A CELEBRATION took place at a Masonic Lodge based in Thornliebank as members marked the exact date of the founding of the lodge 150 years ago.

Among those who attended the event on November 6 was Ramsay McGhee, who is Grand Master Mason of Scotland.

He conducted a commemoration ceremony followed by a celebration dinner at Lodge Thorntree No. 512.

During the ceremony, he reminded those present that the lodge was founded in 1871, which was the same year that Queen Victoria opened the Royal Albert Hall in London, the first rugby international between Scotland and England took place and Thomas Lipton opened his first grocery shop in Glasgow.

When the lodge’s charter was granted, Thornliebank was just a small village dominated by the huge chimneys of the Printfield Calico Print and Dyeworks which provided work.