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SINDLESHAM MASONIC CENTRE
Mole Road, Sindlesham, Wokingham. RG41 5DB
Tel. 0118 978 3902
Junction 10 off M4 to Reading, First turn off to Winnersh and Wokingham onto A329,
Right at traffic lights along King Street Lane to Mole Road.
Excellent Car Parking.
SINDLESHAM,
THE BERKSHIRE MASONIC CENTRE
Before
the Second World War the house, then known as Sindlesham Lodge, was owned by a
Mrs Smith, a relative of Lady Astor. During the war the building was
requisitioned and used by Miles Aircraft of Woodley as a hostel for female
employees, and as a training school. After the war it became a Jesuit Training
College which extended the building considerably by adding extra classrooms and
dormitories and, in 1964, built the magnificent Chapel which is now the main
Temple.
When
the Jesuits combined with another college at Queens Langley the property was put
up for sale and came to the notice of W.Bro. K.E. Wickham who immediately
alerted the province to its potential. W.Bro. Louis Lesser, then the Charity
Steward of the province, quickly realised the additional possibility of a Royal
Masonic Benevolent Institution home being built on the land which would become
available there; this was to become Lord Harris Court.
After
much rebuilding and refurbishment, the Berkshire Masonic Centre was opened in
1969.Since then the facilities have been steadily improved and extended, and now
provide three Temples, two dining rooms plus a separate banqueting suite, three
rehearsal rooms, a library and museum, a club bar, offices for the Provincial
Secretariat, and excellent car parking facilities.
The
premises are used by a very large number of Craft lodges, Royal Arch chapters,
Mark lodges, and masonic units of several other Orders. The Berkshire Masonic
Centre has become very much the hub of Freemasonry within the province, and the
permanent staff take pride in the high degree of professionalism exhibited in
the service which they provide.
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