was a difficult posting as Frank had been told that Irene would be able to join him. However orders were changed and he boarded the troop ship HMS Oxfordshire along with 20 other sailors – all minus their wives, but along with the Kings Liverpool Regiment. On this ship was another sailor whom he later met in the lodge – Les McFarlane. Frank was married to Irene for 22 years and had two sons, Gary and Paul who produced three grandsons, Michael, Colin and Ethan.
In Hong Kong, Frank had told Kevin that he met loads of people and made good friends with the Chinese junk owners with whom they used to barter ship’s stores. Frank told everyone that he had been back to the area and houses were still painted ‘deck’ green and ‘ship side’ grey paint.
Frank came out of the navy in 1962 and was employed at the Threlfalls Brewery in Liverpool as a stock taker and from there moved on to become a self-employed licensed stock taker until retirement at the age of 76.
Unfortunately Frank’s marriage to Irene ended in 1979 and he later re-married to Margaret until her sudden death in 1996. His current companion is Marie who is now in a care home and he visits her everyday.
Kevin informed the gathering that among Frank’s many other achievements he qualified for ‘Yacht Masters Ocean’ which means he is able to navigate anywhere in the world.
Frank (left) congratulated by old shipmate Les McFarlane.
According to lodge records Frank was proposed into Freemasonry by Geoff Parr and initiated into Yachtsman’s Lodge in December 1965 when the lodge met at the Exchange Hotel. Frank was passed in February 1966 and raised to the sublime degree of a master Mason on December 7 1966. Frank was installed as WM on 5 November 1975. In 1978/9 he floated between DC and ADC. Kevin said that Frank had, during his years in the lodge, been responsible for either proposing or seconding at least 11 members, six of whom went on to succeed to the chair of King Solomon.
In 1985 the Province recognised his good works and Frank was appointed to the rank of PPrJGD and in 1992 to PPrGSuptwks and further promoted to PPrJGW in 2001. Frank was also a Royal Arch Mason and a member of another Masonic order.
Kevin continued by saying: “Brother Frank Squires, the Provincial Grand Master Tony Harrison has in recognition of your commitment to our fraternity caused a commemorative certificate to be produced”. The group chairman Andy Whittle read out the certificate and Kevin then presented it to Frank. Kevin’s closing remarks were: “Brethren, Frank Squires by the very nature of his upbringing seemed to be a bit of a loner, so Frank it is my privilege to present the certificate to mark your 50 continuous years in Freemasonry and also thank you for allowing us to share in your celebrations.” This was greeted with loud applause.
Pictured from left to right, are: Vic Albin group vice chairman, Andy Whittle, Keith Sanders, Frank Squires, Kevin Poynton and Len Jones.
The WM was asked to resume his chair and the grand and acting Provincial grand officers retired with the celebrant. Once the lodge had been duly closed the brethren retire to the festive board where a raffle was held raising £74 for the lodge charity chest.
In response to the toast to his health, Kevin said that it had been an absolute honour and privilege to be part of the celebrations and thanked the lodge members for their hospitality. Keith Sanders proposed the toast to Frank saying that he had known Frank for 39 years and the way in which Kevin had presented his life history must have filled his heart with joy. Keith went on to say that Frank had made such a difference to his life and had taught him a great deal for which he was truly grateful. Frank then cut his cake and an excellent evening was had by all the attendees.
Lodge members, grand and Provincial grand officers.