Vereeniging Peace Lodge No. 3461
Consecrated 3rd December 1910
Meeting at: Vereeniging - Masonic Hall, 43 Rhodes Avenue
Meeting Dates: 1st Thursday (ex Jan) Inst Mar
Contact 082 472 0339
Lodge History
The peace negotiations which, in 1902, ended the South African war took place in Vereeniging and the political reconstruction which followed concluded with the coming into force of the Union of South Africa Act on 31 May 1910. So the new Lodge could be said to have been most appropriately named.
The consecration took place in the old Drill Hall but meetings were held at the Court House until June 1914, when the Lodge's own premises in Joubert Street were completed. The Lodge remained there until 1970, when it moved into the new masonic hall in Rhodes Avenue, owned jointly by Vereeniging Peace and Harmony Lodges.
The Lodge started off vigorously enough, with twenty regular and emergency meetings in the first year. Its progress, over the next eighty years, including two world wars, has been generally steady, although there was a disturbing occurrence in 1912, when a ballot for two candidates did nor prove clear, three brethren resigned, and 'the meeting retired in discord'. The after effects were to be felt for years afterwards.
The Lodge's many stalwarts have included two Grand officers: Bro W J Ball, WM in 1919/20 and 1930/1, in the early 1930s Mayor of Vereeniging and from 1934, Secretary of the Lodge for 18 years; and Bro Mike Lubner, initiated in 1928, WM in 1934/35 and a member of the Lodge for 50 years.
In 1947, a daughter lodge, Harmony No 6470 was consecrated - and in 1963 there was a splendid example of how 'the best laid schemes o'mice an' men gang aft a gley'. An ox braai to raise funds for local charities was a tremendous social success, with over 500 present - and the profit was R9.72!
The Lodge membership reached 75 in the early 1960s, and then declined to 55 by 1973, which figure - seen as a satisfactory size - has been maintained since.
In 1993, with the sale by the Scottish lodges of their own masonic hall, the opportunity arose to develop the Rhodes Avenue premises into a masonic centre for all lodges, chapters etc meeting in Vereeniging. The essential inter constitutional cooperation was there, the Scottish lodges made available the proceeds of their sale for improvements at Rhodes Avenue and became shareholders in Peace and Harmony Investments (Pty) Ltd, and the combined masonic centre was brought into use in April 1994
Reference: 'A Century of Brotherhood' by A A Cooper & D E G Vieler