Our Bannerette

In preparation for the Lodge opening, we decided to get a bannerette produced so that it could be unveiled and dedicated on the Opening Day. After consultation with several banner painters it was decided to place the commission with Bro John Currie of Erskine, Scotland (Billy’s Art).

Once the Lodge name had been decided upon, it was obvious that the theme would be the martyrdom of Rawlins White. His persecution, trial and death are well documented in Foxes Book of Martyrs. It was also important to represent the Welsh nature of the Lodge as we are one of only two Lodges which are sitting in the Principality. The Brethren who were to be members of the new Lodge, considered several options and styles but opted for the red cloth to represent Wales – many banners and bannerettes feature orange lillies, but we decided to add to this by incorporating daffodils into the design.

We chose to have shields with the Union flag and Welsh flags, as we’d seen a Royal Black Preceptory bannerette with those images and considered it appropriate for our overall theme. Foxes book of Martyrs describes Rawlins White’s death in which he is wearing a russet coat over a white shirt, heavy chains around his waist and with his arms raised, praising God, as the fire was lit, and it was that description which we attempted to be faithful to.

We were in the very fortunate position of being able to have the reverse side of the bannerette painted – for this we chose a similar style, but with the familiar Bible and Crown design – the open Bible symbolizing our dependence on the Word of God in our daily lives and the Crown pointing to our loyalty to the Monarchy. We also opted for the well known Biblical phrase from John’s Gospel chapter 17 vs 17, ‘Thy Word is Truth