Scottish Conference at Kirkcaldy

From 4 to 6 May, the Lodge Hope of Kurachee, No.337, in Kirkcaldy, Fife, hosted an International Masonic conference, the first of its kind to be held in Scotland. Around eighty delegates attended from as far afield as Germany, the USA and Canada, and the weekend was hailed as a great success by the conference organiser, W.Bro. Gordon Vincent.
    The festivities commenced with a Friday afternoon tour of Dunfermline Abbey, where delegates visited the tomb of William Schaw, King James VI's Master of Works, who was famous for reorganising the Mason craft in Scotland in his Statutes of 1598 and 1599.
    As a direct consequence of the regulations laid down in these documents, Scotland can proudly boast some of the earliest Masonic documents anywhere in the world.
    Delegates were then treated to tea and anecdotes at the home of Earl of Elgin and Kincardine, KT, Past Grand Master Mason of Scotland and Provincial Grand Master of Fife and Kinross. That evening a superb ritual demonstration of a second degree was expertly enacted by members of the host lodge.
    On Saturday morning the conference opened with a fascinating talk on the formation of the Grand Lodge of Scotland on 30 November, 1736. It was delivered by W. Bro. Lt. Commander David Currie, a keen Masonic historian and Past Master of the Canongate Kilwinning Lodge No.2, who outlined how Sir William Sinclair of Rosslyn became the first Grand Master Mason of Scotland.
    The second speaker was Dr. Edward Batley, former Honorary Director of the Germanic Institute of London University, who is currently writing a book on Goethe and his Freemasonry. Dr. Batley spoke on 'Human Rights and Freemasonry', and outlined how Freemasons have helped to introduce modern democratic precepts throughout much of the world.
    Following lunch, Bro. Matthew Scanlan, MA, International Editor of Freemasonry Today presented new evidence concerning the origins of Freemasonry in seventeenth-century England, and this was followed by author Bro. Tim Wallace-Murphy, who spoke on legends surrounding the medieval Knights Templar.
    The day ended with an evening dinner held at Kirkcaldy's Strathearn Hotel, which was attended by special guests, Lord Elgin and Roy Scott, Grand Master of the Masonic Great Priory of Scotland, who both gave after dinner addresses.

History of the Craft

Sunday's lectures opened with Emeritus Professor David Stevenson, who spoke on his pioneering work concerning early Scottish lodges and his theory of transition from "operative" to "speculative" Freemasonry.
    The next on the rostrum was the recently appointed Professor of Masonic Studies at Sheffield University, Andrew Prescott, formerly a Director of the British Library Manuscripts Department. Professor Prescott's talk examined the myths surrounding the ancient and modern orders of Druids, and he offered an erudite exposition on how a Nation invents its own mythology and how much of the Druid mytholgy was pedalled by eighteenth century Freemasons.
    Next was Dr. Jan Snoek of Leiden and Heidelberg Universities, who compared the theories advocating English versus Scottish origins of the craft and the weekend ended with W.Bro. Robert Cooper, Librarian of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, who spoke on 'The creation of a Myth - the Templars in Scotland'.

New Portuguese Grand Master

On 23 March, Manuel de Morais Anes, a fifty-six year old Professor of Anthropology of Religion at the New University of Lisbon, was installed as the new Grand Master of the Regular Grand Lodge of Portugal. The ceremony was held at Lisbon's Sheraton Hotel in the presence of about 350 brethren representing forty lodges belonging to the regular Grand Lodge. The installing Grand Master was Mansour Hatefi, the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Washington D.C., who was assisted by the Grand Marechal, Thomas Jackson, Past-Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. Present also were, Sir John Welch (PSGW), representing the United Grand Lodge of England; Alfred Koska, the Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of Germany; Tomas Sarobe, the Grand Master of Spain; Jean-Charles Danier, the Assistant Grand Master of the National Grand Lodge of France (GLNF); Emile Ouaknine, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Morocco; together with representatives from the Grand Orient of Italy, the District Grand Lodge of Gibraltar, and the Grand Lodges of Poland and Turkey. English members of the Anglo-Portuguese Oldest Ally lodge and other English speaking lodges in Portugal were also in attendance.
    The day before the ceremony, the new Grand Master and the various foreign delegations were officially received by the President of the Portuguese Parliament, Almaida Santos, together with the Mayor of Lisbon, João Soares. Professor Anes also received a personal letter of congratulations from the President of the Portuguese Republic, Jorge Sampaio.
    Before taking up a post at New Lisbon University, Professor Anes previously worked for the Portuguese National Forensic Laboratory, and is currently the third Grand Master of the Regular Grand Lodge, which was constituted in 1991 by the Grand Loge Nationale de France.

First British Grand Lodge for Men and Women

A new Grand Lodge of Freemasonry for both men and women held its inaugural meeting in London on the 18 February 2001, following a recent breakaway from the International Order of Co-Freemasonry. The move follows a recent suspension of the Consistory Council of the British Federation of Le Droit Humain by the Supreme Council in Paris, for objecting to a number of changes in their landmarks. The new body is dedicated to following the time-honoured Annie Besant Concord, which requires every candidate to profess a belief in a Supreme Being. According to the former Grand Secretary of the British Federation, Mrs Jeanne Heaslewood, the new Grand Lodge now has four active craft lodges and soon intends to consecrate their first Rose Croix chapter.
    The International Order of Co-Freemasons began in Paris in the 1880's, and a lodge of the obedience was founded in London in 1902, named Human Duty No.6. The first Grand Commander for Britain was the prominent socialist campaigner, Annie Besant, and the British Federation has enjoyed a semi-autonomous existence since its foundation in 1920. Dr. Besant together with C.W. Leadbetter, both thirty-third degree Co-Masons and pioneering Theosophists, are probably most famous for their discovery of the Indian philosopher and teacher, Krishnamurti. In 1925 Dr Besant proclaimed him as the Messiah, but he soon rejected this persona and spent the rest of his life travelling the world preaching against systems of thought restricted by nationality, race and religion - ideas which echo the tenets of Freemasonry.

Indian Masons Aid Victims of Earthquake

At 8.45am on the morning of Friday 26 January, terrifying earth tremors shook much of mid-western India leaving scenes of devastation and upwards of 100,000 dead. Although the epicentre of the quake fortunately struck lesser populated agricultural land, it left severe damage within a 100 mile radius.
    Gujaret in the west of the country bore the brunt of the damage. A procession of 400 school children and their teachers celebrating India’s Republic Day were crushed in the street by falling masonry. A hospital was also tragically reduced to rubble, burying all its patients, doctors and staff, which compounded the problem of treating the thousands of injured victims.
    The immediate concern was for fresh drinking water, food, clothing, medical equipment and temporary accommodation, as tens of thousands of people were left homeless and reduced to poverty overnight. Aid poured in from both National and International Aid agencies, whose teams included a number of Freemasons. The Grand Lodge of India responded to the tragedy be sending an immediate relief contribution of $45,000, in both cash and medical aid. The Grand Lodge are also committed to a program of long-term assistance in helping to rebuild medical and educational institutions destroyed. The Grand Lodge of India is not recognised by the United Grand Lodge of England.

Ice-Challenger Expedition

On March 17, a British team attempted to be the first team ever to cross the Bering Straits in a four-wheel drive vehicle. The aim of the expedition was to cross the frozen Straits on a dangerous ice-bridge linking the western most point of the continental USA with Russia, thus uniting East and West. The team was led by Steven Brooks, and consisted of at least one Freemason, Sean Davison of Kirby Lodge No. 2818, who joined the crew as the expedition’s technology expert and film-maker.
    Only 56 miles separate the two Continents which traverses the international dateline. However, the team had to negotiate blocks of moving pack-ice the size of a house which travel at up to 6mph, Polar Bears, and gruelling temperatures as low as 85 degrees below zero. ‘The technical problems of engineering in these conditions make this expedition a real challenge’ said Sean, who described how the team had developed one of the world’s most advanced four-wheel drive vehicles named ‘Snobird 5’. The specially customised vehicle is capable of driving on water, rocks and ice, and was designed with the help of British hovercraft engineers, who equipped the car with an inflatable skirt and a hydraulic fan cannibalised from a NATO Challenger tank. The design was largely based upon Soviet technology, which used the Archimedes screw principle to drive the vehicle through the treacherous ice.
    The vehicle initially cut through the ice with no difficulty, but when the team tried to drive ‘Snobird 5’ back onto the 4 foot ice-shelf they encountered problems, and had to winch themselves ashore. Despite the initial set-back, the team are confident that with technical modifications they will be successful when they attempt a second crossing in March 2002.