Promoting the Fraternity across the World
Freemasonry consists of fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local fraternities of stonemasons, which from the end of the fourteenth century regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities and clients. The degrees of freemasonry retain the three grades of medieval craft guilds, those of Apprentice, Journeyman or fellow (now called Fellowcraft), and Master Mason. These are the degrees offered by Craft (or Blue Lodge) Freemasonry. Members of these organisations are known as Freemasons or Masons. There are additional degrees, which vary with locality and jurisdiction, and are usually administered by different bodies than the craft degrees.
The basic, local organisational unit of Freemasonry is the Lodge. The Lodges are usually supervised and governed at the regional level (usually coterminous with either a state, province, or national border) by a Grand Lodge or Grand Orient. There is no international, world-wide Grand Lodge that supervises all of Freemasonry; each Grand Lodge is independent, and they do not necessarily recognise each other as being legitimate.
For centuries Masonic historians have been puzzled by the motives for, and the purpose of, the formation of the craft of freemasonry, both in its operative, and speculative form, and whilst endeavouring to investigate the mysteries surrounding the formation of our order, it seems that the riddle actually forms itself into three distinct questions
The Grand Charity has awarded a £100,000 grant to the Cancer Genetics team at the University of East Anglia to help fund research that will focus on distinguishing between aggressive and non-aggressive forms of the disease. Lead researcher Professor Colin Cooper explained that a critical problem in clinical management is an inability to distinguish this at the time of diagnosis.
Why is memory so important to Freemasons? I’m sure to many of you, that will seem obvious. Yet, beyond memorizing material so that you can do things like prove up to a higher degree, perform your ritual part well, do the floorwork, deliver a charge or even deliver a tracing board, there is a great deal more to this topic than one might think at first glance. Thus, in this brief paper, I hope to sketch out three interrelated areas in which memory may – whether consciously or inadvertently – be of significance to Freemasons.
Mari Street, the widow of Bro Leslie J. Street who was a member of Wayfarer Lodge No. 8679 meeting in Coalville, jumped out of a plane at 13,000 feet for a skydive in order to raise funds for the British Lung Foundation
On Friday, 8th July, the Provincial Grand Master of Valencia, RWBro Norman Wheatley, made a surprise visit to the Blasco Ibanéz summer school in Guadalest to visit the children and see for himself how the school was progressing. For the last four years, Freemasons in Spain have sponsored under-privileged children to attend this summer school for both enjoyment and learning in a friendly and safe atmosphere. At present thirty-five children are at the school, of which eighteen are from the El Preventorio children’s home in Gandia.
The real Freemason is distinguished from the rest of Mankind by the uniform unrestrained rectitude of his conduct. Other men are honest in fear of punishment which the law might inflect – are religious in expectation of being rewarded, or in dread of the devil, in the next world.
On April 10, 2015 to commemorate the Sesquicentennial (150 years) of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s surrender to Union General Ulysses S. Grant. These notable Civil War reenactors, calling from north to south, each share one thing in common – they are all brother Masons – with many of them hailing from Pennsylvania Lodges.
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The display stand was situated immediately inside the entrance to the Customer Service and Library complex and so it was an excellent spot. The team consisted of 5 fine men in the persons of W Brothers Dave Watson, Bob Bruce, Steve Reay and Brothers John Holmes and Tom Clifford.
On Saturday 2nd July 2016 the Wallsend Masonic Hall’s “A Team” was in action at the Wallsend Festival. The aim was to advertise and promote Freemasonry in Wallsend. The display stand was situated immediately inside the entrance to the Customer Service and Library complex and so it was an excellent spot. The team consisted of 5 fine men in the persons of W Brothers Dave Watson, Bob Bruce, Steve Reay and Brothers John Holmes and Tom Clifford.The event was not particularly well attended and there were long periods of inactivity. There were visitors from Canada who were after directions to an ancestral home in Wallsend and were more than happy with the directions we gave them although it was nothing to do with Masonry but we made friends.The upside of the day was that we got two young men interested in what Freemasonry is about and one of whom left his personal details. Tom has since been in touch with this gentleman and has arranged to meet him on Wednesday. Well done, Tom. Bob also had the contact details with another gentleman but he is still waiting to hear from him.All in all it was a quieter day than anticipated but rewarding was all part of a learning curve.
The Grand Lodge of Antient Free and Accepted Masons of Scotland19 July at 10:41 ·
The story of Freemason Henry Ford is not of a prodigy entrepreneur or an overnight success. Ford grew up on a farm and might easily have remained in agriculture. But something stronger pulled at Ford’s imagination: mechanics, machinery, understanding how things worked and what new possibilities lay in store