Caeruleum Club History
The Masonic province of Herefordshire is nestled on the English side of the Welsh border in beautiful rolling countryside. Many Provinces have what is known as a ‘Light Blue’ club – a club specifically aimed at engaging brethren who have yet to receive Provincial Rank honours, and as such still wear a light blue apron.
The Caeruleum Club is the ‘Light Blue’ Club for the Province of Herefordshire.
The Club’s aim is to develop and nurture light blue masons, helping them to enjoy their Freemasonry by visiting interesting and significant masonic buildings, organising trips to London Grand Lodge, providing an incubator for thought and debate, acting as a representative body for all light blue masons in the Province and fostering the bonds of brotherly love with regular social events aimed at newer and/or younger Freemasons.
Brothers Chris (Christopher) Barrett and Tommy (Thomas) Santillo formed a team of like-minded light blue masons to launch the club on the 30th January 2020.
The first job, was to write a Club constitution, which was done so by Bro Santillo, and you can see it here, signed on the launch night by the President (Bro Barrett), the Chairman (Bro Santillo) and the Provincial Grand Master (who is also the club’s Patron) Michael Holland.
Next, Bro Santillo created the club a website, and with the help of Brothers Chris Barrett, Joseph Dignam (Secretary), Ian Pritchard (treasurer), James Taylor (Committee member and social media officer) and Jiles Barrett (Twitter social media officer) they organised the launch event.
In the meantime, the club’s tie and logo was designed by Worshipful Brother Geoffrey Wilding, who’s keen eye for design made his proposal a clear winner amongst the club membership
The Club launched with a successful event on the 30th January 2020 – a large gathering of Brethren came together of both dark and light blue ranks to be entertained by a comedian-magician and a fantastic meal, at the Kyrle Street Masonic Hall.
What's in a name?
Caeruleum is latin for ‘Light Blue’ and as such ‘Caeruleum Club’ literally means ‘Light Blue Club’.
The correct pronunciation of ‘Caeruleum’ is ‘sea-rule-e-am’.
Founding Members:
The following are the founding committee members and officers of the club:
Founding Patron: Micheal Holland (Provincial Grand Master)
Founding President: Chris Barrett
Founding Chairman: Tommy Santillo.
Secretary: Joseph Dignam
Treasurer: Ian Pritchard
Committee Member: Harry Fellowes
Committee Member: James Taylor
Social Media Officer: Jiles Barrett
The full list of founders are as follows: (alphabetical order)
Ben Clifford
Jayme Bacon
Andy (Andrew) Bailey
Jiles Barrett
Christopher Barrett
Will Bevan
Wilf Charles
Neil Clark
Basil Clement
Colin Connaughton
Ian Danks
Hendrik de Klerk
Joseph Dignam
Gareth Evans
Mark Exley
Harry Fellowes
Paul Finlay
Ross Foster
David Griffiths
Chris Holt
Stuart Hulland
Nick Humphrey
Tony Lewis
Gareth Milford
Paul Neades
Mick O’Brien
Andrew Pack
Terence Payen
Ian Pritchard
Richard Quinn
Billy Russell
Mark Sandford
Tommy Santillo
Nick Sheehan
Philip Sills
Tom Spellane
James Taylor
Edward Taylor
Keith Taylor
Andrew Thurgood
Dean Wall
Chris Walsh
Jed Watkins
Matthew Wilson
The Future for the Club
The club plans to run frequent social events to support growth in its infancy and to promote a greater understanding and awareness of Freemasonry.
Another key area for the club is to act as a representative body for the ‘light blue’ generation of Freemasons in the Province of Herefordshire and as such the club will be providing feedback to the Province on how to shape the future of Freemasonry.
Finally, the club hopes to develop, nurture and encourage newly made masons to enjoy their Freemasonry by visiting interesting and significant masonic buildings, attending Grand Lodge, asking questions and providing an incubator for inquisition, thought and debate.