The Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes,

Dec 2003

The Lenham Lodge continues to meet for fun and fundraising every Tuesday evening, and is now enjoying a slightly healthier attendance than of late, with the affiliation of a Brother from another Lodge.

The Lodge has had several Ceremonies recently, but with those now out of the way we can concentrate on providing fun and funds and support for the local community. We have a Quiz night lined up for early next year, and a few other ideas are under discussion at the moment.

Some of you may have heard that we made a donation to the Christmas Lights Fund recently, as we felt that this is one of the most encouraging community groups which survives entirely on public donations and voluntary labour. There is a huge amount of effort goes into the Lights every year, and always the same faces at the tops of the ladders! I have seen one or two new faces working with the usual crew this year, so I hope that will encourage some more people to volunteer. It seems ironic to me that there are always hundreds of people in the village to enjoy the Lights when they are switched on, then 99.9% of these people go away and forget about them for the next year!

Sept 2003

As the first of our publicity articles (certainly the first since my initiation in February last year), the Royal Lenham Lodge of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes presented a cheque for £300 to the New Lenham Community Centre. The presentation was made outside the Red Lion (where the Lodge meets) on Tuesday evening, 5th August.

Pictured (in Focus) are Harry Appleton (centre), Nick Osborne (right foreground), both representing the New Community Centre and eight Brothers of the Royal Lenham Lodge. The cheque was presented by Brother Reg Crump (left foreground), our longest serving member, to Harry Appleton who is in charge of fundraising for the new Community Centre. This was the first of a number of donations to be made to local causes this summer, and I will try and keep you informed of the next.

or “The Buffs” as we are more commonly known, are a group of men who meet weekly (some Lodges fortnightly or monthly) to enjoy a convivial evening and to raise funds for worthy causes. We have a strict code of conduct, and each meeting is conducted in private, with no un-initiated people present. I suppose that makes us a “secret society”, but that is not how we see ourselves!

The first records of the Order date back to 1822 and the object of the Order was to provide for the members and their families in times of need, and to support worthy local causes. The Royal Lenham Lodge was formed in 1927, and one of our longer standing members (who still attends when he can) joined not long after that.

Each Lodge donates to registered charities every year, in our case, during the last financial year not far short of £1,000. These donations range from providing funds for hospitalisation and loss of earnings to one of our brethren, to supporting fundraising activities for the new Community Centre and the Kent Air Ambulance.

The Royal Lenham Lodge has a healthy membership, but is poorly attended, and this article is just the start of a campaign to revitalise the Lodge, increase the numbers attending Lodge meetings, and to increase the awareness by the general public of our existence.

We organise a coach trip to “Sunny”(!?!) Hastings every year, and although the coach doesn’t have enough seats for the whole village to come, we normally fill a 53 seater coach. If you are interested in our activities but don’t know any of us, we meet at the Red Lion every Tuesday evening at 8 o’clock, and you are welcome to come along and ask any questions you may need answered.

Gez Clark.