Masonic Education in Berkshire

The ‘daily advancement in masonic knowledge’ may often remain no more than a form of words. The Province of Berkshire has long recognised the need to provide its members with a structure for learning the art and the craft of Freemasonry, to seek knowledge of Freemasonry’s essential truths as well as learning how better to act as an officer during degree ceremonies.
    Past Assistant Provincial Grand Master Raymond Head has embarked on an initiative of ‘Provincial Preceptorship’ by which his demonstration team will perform sections of the ceremonies, with intermittent narrative and commentary, to Classes of Instruction, borrowing on the Cornerstone Society ritual workshop models. Brethren are then invited to share what they consider to be triggered or conveyed by the imagery and symbolism of the ritual and why Freemasonry is thereby relevant to their lives.
    Amongst the courses planned are ‘Preparing for the Master’s Chair’, a course designed for Lodge Wardens, ‘Master Masons’ Course’, a fast-track to masonic awareness, ‘A Course for Lodge Almoners’ and ‘A Programme for Lodge Mentors’. The Province will host this year’s Cornerstone Society Conference on Saturday 2 June at Sindlesham, near Reading.

Emulation Lodge of Improvement Festival

The annual Emulation Festival was held on the last Friday in February as is usual, and this year the President was Michael Hooton, Provincial Grand Master for Berkshire. The format for these Festivals is that sections of the Emulation lectures are worked, members of the Precepting Committee working as Lecture Masters, and members of the Lodge answering the questions. This year the two sections in the first half of the meeting were worked by Gerald Goodall in the Chair, assisted by George Georgiou and Ian Shevill. In the second half Graham Redman, the Senior Member, was in the Chair, assisted by Leslie Jamieson and Ian Johnson.
    These lecture sections are directly descended from the Grand Stewards lectures which were worked at the Union of the Antients and Moderns in 1816, and have been worked regularly since the Emulation Lodge of Improvement was founded in 1823. They represent the main work done by lodges in the 18th and early 19th centuries, and contain much of the allegorical and philosophical background to the actual degree ceremonies.

Museum in Canterbury

Canterbury in Kent has an example of a purpose-built masonic museum, open to Freemasons and members of the general public. It was founded in 1933 by the then Provincial Grand Master, Lord Cornwallis.
    Coincidentally the museum at Great Queen Street was being dismantled in preparation for the erection of the new Freemasons’ Hall, which allowed Lord Cornwallis to acquire five beautiful stained-glass windows, doors and showcases, which still grace Canterbury’s museum today.
    Curator Peter Young regarded the artefacts as not being displayed to their best advantage, and he accepted the exciting challenge of presenting them in an entirely new setting.
    Among current exhibits are the Museum Lodge of 1730-1750 at labour, The Hon. Elizabeth Ledger pondering, and to celebrate the 250th anniversary of his birth there is an exhibit featuring Mozart at the harpsichord playing from his masonic compositions.

Essex Masonic Library and Museum

The Provincial Grand Master for the Province of Essex, John Webb, officially opened the new Essex Masonic Library and Museum recently, which is located at the Provincial Office at Wickford.
    Amongst the guests welcomed by the Librarian and Curator, Mark Perkins, were members of the Provincial Executive and Mrs Diane Clements, Director of the Grand Lodge Library and Museum of Freemasonry at Great Queen Street in London.
    Mark Perkins explained that in 2004 he had been asked by the Provincial Grand Secretary to bring together the Provincial archives and masonic books to form a Library.
    In January 2005, with the assistance of Peter Smith and Brian Cattermole, the ground floor of the Provincial Grand Lodge building had been carpeted, book cases created and with the generous donation of masonic books and artefacts from many Brethren, the project was launched.
    The Library and Museum is a member of the Masonic Library and Museum Group which enables it to work closely with Grand Lodge and the many other Provincial Libraries and Museums.

Saxon Hall is Dedicated

Over 200 hundred masons from around the Province of Essex attended the dedication ceremony in the main Temple at Saxon Hall, Southend.
    The ceremony was conducted by a team from the Province led by the Provincial Grand Master John Webb. The lodge was opened by Dennis Baum, the Master of the Essex Masters Lodge, No. 3256, and the Provincial Grand Master took the chair. The dedication ceremony proceeded in front of a Temple filled to capacity.
    John Bermon presented the Provincial Grand Master with the plans of the building and asked that the building be dedicated to God and the community.
    The Provincial Grand Chaplain Capt John Simons stressed during his oration that the new Temple in Southend was being dedicated not only to the masons in the district but to the community at large, and expressed the hope that it would be fully used for its joint objectives.
    One of the consequences of this is that the meeting of Quatuor Coronati Lodge, to be addressed by Yasha Beresiner, will be held there on Thursday 28 June.

Dorset Provincial Grand Master back in the Classroom

Julia’s House is a recently opened children’s hospice at Broadstone in the Province of Dorset. The hospice enjoys the fullest support of the Freemasons of Dorset, and when the Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys Millennium Project ‘Lifelites’ announced that it was going to extend its specialised information technology programme to include Julia’s House, the Provincial Grand Master for Dorset, Harry Barnes, appointed a masonic support team consisting of five Brethren, and headed by the team leader Peter Martin, Master of Canford Lodge, No. 9727. The Provincial Grand Master personally attended the two training courses, commenting:
    ‘It is good to witness first hand the significant impact that Lifelites can bring to specialist children’s hospices such as Julia’s House. The equipment is more than just state of the art computers; it comprises special needs adaptors, voice recognition, touch sensitive screens and all supported by a vast range of specialist purpose-built software.’
    This is part of Dorset’s ongoing commitment to move away from public cheque presentations in favour of playing a pro-active part in the community.

Andrew Prescott Leaves Sheffield

To an audience of about 50 drawn from near and far, Andrew Prescott, Professor of Freemasonry at the University of Sheffield, recently delivered his farewell seminar at the Douglas Knoop Centre.
    Professor Prescott has held the position since 2000. He moves, for good reasons, to the University of Lampeter in Wales to promote proper academic awareness of the important archive it houses. He will be widely missed by his many collegues and friends.
    Showing typical energy and grasp, Professor Prescott’s paper tackled the impossible: the reduced History of Freemasonry 1425- 2000, which is a challenging critique of masonic scholarship destined to stir the minds of all who read it for many decades to come. ‘Freemasonry can never be explained by Freemasonry... In a masonic context too often history does not happen’, he said.
    Masonry in the 1890s, for instance, was markedly different from that of the 1820s yet we were, he said, supposed to think that little has changed since 1813. Professor Prescott offered his own hypothesis (‘bound to be wrong’) he said, of its periodicity. Always set within changing national economic and social contexts he saw and justified ten broad periods between 1425 and the present day.
    Those who attended his valedictory lecture found it refreshing and stimulating for Freemasonry to undergo a vigorous ‘currycombing’ at the hand of a knowledgeable and friendly outsider.

Bucks Freemasons go to the Community

Freemasons are increasingly taking an active part in local public events, and Buckinghamshire masons have their own display stand and travelling team who tour the county. The stand has a number of interchangeable panels, each depicting a facet of Freemasonry, such as national and local masonic charity activities. One panel outlines the work of the Bucks Masonic Centenary Fund, which provides grants for local non-masonic organisations. The whole presentation folds up into a trailer. The stand also features a brief history of Freemasonry and photographs of famous masons, as well as local work carried out by the Province in the community.
    These initiatives have generated considerable interest from the public, and as a result, last year nine initiates came into the Craft.
    Special pamphlets have been designed, of interest to non-masons, such as highlighting the growing number of social activities for families and friends.
    Last year was the first time the mobile exhibition had been sent to public events, and a list of shows which will be attended this year has already been drawn up.