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BACK NEXT Autumn 2009 Issue 50 Letter from the Editor Grand Secretary's Column Grand Lodge News News and Views On The Level Masonic Education International News But the Greatest is Charity Freemasonry Cares Seeking Those In Need Thinking With The Heart Focus on Sporting Prowess Who Cares? Help For Heroes Everyman's Professor Ovarian Cancer Action Traces of Charity Review: Freemasonry: Rituals, Symbols & History Review: Easy Lodge Music Review: Masonic Etiquette Today Review: Delving Further Beyond the Craft Letters to the Editor Library & Museum of Freemasonry Grand Lodge: Board of General Purposes Grand Lodge: LMCT Annual Report Grand Charity Masonic Samaritan Fund RMBI RMTGB Canon Richard Tydeman: Dimensions Copyright 1997-2010 Grand Lodge Publications Ltd Designed and Maintained by: Cyberpoint Limited

FREEMASONRY TODAY Autumn 2009 - Issue 50 - Index Letter from the Editor This issue of Freemasonry Today is dedicated to the four central Masonic charities: The Freemasons’ Grand Charity, the Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys, the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution and the Masonic Samaritan Fund. They are the crown jewels of our much loved Brotherhood. Such centrally organised charities are relatively recent in our long history. If we look back to the Old Charges we don’t see any mention of such organisations. In fact, charity itself is not mentioned in one of the very earliest texts, the Cooke Manuscript, dated to around the 1430s. The approach was very pragmatic: employment was offered, not charity. This Old Charge ... Grand Lodge: Grand Secretary's Column — Highlights of the Address by the Pro Grand Master, 9th September 2009 Grand Lodge News: Building Bridges – Freemasons’ Hall in the 21st Century; Address by the Grand Secretary to Grand Lodge, 9 September 2009 Masonic News and Views: Support for Prostate Cancer Research — When Bikers Met a Chopper — Masonic Housing Association Extension Opened at Aylesbury Home — Mark Shows Support for Special Olympics — Cumberland and Westmorland Lay Foundation Stone for New Temple — Gurkhas on Parade at West Kent Event — Provincial ‘Dash’ Raises £5,000 — Operative Steve Branches Out On The Level: Putting Their Best Feet Forward — Soccer Youth on Track — Bob’s Big Hand for Research Fund — Variety Show Backs RMBI — New PGM for Cornwall — London Masons in Big Parade — Adcott Takes the Helm at Cheshire — Teddies from North Wales Masonic Education: Canononbury Hosts Major Event — Worcestershire Museum is Honoured with Accreditation — Quatuor Coronati — New Grand Lodge Web Site Aaims at Younger Members — Recognising the Importance of Mentoring International News: Grand Charity Grant Aids Namibia Flood Victims — American Legend Kit Carson Celebrations — Peter Lowndes Leads Team to Caribbean — The Masons Who Pioneered the West But the Greatest is Charity We learn from St Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians that ‘now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity’. I hope that every proposed candidate for initiation is informed of our three Great Principles, Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth. Thus, right from the start of his masonic journey he will realise the importance of charity. If not, he will soon receive a dramatic reminder in the north-east corner at his initiation. Who could fail to be impressed by this exhortation to care for Brethren in need? The new-made Brother should soon learn of our four great national masonic charities, indeed, he will already be contributing to the Grand Charity! He may contribute ... Freemasonry Cares We all hope we will never face financial hardship or major health problems, need help supporting our children or require extra care in our old age. In reality thousands of people every year need a little extra assistance and a newly launched service is making sure that people who need that support are getting it. Known as Freemasonry Cares, it is a gateway to the help available to Freemasons, their families and dependants from the four central ... Seeking Those In Need "The masonic charities are here to serve Freemasons. That’s why we exist. There are people out there who need our help and we are confident that we have the financial resources to meet that need but we must reach those masons and their dependants. It is this aspiration which lies behind our new initiative, Freemasonry Cares." Laura Chapman has been Chief Executive of The Freemasons’ Grand Charity for eight years and knows well the frustration common to all the masonic charities: they knew that there were many Freemasons who needed support ... Thinking With The Heart Research is the foundation of good surgical practice. A recent publication by the Royal College of Surgeons emphasises this. ‘Research forms an essential source of knowledge for the surgeon, and over the past 50 years has probably done more than research in any other field to reduce mortality and disease and improve the quality of life for patients.’ Surgical research and Freemasonry have gone hand in hand since at least 1966 ... Focus on Sporting Prowess The costs of supporting a child at national level in any sport are high; consider the amount of travel, equipment and finding time to research and secure the best trainers and coaches and it is obvious that each could be a major drain on a family’s time and could seriously affect the family’s income. TalentAid was established by the Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys (the Trust) in 2001 specifically to assist with the costs involved in supporting an especially gifted or talented ‘masonic’ child. It targets the costs associated with equipment, specialist tuition, training camps ... Who Cares? The office of Lodge Almoner is completely different from any other office within the lodge. His duty is to look after the welfare of the members and their wives or partners during times of distress which can arrive in any shape or form. And he must also be able to lend a sympathetic ear as those in trouble may have difficulty discussing it with another. His low-profile report in the lodge during the meeting is often the only glimpse lodge members get into his world. I should like to give you some insight into the world of Lodge Almoners, the reports I will give ... Help For Heroes To say that Bryn and Emma Parry, co-founders of the charity ‘Help For Heroes’, are on the most important mission of their lives might be an understatement. They don’t have the traditional zeal of the missionary: their approach to fund raising for wounded and disabled servicemen and women is more a storm of conviction that here is a need to raise a massive amount of money. And to raise it now. And nothing is going to stop them. So far, nothing has ... Everyman's Professor In 2004 the Grand Charity approved a one million pound grant to further research into both prostate and testicular cancer by establishing The Grand Charity of Freemasons Chair of Molecular Biology at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR). Five years on, and with the ICR currently in its centenary year, Matthew Scanlan went to meet the holder of the Chair, Professor Colin Cooper, to find out about his work ... Ovarian Cancer Action Following the popularity of the grant made to the Institute of Cancer Research to fund research into male cancers, in September 2008 the Grand Charity decided to make an additional donation of £1 million to Ovarian Cancer Action, the UK’s leading charity investigating ovarian cancer. The decision to award the grant, which will be paid in instalments over five years, was made after extensive consultation with Freemasons’ wives. And the money gifted will be used to fund research as well as assist the charity in its quest to raise awareness ... Traces of Charity Charity is one of the three great principles on which Freemasonry rests and it is rich in history and tradition. Masonic charity has an impressive past expressed in artefacts both of antiquity and more recent times. This was well demonstrated in the exhibition in London’s Freemasons’ Hall earlier this year. The four major charities ... Review: Freemasonry: Rituals, Symbols & History of the Secret Society. Review: Easy Lodge Music Review: Masonic Etiquette Today Review: Delving Further Beyond the Craft Letters to the Editor Masonic Prospectus — The Sphinx as Anubis — Rank in Freemasonry — Waive Lodge Fees — Equality and Diversity — You’ll Never Walk Alone — Unlawful Societies Act — Women in Freemasonry — It's That Man Again — Recognition by Day Library & Museum of Freemasonry The Library and Museum of Freemasonry has recently catalogued over 120 petitions for Masonic charity, dating from 1747 to 1888, which are now available for use by researchers. The collection spans the charitable work of all three Grand Lodges, namely the Moderns (or Premier) Grand Lodge (formed in 1717), the Antients Grand Lodge (formed 1751) and the United Grand Lodge of England, formed when these two merged in 1813. More than 300 named individuals are included. The petitions were received from lodges across England as well as a number of foreign nationals who were either permanent or temporary residents. Amongst the stories are those of Alexander Jack ... Grand Lodge Quarterly Communication of Grand Lodge, 9 September 2009, Report of the Board of General Purposes Library and Museum of Freemasonry, Annual Report Masonic Charities: Grand Charity Masonic Charities: Masonic Samaritan Fund Masonic Charities: RMBI Masonic Charities: RMTGB Dimensions Having spent five years as a boy chorister in a cathedral choir and sixty-four years as a clergyman, I suppose I must have heard more sermons than most people have. I say ‘heard’ rather than ‘listened to’ because there are very few that I remember now. I don’t think this in any way an uncommon experience and I have no doubt that people have said similar things about the many sermons that I have preached myself. Occasionally, however, one hears a note of appreciation: the other day I met, after fifty years, a man who had been a choir-boy in the parish where I was the Vicar. ‘I always listened to your sermons’, he said, ‘they were the only ones I could ever understand’ ...   Issue 50, Autumn 2009 © Grand Lodge Publications Ltd 1997-2010