This will be the last issue of Freemasonry Today to be published under Tobias Churton’s admirable editorialship. Having nursed the magazine through its critical first three years, Toby wishes to divert his energies to new projects and in this we wish him well. In his place we welcome as our new editor John Jackson. John spent more than 20 years in Fleet Street and since the 70s has been editor of a number of magazines. He is an equally experienced Mason. For many years he was on the parliamentary staff of a national newspaper, and in this issue he contributes, for the first time with a report on the most recent meeting of Grand Lodge.
    We all benefit in differing ways from Freemasonry. Some relish the ritual and to others the fellowship of the Lodge is a source of strength and pleasure. Masonic history, a bore to some, is virtually an obsession to others. Likewise the philosophical and esoteric dimensions of the Craft absorbs those who have the inclination to understand them. Above all Freemasonry teaches us all how to live as fit members of a regularly organised society. Freemasonry Today seeks to help us all increase the pleasure we derive from these many facets. So, please let our new editor know what subjects you would like to see included in future issues.
    Also, do please continue to tell your friends about the magazine. In this issue you will find a subscription leaflet. Please take this to your next Lodge meeting. Recommendations from existing readers are now by far our largest source of new subscribers.
    Of course none of us would claim that everything about Freemasonry is perfect. That unique status is confined to journalists! Freemasonry Today will continue to carry letters and articles proposing improvement and reform. But let us hope that the Craft will be wary of rushing into change in a vain attempt to court popularity. As the speed of change in society increases, so does the fragmentation in all our lives, and this can then induce loneliness particularly in the elderly. Freemasonry is an institution which provides stability, security and a degree of constancy. Together with religion, it also provides a vehicle by which we can assuage that great loneliness – the deep loneliness of the soul. It is to be hoped that in this magazine, as in the Craft itself inspiration will be found to succour these restless hearts.
    In Freemasonry we have much to be proud of and nothing of which to be ashamed. Membership of the United Grand Lodge of England now stands at over 318,000 and there are more Lodges on the Grand Lodge Register now than there were 10 years ago. As the Grand Master stated in his address at this years Annual Investiture, “There can be very few, if any, organisations here or abroad that have so successfully survived uninterrupted for nearly three centuries – and which are still attracting more than 10,000 new recruits each year.” This surely is a demonstration that Masonry is alive and well. Freemasonry Today helps to show the world that the Craft is also vibrant and exciting.
    Geoffrey Baber