The Prince of Wales Lodge meets at the Llanelli Masonic temple in Harries Avenue, Llanelli. The Lodge has eight meetings per masonic year, meeting on the second Monday in September, October, November, January, February, March, and April and the third Monday in May. Our regular meetings always start at a time convenient for those who work, at approximately 6:45pm. Outside of the formal ritual we like to keep our meetings and the post meeting dinner, or festive board, light-hearted and fun for both our members and masonic guests. The Lodge currently has 48 subscribing and 9 Honorary members, 54 members in total, aged from their ’30s to their ’90s. We are an incredibly supportive and encouraging group of people who always endeavor to bring out the best in everybody’s abilities by recognizing the positive contributions that each member can make depending upon their skill set. We have members who are grandfathers, and fathers of younger children as well as single men. Social Events:
We regularly get together for drinks and meals, often a curry, and we also hold an annual formal dinner or “Ladies Evening” in December where family and friends are invited to join the members for a fun evening, during which we help raise funds for a worthy cause. The lodge uses a WhatsApp group to regularly communicate birthday wishes and arrange social events such as Curry nights, Brewery Tours, BBQs, and Quiz nights as well as confirming lodge news and updates
Professions of Lodge Members:
Administrators 3%, Clergy 3%, Construction 3%, Education 14%, Engineering 8%, Farmer 3%, Financial Sector 6%, Healthcare 8%, Hospitality 11%, IT professionals 6%, Police 11%, Public sector workers 17%, Sales 3% and Utilities 6%.
53% are working and 47% are retired
The Lodge was consecrated on the 11th of April 1856 and named the Prince of Wales Lodge No. 969 (this number was changed to 671 in August 1863). The Lodge was the first to be constituted in the Province of South Wales Western Division after it was set up in 1848 bringing the total number of lodges in the province to five. The origins of the lodge are not fully certain; however, it is known that the original constituted lodge petition was signed by 7 members of St. Peters lodge #471 (Carmarthen), 2 members of Indefatigable lodge #237 (Swansea) and1 from Royal Shamrock lodge #32 (Waterford, Ireland) and was recommended by St. Peters lodge #471 (Carmarthen), and so mother lodge of the Prince of Wales lodge, and the Deputy Provincial Grand Master John Johnes. The first Lodge meetings were held at the Thomas Arms Hotel in Llanelli and then moved to the Athenaeum Street School (now the Llanelli Registrar's Office in Coleshill Terrace) due to a fire at the hotel for short time, before returning to the refurbished Thomas Arms until the present Masonic Hall in Harries Avenue was opened in September 1936, The last Lodge meeting in the Thomas Arms was on 13th of July 1936 with the first meeting in the new masonic hall being on 12th of October 1936. Brother Frederick Bolinbroke Ribbans and the first initiate of the lodge was William McKeirnon, who became Worshipful Master three years later. There have now been 151 masters of the Prince of Wales lodge, with 12 having been installed as master twice, and 3 having been installed on 3 occasions (up to 2025). The lodge has met on approximately 1,780 times with more than 1,100 members made up of approximately 958 initiates and 147 Joining members. The greatest number of members was in 1921 with 209, while today in 2025 we have 48 members. On the 5th of July 1993, the Lodge was honored with a visit from the late Lord Farnham, the then Pro Grand Master, and as far as can be determined, this is the only time a Grand Lodge Officer of such high rank had visited an 'ordinary' lodge in Southwest Wales. These days we have the Provincial grand master and his team visiting us on each installation day, the second Monday in September for a bumper meeting. In The Prince of Wales lodge, as with all other lodges, it is the older or senior masonic brethren who are the backbone of the lodge, delivering ritual and sharing masonic knowledge, but in all truth, they are the "has beens", It is to younger brethren and new members and candidates that the Prince of Wales lodge must look to, we ned to foster, nurture and help them in their progress through masonry for they are the future of the lodge and the fraternity, they are the ones who must be encouraged. The Lodge will continue to prosper through new members but must also accept that changes must be made on merit and as modern times demand as we move forward creating more masonic history within the Prince of Wales lodge.
