It would be easy to call upon a myriad of gushing adjectives to describe the care, attention and love the 1,500 staff of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution put into their workaday lives. The fine-sounding ‘statement of purpose’ by the RMBI declares that, “as an organisation offering degrees of care, support and assistance appropriate to individual needs, we are committed to ensuring the individual’s right to dignity, respect, choice and control over their own lives.” Admirable words indeed, but only if the residents of the 20 or so residential and nursing homes run by RMBI are of the same opinion. The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating, and the people to ask if the institution is carrying out its objectives should be the residents themselves. Happily, I can report that those I have spoken to are full of praise for what has been described, on many an occasion, as “one big happy family”.
    Take Jessie Sly for instance, a sprightly 94 year old widow who possesses a lust for life and an engaging smile. She has been a resident of James Terry Court in East Croydon for eight years and says of the staff there, “They have been wonderful. I cannot offer enough praise for everyone who has had anything to do with here, from those in charge of the RMBI to the staff and the Freemasons. Being here has changed my life and I am extremely grateful.”
    James Terry Court is an imposing Victorian building in a leafy stretch of East Croydon that started life as a private residence, later becoming a hotel before being sold to a consortium of the Food and Tobacco Trades and the Licensed Victuallers’ Benevolent Associations to provide residential accommodation for the benefit of their retired members. The RMBI purchased it in January 1977, and the former residents were told they could remain for as long as they needed - the last going in April 1988.
    Jessie is one of the most active residents there today. The widow of Victor, who was active within both the Acorn and Brockley Lodges, her father was a Freemason in the Sanitation and Hygiene Lodge. Her two brothers were Freemasons, plus brother-in-law Albert (a Savile Row tailor) and two nephews. She met her future husband at Westcliffe-on-Sea while on holiday when they were both by the bandstand and, being attracted to one another, said ‘hello’. And that was that. Young Victor swept her off her feet and they were happily married for many years until he died suddenly. For two years she remained in their large home in Dulwich but it needed a great many repairs. “I could not cope,” she told me sadly. “Then some Freemasons from my late husband’s lodge came round to see me. They had a word and realised what my position was, and in no time had arranged for me to come here. They were wonderful. I cannot thank them enough. I have been so very very happy here.”
    Now her happiness has led to success, for she has not only become an accomplished artist, but an award-winning one at that. Pride of place in a corridor in James Terry Court is a framed watercolour entitled “Springtime” for which she received the highly commended award in the Art Awards for the Over 60s competition. It depicts primroses, her second favourite flowers, which she picked from the beautiful garden. “My favourites are orchids. Victor always used to give me orchids,” she recalled fondly. Proving the old adage ‘exchange is no robbery’ she pointed out that she had brought quite a number of cuttings from her former house to the garden at East Croydon. “They remind me of my happy years there.”
    This talented lady is also an accomplished pianist and many a time she can be seen and heard leading community singing in the residents’ lounge, or just playing to herself. She had no hesitation in playing some of her favourite tunes for me, before we shared a welcome cup of tea and biscuits. It was while she was pouring our second cup that she began to list just a few of the many activities that residents can participate in. “We go for trips to the seaside. We have special parties at Christmas and suchlike, and we regularly have entertainers come in like the Mozart Singers a few weeks ago. There’s lots going on here, and we even have our weekly communal flutter on the lottery when we vary the rules to suit ourselves and someone wins just on the bonus ball. It’s all good harmless fun. That’s what is so delightful here. Everyone is so nice and we can join in as little or as much as we want. We can do our own thing!”

Liverpool

A few hundred miles north, in another RMBI centre, a self-made man told me how much he also enjoyed the friendliness and the caring of the staff and the high standards of the establishment.
    Sixty-six years old Len Barks is a resident at The Tithebarn, Great Crosby, Liverpool. The Tithebarn was recently extended when Maud Sullivan House was officially opened in October 1998, by Colin Penty Wright (Provincial Grand Master for West Lancashire). The purpose-built extension, with 10 en-suite sitting rooms, now stands as a living memorial to the late Maud Sullivan, wife of Fred Sullivan, a good friend of The Tithebarn nursing home.
    Len Barks’s life has not been an easy one. Born in Mossley near Saddleworth, he went into hospital in 1938 with TB in his leg and stayed there two days short of five years. As a consequence, he did not attend school until he was 12 and spent just three short years in full-time education. Len told me: “A company gave me a chance as an office boy but I was very poor at spelling so I got myself a dictionary to learn. The problem was I could read (thanks in no small way to my teaching myself through reading comics and suchlike) but I could not spell. My grammar was shocking as well! I never really got to grips with it, but I was OK at maths. I picked up things and trained myself to work a calculating machine. I stayed in this job for 19 years, all the time teaching myself. In the meantime I became the youngest councillor ever in Mossley, aged 31, and when I was 34 I was re-elected with an increased majority. I got to be chairman of the Finance and Estates Committee.”
    Then the self-taught office ‘boy’ and councillor applied for another job, at an old-fashioned paper mill in Stalybridge, where he worked his way up to being company secretary. Around 1972, computers were just creeping into office life, albeit very slowly and cautiously. Len got hold of an early computer and taught himself how to programme it - no mean feat for someone virtually self-taught. He told me: “It got so that I’d programme the computer to do everything and there was little or nothing for me to do!”
    During this time he had become a mason, joining the new Mossley Lodge No 6577 in the Province of East Lancashire as founder Junior Warden. He decided to leave the paper mill to start up his own company, selling computer software, hardware and also programming computers which proved very successful - until disaster struck. His leg problem reared its ugly head again and he had to receive treatment in hospital. He lost everything. Suddenly, there was no money coming in. He sold his bungalow and was left with nothing.
    As we talked in his spacious room at The Tithebarn, Len was continually operating his computer, and as he gazed at the screen, he continued: “After I came out of hospital, I had to have help from home-helps twice a day and the RMBI used to send me a gift. Included was a pamphlet about the homes and I thought it would be nice to go to try to go to one by the seaside. I applied to go to Llandudno (Queen Elizabeth Court) and I was successful. I loved it there and I remember getting a book from the library called The Flood about the London Barrier. On my third day there, there was a massive flood and residents had to be moved out! I came here and I love this place equally as much!”

Bridge Master

Although not able to be as physically active as he would wish, Len still remains mentally agile - thanks in the main to his computer. He plays chess via the Internet with people all over the world and is two classes off being a Chess Master because of his successes. Currently he has some 20 different opponents and has ongoing games with them in various stages of completion. He competes against, for instance, a New Zealander, a retired US colonel in Kentucky, a Russian with the grand name of Alexander Nikorov and, near home, a medical doctor from Camden Town. As if that was not enough, he is a Bridge Master and plays the game whenever he can, plus participating in backgammon games on the Internet also.
    Jane Reynolds, Chief Executive of the RMBI, said recently: “The time, talents and financial assistance of the Fraternity combine with the skills and dedication of our staff to make a real difference to the lives of about 4,000 older Freemasons and their dependants.” How right she was. The RMBI is a real family affair and everyone involved, from members of the Craft who give so generously, to the workers in the homes, should all feel a sense of pride.