Freemasons and Rotarians Gavel for Charity

At Cleveleys Masonic Hall, near Blackpool, West Lancashire Freemasons from South Shore Lodge, No.4672 combined forces with North Fylde Rotarians to raise £6100.
    This unique joint auction was the idea of Chris Horn from South Shore Lodge and Mick Swindells of North Fylde Rotary Club. Over 140 generous pledges were made.
    Assistant Provincial Grand Master Leon Tax said ‘This has enabled three local charities, Donna’s Dream House, Child Flight and the North West Air Ambulance to continue their good work.’

Fraternal Unity Helps RMBI

To prepare for the Golden Jubilee of the Lodge of Fraternal Unity, No. 7330, the Brethren decided to support the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution. On Thursday 20 October a cheque for £7330, reflecting the Lodge number, was presented to Chris Caine, RMBI Chairman, by the Worshipful Master, Barry Capal. This amount, added to funds collected since the launch date of the London appeal, has resulted in more than £500,000 being donated to the RMBI by London Freemasons.

Insurance Bonus for Provinces

Over the past nine years more than £105,000 has found its way into masonic charities thanks to an innovative scheme being run by the firm Ingram Hawkins and Nock.
    The firm recently presented a cheque to the Library and Museum of the Province of Worcestershire.
    They estimate that they have saved Provinces over £1.5m. and the scheme has the advantage that part of the profits find their way back into charity.

Maidstone Lodges Support Hospice

The Heart of Kent Hospice reports record takings by Maidstone’s Freemasons during a street collection in the town centre. Over £1,300 was given by the public during the busy Saturday morning period, and the Maidstone Masonic Centre added another £100 on behalf of its members to total over £1,400.
    Mike Cross of the Monckton Lodge organised the collection. ‘It was gratifying to see so many members of the various lodges in Maidstone turn out to help,’ he said.
    David Horne of the Garden of England Lodge said, ‘When people made a donation, they were given a bright yellow sunflower to wear, and by lunchtime hundreds of them were in evidence all around the town’.

Canonbury Masonic Research Centre

15 February: Prof. Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Masonry, Magic & the Hermetic Tradition - Blavatsky’s Western Sources of the Ancient Wisdom
15 March: David Rankine, The Magical Legacy of Dr Thomas Rudd – Angelic and Goetic Magic in 17C England
19 April: Charles Cicero, The Spiritual Alchemy of the Golden Dawn
17 May: Erik Westengaard, The Danish Masonic Order in the 1850s
21 June: Sylvia Franke, The Tree of Life & the Holy Grail - an introduction to Rudolph Steiner’s Etheric Science
Lectures 7.00 pm – 9.00 pm. Please send a cheque for £7 made payable to Canonbury Masonic Research Centre
Contact: Carole McGilvery 020 7226 6256 - email: mcgilvery@canonbury.ac.uk www.canonbury.ac.uk

Centre for Research into Freemasonry
Sheffield University

26 January: John Acaster, Manchester Association for Masonic Research, Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry: the Case of Eugenius Philalethes
23 February: Professor Aubrey Newman, University of Leicester, Andrew Pink, Goldsmiths’ College London and Andrew Prescott, University of Sheffield: Freemasonry and the Circle of Frederick Lewis, Prince of Wales
All seminars are held at 5.15pm in the Old Library, Department of History, University of Sheffield, 387 Glossop Road, Sheffield S10 2HQ. Admission free. All welcome.
    Copies of the Centre’s Annual Report for 2004 are available for £2 (including post and packing) from the Centre’s Administrator, Julie Banham, Humanities Research Institute, Floor 14, Arts Tower, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN. 0114 222 9890 email: j.p.banham@sheffield.ac.uk

The Cornerstone Society

The Society is finalising its programme for 2006.
The Summer Conference will be held in London at Freemasons’ Hall in June. The provisional date is Saturday June 24, to be confirmed. In addition, a lecture tour in November 2006 is planned, details to be announced, for Brent Morris, one of the world’s foremost masonic scholars. This tour will combine with the Northern Conference. A programme of Cornerstone Society lectures for lodges throughout the year is being put together, for which we have seen considerable demand.  Interested lodges are invited to contact us.
    Trials are in process at the moment of the lodge Orator scheme in several Provinces in conjunction with Grand Lodge. As the trials progress, details will be published.
    Please check the website regularly www.cornerstonesociety.com for details of developments.
    For further specific information, please email secretary@cornerstonesociety.com or write to The Secretary, The Cornerstone Society, ‘Bellfield’, 13 Victoria Road, Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, FY8 1LE.

Quatuor Coronati

Thursday 16 February
Dominion Grand Lodges 1850-1900 – Imperial Platforms or Commonwealth Seedlings? Speaker: James Daniel
Thursday 11 May
Walter Leslie Wilmshurst: his world of Fallen but Living Stones Speaker: A.R. Baker
Thursday 22 June
Loyal Order of the Moose and Freemasonry Speaker: G. Davie
Thursday 14 September
Freemasonry Among Prisoners of War 1750-1815 Speaker: Michel Brodsky
    yasha@compuserve.com Tel 077 6829 2066