Lodge St. Olaf No.1188
Founded in 1919Welcome to our spotlight on Lodge St Olaf No. 1188—a quiet but steadfast cornerstone of Cruden Bay life for more than a century.
Tucked away on Serald Lane, this small village lodge has served as a vital hub of friendship, support, and community spirit for hundreds of local men since its founding in 1919. Convening fortnightly during the dark winter months from October through to the end of March, the lodge has fostered an enduring legacy of camaraderie that has weathered the changing tides of coastal life.
At its heart, Lodge St Olaf is defined by its deep commitment to our village. Through quiet, benevolent efforts, this close-knit fraternity has donated tens of thousands of pounds to local causes and hosted numerous fundraising events over the decades, ensuring that support is always there for those who need it most. Yet, its history is also rich with laughter, quirky adventures, and an unmistakable local wit—taking members on travels to all corners of Scotland and even onto the waters for the once-infamous Ythan Raft Races.
Explore the rich history of the lodge below. We have touched on just a few examples to help map out their extraordinary journey. Together, we’ll step through:
- The Early Years: Their founding in 1919 and their first fifty winters meeting in the Port Erroll Public Hall.
- Building a Sanctuary: How the brethren transformed an old stable on Serald Lane into their dedicated lodge, consecrating it on a cold winter night in 1969.
- Moments of Solidarity: The moving story of April 2000, when the lodge threw open its doors to shelter local schoolchildren after a devastating fire.
- Village Legends: The high-spirited, creative, and gloriously slow campaigns on the River Ythan, and the quiet, modern-day efforts supporting local causes.
Scroll down, explore their rich heritage, and discover how a century of brotherhood continues to shape the very fabric of Cruden Bay today.
In the Wake of Peace – The Founding of Lodge St Olaf (1919)
In May 1919, Cruden Bay was a village trying to find its footing after the profound upheaval of the Great War. Returning from the battlefields and high seas, soldiers, local fishermen, farmers, and tradesmen faced the quiet but difficult task of rebuilding their lives. In response to this deep need for mutual support, healing, and local camaraderie, a new fraternal group was established in the village on 1st of May 1919: Lodge St Olaf No. 1188. Far from being a closed-off organisation, it was founded as a vital social network where local men could find reliable friendship and support one another through the challenges of post-war life.
Because they didn’t have a dedicated building of their own in those early days, the group made Port Erroll Public Hall their home, a partnership that would serve as their base of operations for their first fifty years. We can easily picture these local men walking through the dark, salt-tinged coastal winter nights every second Thursday between October and March, heading to the public hall to find warmth, light, and a strong sense of community. Leading them through these crucial first years was James Beagrie, who served from 1919 to 1921 as the lodge’s very first leader (traditionally known within the organisation as the “Right Worshipful Master”).
From its very first days, the group looked outward to the wider community. The founders firmly believed that their duty of care extended far beyond the walls of their meeting room. By hosting fundraisers and quietly pooling their resources, this small village group began a century-long tradition of supporting Cruden Bay, ultimately donating tens of thousands of pounds to local families and causes in need. Today, more than a century later, the community-first legacy of those 1919 pioneers remains as active and vital to village life as ever.
A Half-Century in the Public Hall (1919–1969)
For five decades, the heartbeat of Lodge St Olaf No. 1188 reverberated within the walls of the Port Erroll Public Hall. From its inaugural meetings in 1919 until the late 1960s, this grand old building served as the stage for fifty winters of local history. In an era when Cruden Bay’s fishing, farming, and railway industries defined daily life, the public hall was the undisputed social epicentre of the parish. For the members of the lodge, it was a familiar sanctuary—a place where the salt air of the North Sea met the warm, crackling energy of a shared fire and decades of deep friendship.
Operating in a rhythm that matched the seasonal shifts of coastal life, the group met fortnightly from the first Thursday in October to the end of March. Every second Thursday, local men would put aside their fishing nets, agricultural tools, or trade aprons as the winter darkness fell over the coast. They would make their way along the rain-slicked, wind-swept streets of Port Erroll to the public hall. Inside, the rustic charm of the hall was temporarily transformed. Beneath its timeworn timber rafters, the members carefully laid out their meeting equipment, donned their traditional aprons, and stepped into an evening of shared values and quiet camaraderie.
Throughout these fifty winters, the public hall bore witness to an unbroken chain of local friendship. It was here that the group navigated the monumental challenges of the twentieth century, including the dark years of the Second World War and the subsequent post-war reconstruction. Generation after generation of Cruden Bay men were welcomed into the group within these walls, preserving their rich heritage and maintaining a deep connection to the village. Though the arrangement required constant packing and unpacking of their meeting gear for every single gathering, the Port Erroll Public Hall served the lodge with distinction, embedding the group deeply into the social fabric of the village.
From Stables to Sanctuary: The Serald Lane Transformation (1969)
By the mid-1960s, after half a century of packing and unpacking their meeting equipment at the public hall, the members of Lodge St Olaf decided it was time to find a permanent home of their own. Their search led them to Serald Lane, where they spotted an old, weathered stone stable building owned by Simmers of Hatton. Seizing the opportunity, the group purchased the stables, launching a monumental, hands-on project that would become a true labour of love. Over several years of hard work, the members rolled up their sleeves to act as literal builders—gutting the old stables, building a modern flat-roofed extension to house a foyer, kitchen, and social room, and crafting a beautiful, dedicated meeting room within the original pitched-roof building.
The culmination of this extraordinary team effort arrived on the crisp, dark winter night of Friday, 19th December 1969. Despite the bite of the December wind and the challenge of navigating the narrow, unlit country roads of the era on the final weekend before Christmas, sixty-eight members and guests from across Aberdeenshire East made the journey to Cruden Bay. They filled the newly finished building to absolute capacity. The group’s leader, James Love, proudly welcomed a distinguished delegation of regional representatives led by C. S. Henderson to mark the milestone.
When the doors were closed to formally open the meeting at 7:30 p.m., a special dedication ceremony officially transformed the former stable building into a permanent home for the group. It was a landmark evening that celebrated fifty years of local progress, proving that the true strength of the lodge lay not just in the stone walls of Serald Lane, but in the teamwork and dedication of the local people who built it.
Inside the Temple: Shell Cases and Hay-Lofts
Cross the threshold of the Masonic Lodge in Serald Lane and step into a space where the rustic maritime history of Cruden Bay is seamlessly woven into the local heritage of the group. The main meeting hall of Lodge St Olaf is a living museum, housing unique treasures that tell a story of resourcefulness, community pride, and local history. Every artifact preserved under its roof serves as a bridge between the building’s humble past as a nineteenth-century stable and its modern role as a warm, welcoming gathering place.
Perhaps the most striking and mysterious feature of the hall is its magnificent stained-glass window, which bathes the room in a warm, colourful light. From the outside of the building—high up on the right-hand gable, just above the garage connecting the hall to ‘The Bakehouse’—passersby can only see a small, square opening that once served as a simple hay-loft door. Remarkably, the beautiful stained-glass window itself is entirely invisible from the street; it can only be seen and appreciated from inside the meeting room itself, standing as a private work of art that beautifully transformed a utilitarian farm opening into a hidden gem of local craftsmanship.
Just as fascinating are the lodge’s unique shell-case pillars. Rather than being grand architectural columns supporting the roof, these are small, ornamental pillars measuring no more than 14 inches tall. Despite their modest size, they carry an extraordinary history. Repurposed from heavy military shell casings, they represent a journey from active service to peaceful local utility. Today, they serve as unique ornamental archives, preserving a fascinating historic time capsule containing vintage documentation sealed safely inside. Alongside these, visitors can admire the majestic painting of King Solomon, hand-crafted ceremonial wooden pedestals, and walls lined with historic photographs and local memorabilia. Carefully preserved through generations, these treasures offer an intimate glimpse into a century of community spirit and shared local history.
The School that Found a Shelter (April 2000)
On the night of Thursday, 6th April 2000, a devastating fire swept through Port Erroll Primary School, completely gutting the building and leaving the village of Cruden Bay in a state of shock. With the Easter holidays drawing to a close, over a hundred older pupils faced the bleak prospect of having no school to return to. In this moment of sudden crisis, the community needed swift, compassionate action—and Lodge St Olaf answered the call.
Led by Jim Connor, who was leading the group at the time, alongside the other local members, the lodge immediately offered their premises on Serald Lane to the local authority to be used as temporary classrooms. The offer was gratefully accepted. To ensure the safety, comfort, and compliance of the children, the group granted permission for the local council to make necessary physical modifications to the foyer and the main hall itself, transforming them into fully functional educational spaces.
For the next several months, the quiet hall was filled instead with the vibrant energy, laughter, and footsteps of Cruden Bay’s school children. This extraordinary gesture of solidarity ensured that the children’s education could continue uninterrupted right within their home village. When the temporary school moved back out and the building was returned to the members in advance of their regular autumn meetings in October 2000, the physical improvements made to the space remained behind. More than just upgraded facilities, they stood as a lasting reminder of a time when the lodge threw open its doors to become a safe, warm shelter for the children of Cruden Bay.
Kings of the River Ythan: The Legendary Raft Races (1986–1995)
In the summer of 1986, the brethren of Lodge St Olaf No. 1188 decided to trade the dry land of Serald Lane for the unpredictable currents of the River Ythan. The annual Ythan Raft Race was then the largest assembled raft race in Europe, drawing over two hundred competitive teams along a challenging five-mile course from Ellon to Logie Buchan. Driven by boundless enthusiasm and a healthy sense of adventure, a six-man crew assembled to build the lodge’s very first vessel. The result was a Mississippi Paddle Steamer—a craft built with more laughter than engineering expertise, which launched a legendary ten-year campaign on the water.
While the St Olaf crews quickly established themselves as formidable competitors, their triumphs were measured in artistic flair rather than speed. Over their decade-long reign, they became the crew to beat in the highly coveted “most creative design” category. Each year, the lodge workshop hummed with the sounds of sawing and hammering as they brought elaborate visions to life. They floated a Chinese Junk, a Peterhead fishing trawler, and Noah’s Ark. In 1990, they paid homage to local history by launching a floating Slains Castle, complete with a crew dressed in full vampire costumes. This was followed by a spectacular Thunderbird 4 in 1991, with the brethren sporting matching Thunderbird uniforms.
Though their creative genius was unmatched, their nautical speed was notoriously lacking. The brethren were consistently found bringing up the absolute rear of the race. Their most celebrated “victory” was the year they managed to secure second-to-last place, narrowly escaping a defeat by the local Girl Guides. More than just a quest for trophies, these waterborne adventures brought dozens of lodge members together in a shared, lighthearted effort, proving that the fraternity knew how to integrate, support, and bring joyful entertainment to the wider Aberdeenshire community.
The Quiet Hands of Charity: The 80-Mile Epic (Walk the Province)
In June 2023, as families across the North East of Scotland grappled with the biting challenges of a rising cost of living and soaring energy prices, the brethren of Lodge St Olaf No. 1188 decided to take action in the most direct, physically demanding way possible. Upholding Freemasonry’s long-standing tradition of charitable giving and community support, they embarked on an extraordinary sponsored “Lodge to Lodge” walk. Together with brethren from across the Province of Aberdeenshire East, they set out to cover approximately 80 miles on foot, uniting communities and sister lodges in a singular, powerful cause.
The ambitious trek was designed to visit all 14 lodges within the Province, stretching across the rugged and beautiful Aberdeenshire countryside. Over several days, the walkers pushed through physical exhaustion, sore muscles, and inevitable blisters. Yet, their spirits were continually bolstered by the warm hospitality of the sister lodges they visited, each offering a hearty welcome, essential refreshments, and fraternal encouragement. This was not just a test of stamina; it was a visible, living demonstration of regional solidarity and shared purpose.
The grueling journey proved to be a resounding success, raising crucial funds dedicated directly to local food banks. By channeling their collective grit and determination into this epic walk, the brethren of Lodge St Olaf and the wider Province provided a vital lifeline for residents facing economic hardship. This monumental effort perfectly captured the enduring heartbeat of the lodge: a quiet, compassionate dedication to service, demonstrating that when the winds of adversity blow cold, the warmth of masonic benevolence in Cruden Bay will always rise to meet them.
The Jewel of Friendship: The Enduring Bond
At the heart of Lodge St Olaf No. 1188 lies an enduring truth: while rituals and stone structures provide the framework, it is the invisible, unbreakable bond of friendship that gives the lodge its life. Within the Serald Lane Lodge rooms, this spirit of warmth and open hospitality finds its home in ‘The Level’—the lodge’s inviting, open-plan social room. Here, removed from the formal solemnity of the temple, the brethren gather after meetings to share stories, enjoy good company, and build connections that last a lifetime. ‘The Level’ serves as a bustling crossroads of village life, where men from all walks of life find a supportive community and a genuine sense of belonging.
Nowhere is this vibrant fellowship more alive than during the lodge’s legendary annual Burns Suppers. Every winter, as icy winds sweep off the North Sea, the hall is filled to overflowing with brethren, honoured guests, and friends. Gathered beneath the rafters, they pay homage to Scotland’s immortal bard, Robert Burns, with laughter, music, and dramatic recitations. Occasions like the grand celebration on the seventeenth evening of January 2025 show that the coldness of the season is no match for the warmth of the lodge’s hospitality.
As Lodge St Olaf journeys into its second century of masonic service, it remains a proud and welcoming beacon in Cruden Bay. Offering opportunities for personal growth, confidence-building, and civic involvement, the lodge stands ready to welcome the next generation of local men aged 18 and over who seek to be part of something positive. It is a living heritage built upon values that have stood the test of time, proving that in this quiet corner of Aberdeenshire, the jewel of true friendship still shines as brightly as it did in 1919.