60 Years not out for David Greenway

At the recent meeting of Rural Philanthropic Lodge David Greenway received his 60 year long service award from the PGM RWBro Ray Guthrie.

David was born on the 02/11/1934 in Islington London. He parents then moved to Thornton Heath in London. Him and his sister were evacuated twice in the second world war to Barnstaple in Devon to a lady whose son was in the royal marines. He remembers the punishment he received for sinking the bathtub on the local pond. Plus him and his sister watching American soldiers going into the pub across the road to drink cider and on coming out into the cold collapsing into the hands of the MPs to be thrown in a pile on the back of the army truck and taken away when full. He also remembers the large see through Ballons the US soldiers handed out when they went off for D Day and the hiding he received from his foster mother for which he did not understand why until later.

He family moved to South Africa in 1947 after the big freeze. After school he traveled up to Kenya to visit us Uncle, Dr Peter Greenway  OBE, who was a Botanist who had moved to Tanzini after the first world war before travelling to the UK for a stint. After returnign to South Africa he met and married Shelia in 1963, while living in Johannesburg. She encouraged him to join masonry as he had no hobbies and she had seen the old men with their little suitcases off to meetings when they were living in Hillbrow, Johannesburg. He approached one of his then bosses who he knew was a mason, which resulted in him joining Clifton Lodge in 1964. (Which does have its roots from Clifton in Bristol)

David then moved to Mandini Zululand to work at the Tugela paper mill as the warehouse and railyard manager. This was situated near the Ultimatum tree,  where the British gave the Ultimatum to the Zulus before invading Zululand. Plus Fort Peason on the Tugela river and other famous Zululand war battle site. Gingindlovu and Eshowe where he was a Royal Arch Mason. On retirement, he moved with his wife Shelia to Stellenbosch outside Cape Town in the Western Cape in South Africa before moving to Burnham on Sea in 2013 to be near his son Peter, joining the Rural Philanthropic Lodge shortly after.

The night was also made special by the Passing of Travis Miller in superb fashion, Travis was an excellent candidate and will be great addition to the Lodge.