One evening in 1956 a group of somewhat mellow gents who had been attending a Ministry of Public Buildings and Works Exhibition on Tyneside found themselves on the sea front at Whitley Bay.

Eddie Ward, mainspring of the Club for 30 years 'promoting good fellowship' at an early Annual Ball.

There, as mellow gents do, they vowed to continue the goodwill enjoyed during the show. Among their number was one Eddie Ward, a character with the determination not to let a good idea fade with the sobering dawn. He it was who brought about the founding of the club and proposed the primary aim of the Club: ‘the furtherance of good fellowship among people in the construction industry’.

Eddie’s reward was to be Secretary-General of the Lighthouse Club for thirty years. His efforts earned him an MBE for ‘for Services to the Lighthouse Club’. And that evening at Whitley Bay gave a name to the club he founded, for illuminating the good humoured gathering was St. Mary’s Light: the Lighthouse Club’s Lighthouse.

It’s still there, but today that beacon is far more than a mariners mark on the Northumberland coast. Twenty one Lighthouse Club branches in the U.K. and the Republic of Ireland; autonomous branches in Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Netherlands, the Phillippines, Singapore, Thailand, Dubai, Macau and now Abu Dahbi all use the Lighthouse logo. And all subscribe to the Club’s aim.

Soon after its founding, the Lighthouse Club initiated The Lighthouse Club Benevolent Fund. This is a registered charity dedicated to giving aid and assistance to construction workers and their families who suffer accident or ill health.

St Mary's Lighthouse, Whitley Bay, England

Starting with the gift of Christmas hampers, over the years the Fund has now distributed well over seven million pounds.
Much of the funding for the Benevolent Fund is raised by the functions and social gatherings organised by the Club. Last year more than forty events took place.
Additional help comes from Corporate Sponsors and other sources of generosity.
Last year the Fund disbursed in aid nearly half a million pounds.

The Club’s and the Fund’s officers are all volunteers, thus our fund distributes as direct aid over 95 pence of every pound it receives. A figure unequalled by any charity of our size.