Elmley Castle Lodge No 6247

St Andrews Church Hampton was near full to capacity on Wednesday when friends of W Bro David Barnet gathered to say farewell.

People who knew David through his many interests in life such as Masonry, the Camera Club, the former BBC Social Club, The Unitarian Chapel in Oat Street, work colleagues and those associated with his Musical interests all met up with his near neighbours to say a last and fond farewell.

Many of the older brethren from our lodge will remember his dad, Barney, who tiled the lodge rooms at Evesham for many years.

W Bro Bernard Hardy knew Davids dad and perhaps David, better than most of us and was best placed to deliver a fitting tribute by recalling much of Davids life, in particular his Masonic life. David was a keen and busy Freemason in the early years. Following a change of  circumstances resulting from the death of both his Father and then his Mother , David was forced to work longer hours and had to travel many miles in connection with his work. This left him little time to pursue his Masonry and his attendance in our lodge became less frequent.

Davids failing health gave rise to frequent and varied requests for assistance which were always answered in true Masonic nature by our Almoner and others.

David followed his father in his early employment when he became a messenger for Lloyds Bank.  A post that many today will never have heard of. I suppose one could say that the commercial courier service put an end to the office of Bank Messenger just as the World Wide Web is now shrinking the roll of the commercial courier.

David played the organ both in lodge and at the Unitarian Chapel in Oat Street.

Eighteen members of our lodge were able to attend the memorial service on Wednesday. David was cremated privately and his ashes were buried in the grave of his mother and father in the cemetery behind the church at Hampton.

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