Kenny Davidson was installed as Right Worshipful Master of Lodge St. Olaf 1188 in December 1986. We don’t know a great deal about his involvement prior to early 1981, which was around the time that the unofficial Lodge archivist Bro. Gordon Mackay was initiated into Lodge St.Olaf.
At that time Kenny would have been in his late 40’s, so he would have been around 20 years older than the handful of recently initiated young masons in the Lodge, amongst them Bros. Gordon Mackay, Derek Clark, Derek Stephen and Jim Gardiner, other than this 5 brethern the Lodge was largely home to an older generation, and it would be fair to say, somewhat old fashioned in its approach to most things.
Kenny and Gordon struck up an easy friendship and over the next few years the Lodge attracted a steady inflow of new initiates, mostly incomers who had moved to the Aberdeen area for work in the oil industry and had settled with their young families in Cruden Bay.
This growing number of younger men was the driving force behind a modernisation of approach in the Lodge, with the slightly older, and so more experienced mason Kenny fell into the unofficial role of ‘team leader’. Kenny seldom came up with ideas but was good at encouraging the younger masons to run with whatever idea they thought of and by the mid 80’s these ideas were coming thick and fast. In 1985 a small team of 6 young lodge members entered the Ythan Raft Race in Ellon, this event had become popular over recent years and was attracting entries from businesses and all manner of groups in the area, with hundreds of ornately designed rafts taking to the River Ythan at Ellon and racing a 4-mile course to Logie Buchan. The dressing of the rafts and the fun and games surrounding the day were as much a part of the event as the race itself, and in their first outing, the Lodge came away with the prize for the ‘Most Attractive’ Raft. This was an outcome that was to repeat itself a further 9 times with the Lodge entry becoming a key element of the event and a frequent winner of top prizes. Kenny was always around at the construction of the rafts, and on the day itself was there to provide support and take pictures, and later on with the advent of video cameras, he became the filmmaker and captured some great images and footage which you can see on this site.
By the time Kenny was installed as RWM in 1986, the momentum was building and fundraising ideas for the Lodge began to become more frequent, one of which was the Lodges Sposored Walk of The West Highland Way, 100 miles of rough terrain between Milngavie and Fort William saw 4 brave souls set off with an ambitious if foolhardy plan to complete the walk in just 4 days.
Kenny was a real character, he left school at the age of 16 and joined the merchant navy seeing much of the world before reaching his twenties! He served as a police officer in the Met for many years before returning back to the North East of Scotland to run his own driving school. He was a gifted writer and a performer, much admired for his work in the Doric language, he self-published 2 short stories ” Ploomin’s Grep an’ Werd‘ and ‘My Doric Loon‘. Kenny was also a popular after-dinner speaker, particular at men only events where he would recite his own bawdy poetry which became the thing of legend in the lodge and all across the North East of Scotland. His friendship with Gordon Mackay, himself a singer and performer, saw them perform together many times and they were at the centre of instigating the Lodge ‘Burns Suppers’. Kenny’s performance poetry was kept in a small case which he carried with him to functions he was performing at and he would draw from his collection the perfect pieces for every occasion. After his passing in 2011, the Lodge asked his widow Belle if they could keep a copy of his work, surprisingly she knew nothing about them but when they did turn up she was more than happy to see them go elsewhere! The loose leaves of pages and notes were later digitised and printed by the Lodge into a volume of work called ‘Kenny’s Book of Words‘ to be more widely shared by lodge members and are always at the centre of Burns Suppers held since his passing when his works are recited and enjoyed by fans old and new. Following his death in 2011 members of the Lodge hosted a fundraising event in the Lodge entitled ‘An Evening Without Kenny Davidson’ during which individuals read extracts from his works, this event was a huge success and the format has been echoed in countless subsequent events over the years ensuring his unique contribution to Lodge life is remembered.
In 2004, at the age of 69 Kenny joined other members of the Lodge in a walk to Inverie on Knoydart, an area so remote it cannot be reached directly by road, the only means of access a 27 mile hillwalk from Kinloch Hourne or a boat trip from Mallaig, a feat he managed to complete, but afterwards swore never to repeat! Subsequent adventures to Arran and further trips to Knoydart saw Kenny at the wheel of his trusty campervan providing essential support for the walkers taking part.
Kenny’s love for the sea served him well, he sailed with Bro. Mark Dunn on the Banff to Stavanger Yacht Race was part of a crew sailing from Peterhead to Inverkip on the West Coast of Scotland, which they reached via the Caledonian Canal. Some of the pictures taken of Kenny’s adventures are included in the gallery below.