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When Masonry started here in Torrevieja around 1992, Old Tower was the first Lodge, followed a couple of years later by Caledonia Lodge and later still by Logia Las Salinas.

At first we were like Nomads, scurrying about with our folding pedestals etc. and we had to use any restaurant with a largish room for our meetings and Festive Boards. This proved to be quite unsatisfactory, so we decided to rent a large room in a restaurant called Los Arcos, where all of the Lodges settled.

However, it was not very long before we realised that the amount we were paying in rental would pay off a mortgage. After several meetings of Lodges a committee of about six was cobbled together to assess various sites, which we did for several months. Eventually a young Mason in the building trade brought to our attention a particular building that we might be interested in. It was a hell of a mess!

At one time it had been a ‘Night Club' –

(a building of ill repute) which the owner had set fire to for the insurance money. Fortunately the police were too clever for him, and he was sent to prison. So, the bank that held the mortgage foreclosed and sold the building to us.

It is built on a slope which means that you enter from the road to the upper level, which was unscathed, the lower level being severely fire-damaged.

After about six months of hard work the upper level was good enough for us to use for our meetings. This left us with the vastly more expensive project of turning the downstairs into a purpose-built Temple, which was a much bigger job and has taken us four years.

We did most of it ourselves, only employing builders when necessary. Of course when the cash got scarce we had to stop

Our funds come largely from the sale of units in Sociedad Compás at 120€ each.

The society owns the Temple and the unit holders own the society.

The other source of income is from the various Dining Clubs which were formed by the individual Lodges to provide funds for the consecration and other items Lodges require.

These Clubs kept going after the lodges no longer required their support. They had become such pleasant occasions with groups of like-minded people and their friends gathering monthly for a chat, a nice meal, and music for dancing.

The cash accumulated from these events buys units, which has been a great help in the building work and furnishing of the Temple.

One of the Brethren sold a house in the UK and donated money for three pedestals and chairs. There were several other donations – some quite large – for various other items.

We are now in the happy position of having a completed Temple, fully furnished, air-conditioning hot and cold, and an organ. The Temple also has an inductance loop for the hard of hearing.

What's more we have installed a lift to enable the physically impaired to get to the Temple without going down (!) the winding staircase. All of this is due to the efforts of a relatively few Brethren to whom we owe a debt of gratitude.

There are still quite a few jobs outstanding, the largest of which is to put a pitched roof over our flat one. It leaks when it rains heavily, which is not unusual for a flat roof.

 We will still be looking to the Clubs and generous individuals for help, and units are still available to purchase.