An interview with Steve Sahonta, Senior Warden of Cherwell Lodge No. 599
Tell us a little about you and your family, Steve.
I have been with Jane for nearly 35 years this December! We met in 1985 at school when we were both 15 years old. We got married in April 2017.
We have a wonderful daughter, Georgia, who has just turned 18 this May. Georgia is waiting to go to Nottingham Trent university this September to study Psychology.
Jane works for Cherwell District council and has been there for over 20 years now
I myself work for Barry Callebaut UK, the world’s largest chocolate maker and have factories worldwide. We are a Belgian-owned company and our head office is in Switzerland. I have been working for Barry Callebaut now for 31 years, originally Lesme Ltd when I first started aged 19. . .
How did you become a Freemason?
I was asked by a guy I knew at work – Peter James – if I would like to become a Freemason. I did not know much about Freemasonry and he told me not to look into it as it would be a nice surprise during my initiation.
When I told my wife, she asked why they wanted me? (I thought that was nice!) Jane thought it was probably because they needed more ethnic minority people. . . I mentioned this to Peter and he said that was definitely not the reason why! He told me that I would join on merit not because of my race. This straight away made my mind up that I was going to join.
Are you active in Masonry?
I was initiated in my Mother Lodge on the 21st March 2014 and completed my third degree on 17th April 2015. In my six busy years, I have met some wonderful people from Cherwell and other lodges.
I have joined Rathcreedan Royal Arch Chapter No 8690 and last year I have become a member of Wykham Chapter of Sovereign Princes Rose Croix No 1004.
Tell us about Cherwell Lodge
Cherwell Lodge No. 599 was Consecrated on 3rd February 1852 in Banbury in the Province of Oxfordshire, and it is one of the oldest lodges under UGLE. The ritual is Emulation. As in every lodge, it is great to help our EAs and FCs grow in confidence and knowledge; we all have a duty to make them as welcome as we were when we joined.
I would like to thank senior members of my lodge as in every lodge some brethren go beyond the call of duty to keep things working well. I won’t name them here – they know who they are. So many others have also been wonderful brethren to me; it has been a pleasure to see them all flourish and I thank them all for the
kindness which they have shown me. I am excited to be Senior Warden of this wonderful lodge and look forward to the next few years.
What else do you enjoy in Masonry?
I am also part of Oxfordshire Freemasons’ Pantomime Project which provides a yearly pantomime to disabled, sick and disadvantaged children. I look forward to this yearly event at Christmas and will always try and get chocolate for the goodie bags from my work!
I have been inspired by the great work done by all the organisers, especially Roger Hampshire who does such a fantastic job getting this event organised and it is always sold out! I always look forward to this event and book the day of work so I can attend; it is such a gratifying experience seeing all these children’s faces and those of their carers, who do an amazing looking after them.
So what has your response been to the pandemic?
Once the COVID-19 Pandemic started, I wanted to give something back to my community and my country of birth. I am British-born to Indian immigrants who came over in the early 50s. Me and my sisters, Teenas and Rita, are first generation Brits. Also my Masonry has impressed upon me the importance of charity and how we can all do our bit.
When my lodge could not meet, like many others in the country, I wanted to help others less fortunate than myself. It all started with a dog walk, when an elderly neighbour said that she had only three toilet rolls left and was worried at the start of this epidemic whether she would be able to get some more. I told her that I could give her some of ours until she got some, as she also lives with her elderly husband. I dropped of 3 rolls and left my phone number and a note that if she wanted any help to ring me or Jane.
This gave me the idea to get in touch with my lodge members to see if anybody had spare toiletries and sanitary products to give to our elderly lodge members and families. This is when Councillor Andrew McHugh, one of our new members, got in touch with me and told me about Citizens Advice Food Delivery drivers. I looked into it and sent off my driving license and applied to volunteer. This was helping those who were self-isolating because they are in high risk groups or because they had Covid-19 symptoms to ensure that they had access to food and other essentials.
What has Jane been doing?
As Jane was working from home for the council, she was involved with a team of council workers working tirelessly to get people’s numbers and contacts so that the volunteers could deliver. When the calls started coming in, it was people ringing up to ask where they could get someone to deliver nappies as they were on their own with children, but everywhere was sold out. Or it was people who needed certain medication, such as a man who was on Warfarin, but had no family to help him and who had to have a blood test done at the doctors as he had been forgotten due to everyone being busy during this unprecedented time.
This was really frustrating, so Jane she said that she would go and buy these essentials for them herself if she could. At this time, my application was accepted by Citizens Advice, but I had emails saying that they were still trying to get organise!
We then saw on the news that the Government, on behalf of the NHS, needed to recruit 250,000 NHS Good Samaritan and Royal Voluntary Service volunteers around the country. I applied and volunteered to drop food and medicine for people. The volunteering started on 31st March 2020.
So, what have you been doing to help out?
I have since been on active duty for over 1000 hours volunteering for the NHS. I have met some lovely people and made new friends. I have delivered food and medicine for numerous people.
It was slow getting off the ground at first as a lot of people did not know about it. However, as the pandemic started spreading and more and more people were isolating and required help, they started getting in touch. Jane started to get more calls through the council and they started putting the call to the NHS for help. Then I started getting more alarms on my days off and it became very satisfying that I could help others.
The NHS Responder Scheme works really well with the nearest responder to that person or family that are isolating getting an alarm on their phone
Jane, Georgia and I live in an area where there are a lot of elderly and retired people, as well as some deprivation too.
When your phone suddenly goes off it can make you jump as the siren can be very loud, and, at first, it makes you panic! That is how I remember receiving my first call.
I receive an alert on my phone; at this point you can accept it or drop the call (which will then go to the next nearest responder). We then have three attempts to call the person in question to see what help they may require. If I can’t get in touch with them, I tell the NHS know that I can’t get in touch and the NHS can follow it through.
I had one elderly lady whom I was worried about and called it in. Coincidentally the NHS passed this call back to my wife to follow up the next day. My wife then had to call the Police to check on this lady, as she was on her own and had mental health issues. Luckily when the police followed it up, this lady was fine; she had gone to sleep and had a pager which was turned off!
I volunteer to work around my full-time job, and on my days off, when I can I volunteer most days, as I work a continental shift pattern this gives me plenty of time off.
What does the future hold?
I have just received my DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service certificate for the NHS Patient Transport Volunteer Service as I am keen to keep supporting our wonderful NHS.
But, I can’t wait for normal, whatever normal might be! It will be great to see my fellow brethren as I miss the camaraderie and friendships which I have formed over the years.
This will also be tinged with sadness, as we have lost some wonderful Brethren from all our lodges, not just mine. And my heart goes out to their families and loved ones, for as friends we have not been able to say our goodbyes to those that we dearly loved as only a limited amount of people are allowed to funerals.
It will be great to go back to lodge and commemorate their lives properly with everyone involved eventually.