The motivation for the formation of the lodge came from the District Grand Master, RW Bro J H Vivian, but when asked whether it could be called after him, he said that Grand Lodge would not agree to a lodge being named after a living person. So the petition went forward with the proposed name 'Losberg', which raised a query at Grand Lodge but in answering it, the senior founder, W Bro G J Volschenk, pointed out, sadly, that Bro Vivian had just died and that the founders would like to name the lodge after him. Another interesting link with Bro Vivian was that his mother lodge in England presented the J H Vivian Lodge with its Volume of the Sacred Law, duly inscribed.

The lodge first met in the masonic hall in Fochville but in 1959 moved to Carletonville, where it joined Golden West Lodge in the masonic hall now owned jointly by the lodges meeting there.

The lodge ran into a very lean period in the late sixties, and only the perseverance of a few brethren staved off the prospect of handing in the warrant.

In 1977/8 the Charter Master, W Bro Gideon Volschenk, was acting Senior Warden of the District, and as such an ex officio member of the Board of General Purposes. So he heard the discussion which led to the decision to set up the District Establishment Fund, later called the Heritage Fund, and made sure that the J H Vivian Lodge was the first to contribute.



Meeting place: Garnett/Jade Strs., Carletonville