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BACK NEXT Autumn 2008 Issue 46 Letter from the Editor Grand Lodge News News and Views On The Level International News Masonic Events Beyond the Craft Working With the Centre Lord Northampton's Legacy Orations Piloted in Dorset Thomas Paine, Freemason? Something Worth Preserving Rebuilding the Temple Leicester Prints: Aspect of Freemasonry Brother Lightfoote's Journal Review: The Open Door Review: Understanding More About Knight Templar and Malta Degrees Review: Follies of Europe Letters to the Editor Internet Library & Museum of Freemasonry Grand Lodge Quarterly Communication Grand Charity Masonic Samaritan Fund RMBI RMTGB Canon Richard Tydeman: Who Was Hiram Abif? Copyright 1997-2010 Grand Lodge Publications Ltd Designed and Maintained by: Cyberpoint Limited

FREEMASONRY TODAY Autumn 2008 - Issue 46 - Index Letter from the Editor It is a terrible thing, despair. It can so easily lead to destruction - of self-confidence, of relationships, of the will to keep going, or worse. Recently, our newspapers have been filled with one such tragedy. A man who lost everything decided to destroy everything. He destroyed his expensive cars, his expensive house, his innocent animals and then his wife and his teenage daughter - a young girl who can never now realise her dreams. There are a host of reasons why despair can arrive like some alcoholic uncle from a trailer park but once it has become comfortable it becomes very difficult to push back out the door. It takes the sort of courage, dogged persistence ... Grand Lodge Grand Secretary's Column Lord Northampton Announces his Retirement Grand Master's Official Opening of Charities Floor News and Views: Essex Fund New Lifeboat — Stadium of Lights Hosts Durham — Bikers Rev Up for Charity — Warwickshire Puts On A Royal Show — Helping the Troops in Afghanistan — Welsh Lodge Raises Over £3,000 — Masons Honour Cornish Fishermen — Classic Car Run Looks to Expand — Certificates Project On The Level: Cheshire Award — Wiltshire's Royal Arch Changes — Somerset Royal Arch Appointments — Teddies Galore — Synagogue Holds Royal Arch Service — Scillies' Milestone — London Legacy Appeal — New West Lancs PGM — Cornerstone Society — Sheffield University Centre for Freemasonry — Canonbury Masonic Research Centre International News: Americans Given Third Degree — Sheffield and Los Angeles Agreement — Young Researchers — South Africa Gives a Helping Hand — New Zealand Shows Community Spirit — Royal and Select Caribbean Initiative Masonic Events: Women Masons in Royal Albert Hall Spectacular — Royal Masonic Variety Show for November Beyond the Craft: Red Cross Order Has New Intendant-General — Red Letter Day for Notts Provincial Prior — Embroideress Extraordinary Makes Her Mark — Order of the Secret Monitor Gains Strength in Cheshire and North Wales Working With the Centre What is a centre?’ The centre of what you may ask? Let me explain, the centre is ‘a point within a circle from which every part of the circumference is equidistant.’ When I first heard this explanation in the ritual I thought it curiously selfevident, there was more to it and I began thinking, ‘what and where is this centre?’ Before I joined Freemasonry I was teaching and practicing the martial art Aikido. In this you are taught to work from your centre which is defined as a point around two inches below your navel, depending on your stature. By working from your centre you can achieve balance and a connection to the universal energy we called Chi. After I joined the Craft I began to look ... Lord Northampton's Legacy Lord Northampton has been a much admired ruler and charismatic leader of English Freemasonry for fourteen years, first as Assistant Grand Master from 1995 and since 2001 as Pro Grand Master. He has worked tirelessly and travelled extensively throughout the Provinces and our Districts and lodges overseas as well as to other Grand Lodges on behalf of the Craft. He has been a great ambassador for English Freemasonry all over the world ... Orations Piloted in Dorset For some time the Pro Grand Master had been considering how the experience of Freemasonry may be deepened and intensified for Brethren. He recognised that there was no formal method within the Lodge for communicating or raising awareness of the richness and depth of our traditions, with the result that the art of reading symbolism and allegory seemed to have been forgotten. The then Provincial Grand Master for Dorset, Harry Barnes, had been assisting the Pro Grand Master with a project designed to further education and awareness amongst ... Thomas Paine, Freemason? Thomas Paine is celebrated today as an eighteenth century revolutionary, radical and republican, who wrote countless controversial but ground breaking pamphlets, such as Common Sense and The Age of Reason. He also wrote the enigmatic Origins of Free-masonry, published posthumously as part ritual exposé and part Masonic history. His interests in Freemasonry were obvious, and the fact that some of his supporters and associates ... Something Worth Preserving The Worshipful Master of Thornborough Lodge, No. 6434, suffers from Motor Neurone Disease. The Brethren of his Lodge, in collaboration with the MND Association (Yorkshire Dales Branch) arranged the Run To The Hills Classic Vehicle Show in support of the charity, held at Leyburn, Wensleydale, on Sunday, August 3rd 2008. There was rather more to it than a bunch of bangers... The day dawned grey, damp and cold – typical holiday weather – but ... Rebuilding the Temple I believe that it is time that we, as English Freemasons, re-examined our roots and the things we do. In our dealings with individuals and organisations we need confidence in explaining and commending ourselves. There is either the danger of being too simplistic, thus carrying no real conviction in a world where so much else competes for a young man’s attention; or, we can come over as too defensive, confirming the myth that we have something to hide, or that we are ashamed of what we do in our temples and act out in our ceremonies. What is beyond ... Leicester Prints: Aspect of Freemasonry Walter Glover has been the sole Librarian and Custodian of the Museum in Leicester for the past five years. He emphasised that the continued association of the Museum collection with the names of John Thorpe and William Kelly, as prestigious as that was, is no longer justifiable. These icons of Leicestershire Freemasonry left a rich legacy of Masonic publications and artefacts that once formed the backbone of the Leicester Lodge of Research but ... Brother Lightfoote's Journal Saint Richard of Chichester was a farmer’s boy who studied hard and became Chancellor of Oxford University. He was later a bishop and, it is reported, dropped the chalice at Mass without a drop being spilt. In later life he preached the Crusade, gaining many recruits in Kent and Sussex, especially among unemployed sailors… He is the Patron Saint of Coachmen, an allusion, presumably, to his cart driving childhood. Sadly, Saint R of C has far too many acolytes; the traffick in London is now so bad that areas of the city are locked solid. Apart from the noise ... Review: The Open Door Review: Understanding More About Knight Templar and Malta Degrees Review: Follies of Europe Letters to the Editor Orators — Finding a Local Lodge — Why Three Gates in the Temple? — Bark or Barque — Lichfield Opposition — Unique Event? — Freemasons in Cuba — The Alamo — Sartorial Criticism — Naval History Internet When I am asked to describe my perception of Freemasonry, I simply break it down into three phases. Phase one is the social side or the ‘Knife and Fork’ element of Freemasonry. This we all experience when we first join and hopefully this friendly introduction into the Craft makes the Brother Initiate feel both welcomed and in amity with his newly found family. I have heard this element likened to the RAF Sergeant’s Mess, which was an attraction to a friend of mine who found his move from the RAF, (where he was a MP Sergeant) to the civilian police lacking of a group of like minded individuals whom one could always rely on. If you look back at the summer issue of ... Library & Museum of Freemasonry The Friends of the Library and Museum, established in 2001, enables individuals (whether UGLE members or not), lodges and chapters to support the Library and Museum by way of an annual subscription. Friends receive regular newsletters – the latest features new research about the links between women Freemasons and the suffrage movement – and can attend special events. This Autumn there is a chance to have a private view of the Women and Freemasonry exhibition and hear a talk about the history of women and Freemasonry. A second event will be a talk about masonic medals produced to commemorate special events or individuals. A special display ... Grand Lodge Quarterly Communication Board meetings 2009 — Attendance at Lodges under the English Constitution by Brethren from Other Grand Lodges — Attendance at Lodges Overseas — Amalgamations — Erasure of Lodges — Recognition of a Foreign Grand Lodge — Conditional Recognition of a Foreign Grand Lodge — New Lodges — Expulsions from the Craft — Grand Lodge Keetings 2009 — Grand Chapter Meetings — Report of Library and Museum Trust Masonic Charities: Grand Charity Masonic Charities: Masonic Samaritan Fund Masonic Charities: RMBI Masonic Charities: RMTGB Who Was Hiram Abif? Ask any Freemason this question and he will probably tell you that Hiram Abif was the third ‘principal’ after Solomon, King of Israel and Hiram, King of Tyre, and was the architect of the Temple at Jerusalem. Your Freemason friend might then go on to say that Hiram Abif may have been just a fictional character invented by the Craft in the eighteenth century as the hero of a ‘traditional history’. ‘Of course,’ he will probably add, ‘there is no reference to Hiram Abif in the Bible.’ Oh really? Are you sure? The Bible is a very big subject to study, and has been translated into a vast number of different languages. Let me refer you to the Second Book of Chronicles: in chapters two and four ...   Issue 46, Autumn 2008 © Grand Lodge Publications Ltd 1997-2010