NEW SHARON – Despite temperatures of around 25 degrees, a few faithful volunteers continued their work Thursday on the new Masonic Lodge.

Franklin Lodge 123 will soon have a new home in a 40- by 96-foot building being built by volunteers on Route 2, east of the river.

The old lodge hall needed repairs, so the group decided if they were going to put money into the hall, they might as well build a new hall, said Lodge Master Alvin Harris. The new hall will be a one-story building, he added.

Harris, Jack Sawyer and Wilmer Redlevske were pounding and sawing on the hall that will house a large dining area, kitchen, bathrooms and the main lodge. Eastern Star and the Masons will meet there.

For a small town, Sawyer said, both groups have close to 100 members but only a fourth of them regularly attend Masonic meetings. The Congregational Church vestry has served as a meeting place for the groups while they await their new hall.

The groups have regularly held public suppers to help raise funds to pay for the hall. Proceeds from the sale of the former building were also used.

Another bean and casserole supper will be held Saturday from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at the Methodist Church annex, he said.