In September Grand Lodge approved an amendment to the Book of Constitutions giving power to the Grand Master to grant a Certificate of Amalgamation when two Lodges desire to amalgamate into a single Lodge.
    Throughout the history of organised Freemasonry, Lodges have come and Lodges have gone; that is the nature of life and things in general.
    Sometimes a Lodge has simply died, its Warrant has been returned to the Grand Master (whose property every Lodge Warrant is) and has been erased from the register of Grand Lodge.
    Sometimes the members of the Lodge have all joined the same Lodge in an informal merger (often – but not always – accompanied by a change in the name of the Lodge to reflect the union that has taken place).
    In future the latter process will have a greater measure of formality: whether or not the name of the Lodge is changed, a Certificate of Amalgamation may be granted, reciting the separate histories of the Lodges involved, and the fact of the amalgamation.
    It will still be necessary for the Warrant of one of the Lodges to be cancelled; but thereafter it will be returned to the combined Lodge on condition that it is always produced when the Warrant of that Lodge is produced.
    Thus the separate history and amalgamation of the two Lodges will be recalled to the attention of the Brethren every time that a candidate is initiated or a new Master installed.
    Lodges wishing to obtain a Certificate of Amalgamation must submit a joint Petition to the Grand Master, and the Petition must have the support of the Provincial or District Grand Master (or, in London, of the Chairman of London Management).
    It follows, therefore, that the submission of a Petition will take place at a relatively late stage in the process of arranging the amalgamation.
    The Lodges concerned will need to have come to know each other well enough, and over a sufficiently long period, to convince the local Masonic authority that amalgamation is the genuine desire of the members of the Lodges concerned and that the amalgamation will be viable.
    Experience over the years has shown that a merger between two weak Lodges rarely results in a thriving and vibrant Lodge; far too often the result is a weak Lodge that has gained no benefit from the merger.
    It cannot, therefore, be too heavily stressed that viability (and vitality) will be the key not only to the grant of a Certificate but to a successful and thriving amalgamation.
    It does not, of course, follow that in every case amalgamation is the appropriate course for a Lodge to follow. Over the years several Lodges have experienced temporary or cyclical difficulties.
    This is particularly so with Lodges of a special character such as school, college and university Lodges, or those which draw their membership from a particular profession. For such Lodges as these, amalgamation may be too drastic a step if the future revival or regeneration of the Lodge from its traditional catchment remains a possibility.
    For them an arrangement for mutual support may be the best course to follow. If two or more Lodges of a similar character are experiencing a temporary fall in attendance at meetings, they can so arrange their affairs that all of them meet on the same day, with each Lodge being opened and closed in succession, with only one having a ceremony to work.
    The benefits from this arrangement are several:

1. first, a Lodge's continuity of working is maintained (which will be important if a Centenary or other major anniversary is in the offing);
2. secondly, there will be a saving in Lodge room hire and probably in the cost of dining; and
3. thirdly, and not the leas important, the combined numbers generated should make for a livelier and more enjoyable meeting.