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BACK NEXT Summer 2000 Issue 13 Geoffrey Baber - Letter from a Director Masons at Work Plumblines Obituary The Craft in Jamaica A Town Called Kilwinning Brainstorming Some Masonic Gravestones Truth, Relief and Brotherly Love From Madness to Masonry Beyond the Five Points Harmony in Hong Kong Masonic Buttons Masonic Songs and Music Samuel Wesley Who Was Lord Petre, Anyway? Review: The Lodge of Edinburgh Review: The Arch and the Rainbow Review: Cathares et Templiers Review: My Ancestor was a Freemason Review: The Order of Free Gardeners Review: History of Dorset Freemasonry Review: Web of Gold Stiletto The Revolutionary Charge of the Third Degree Letters to the Editor Who Was Raphael? Copyright 1997-2008 Grand Lodge Publications Ltd Designed and Maintained by: Cyberpoint Limited

FREEMASONRY TODAY Summer 2000 - Issue 13 - Index Geoffrey Baber - Letter from a Director This will be the last issue of Freemasonry Today to be published under Tobias Churton’s admirable editorialship. Having nursed the magazine through its critical first three years, Toby wishes to divert his energies to new projects and in this we wish him well. In his place we welcome as our new editor John Jackson. John spent more than 20 years in Fleet Street and since the 70s has been editor of a number of magazines. He is an equally experienced Mason. For many years he was on the parliamentary staff of a national newspaper, and in this issue he contributes ... Masons at Work CHESHIRE’s 275th ANNIVERSARY – OLDEST PROVINCE CELEBRATES! Happiness is the Grand Design, Canon tells cathedral assembly — Shopmobility in Wigan — Mandate makes its Mark — Grand Lodge of Greece Recognised — Decade of English Craft in Portugal — Ablaze with Colour! — Cornwall comes Together — Bro Norman Reflects — Warwickshire Gift for Church Roof — Royal College of Surgeons visits Yorkshire — Great Success of 13 May Cornerstone Conference — The Pennsylvania Masonic Academy Plumblines New Era and CHIPS — Emergency Grant to Children — Young at heart Mason — Masonic Bell Appeal — The Talkington Three — Mark cheque — Gavels from the Ladies — French Twin — Oxford Musical Extravaganza — Judges in Freemasonry — Voyagers’ gift to RNLI — Sixty years a Mason! — Radio Masons Obituary On 7 March 2000 one of the great figures of 20th century Freemasonry, Sir James Stubbs, died aged 89 after 69 years of service to Freemasonry. James Wilfrid Stubbs was born 13 August 1910 at Barkway, Hertfordshire, where his father was Rector. His Grandfather, William Stubbs, had been Professor of History at Oxford, Bishop of Chester, Bishop of Oxford and Chancellor of the Order of the Garter ... The Craft in Jamaica Freemasonry is deeply entrenched in Jamaican society, enjoying support and patronage at every level. A spry 85 year old Jamaican Grand Officer sees his role in life as one of awe; to “advise, warn, encourage.” The ‘ancient’ is Jamaica’s Governor General, His Excellency Sir Howard Cooke. Prominent too among Jamaican Freemasons are members of the government and the opposition, the executive, the judiciary, the civil service, the ... A Town Called Kilwinning Legends abound concerning the antiquity of the Craft, but perhaps none are as curious as those surrounding an obscure Scottish town called Kilwinning. Situated on the banks of the river Garnock some twenty-five miles south-west of Glasgow, this small community lies a short distance from the Ayrshire coast, where the Irish sea meets and churns with the waters of the Firth of Clyde. Some distance from the town, the ruins of an ancient abbey ... Brainstorming The following conversation took place recently between Bro. Dieter Stephan, a Hamburg businessman and member of the city’s Roland Lodge, and Bro. Christopher McIntosh, a British citizen and member of the Pilgrim Lodge, London, who lives in Hamburg. CM: Brother Dieter, what masonic event have you attended during the past year that you found particularly significant? DS: Without hesitation I can name the evening when two actors appeared in the roles of Ernst and Falk in the famous masonic dialogue written by the 18th-century dramatist and mason ... Some Masonic Gravestones Arriving home on Templar day, 13 October 1999, having had to extend my stay away, I hoped very much that when I got my second set of photographs developed they were going to be better than the first lot of dark, indecipherable images. I had been away in Wallasey, and my forwarded post contained a letter from your editor suggesting I include photos from Liverpool to send to him with some I had collected elsewhere in August (1999) ... Truth, Relief and Brotherly Love Oh dear, what have I done now? Truth, Relief and Brotherly Love? Shouldn’t it be the other way round? Well, I wanted to look at things from a different angle, to give myself a new perspective, a new view, a different horizon, like the teacher in Dead Poets’ Society who has his pupils stand on top of their desks to give them a new perspective on their surroundings. It simply occurred to me that, of our three Grand Principles, the third is the most important - Truth. The Cornerstone Society Conference on Saturday 13 May certainly gave us a new way of looking at things ... From Madness to Masonry One does not normally associate the Craft with the world of pop music, so I was somewhat encouraged to learn recently that the guitarist from a prominent 1980’s band, MADNESS, had become a Freemason. Madness enjoyed a string of successful chart-topping songs during the 1980’s, such as One Step Beyond, Our House, Embarrassment, and House of Fun, before splitting up in 1986. However, with the band now reformed and Carl working on a solo project, I was tipped off that I might be able to meet and talk about his masonic involvement ... Beyond the Five Points I am the widow of Philip RS May, G.C., late of Simon Langton Lodge No 7586, Canterbury, St Augustine Chapter No 972, Canterbury and the Macdonald Chapter No 1216, London. My greatest regret is that I have not yet been able to find a publisher for what is a really remarkable book – the only one of its kind dedicated entirely to Freemasons who were, or still are, holders of the Victoria Cross or the George Cross. The name of the book is ... Harmony in Hong Kong January 30th 2000 brought a clear and bright sunny day over the harbour at Hong Kong. The bustle of boats crossing from Hong Kong to Kowloon seamed endless. I had arrived in Hong Kong just two days previously and was leaving that very night, but before I was to leave I had time to visit and participate in the Service of Thanksgiving on the 50th anniversary of the Dedication of Zetland Hall. Zetland Hall is the masonic centre of Hong Kong and home to the Hong Kong Masonic Districts under the United Grand Lodge of England, the Grand Lodge of Scotland and ... Masonic Buttons From time immemorial the button has been used for the relatively simple function of fastening articles of dress or clothing. The ancient Greeks fastened their tunics through loops. The Knights Templar and the Orders of S.John of Jerusalem and of Thomas of Acon also used this system until the invention of the buttonhole in the 13th century. As dress styles changed through the centuries, buttons quickly gained ground in popularity and became ... Masonic Songs and Music These are the now familiar words of a song entitled The Free Mason’s Health, the words and flute music for which appear on a charmingly engraved music sheet dated 1738. It is one of a series of songs published in George Bickham’s The Musical Entertainer. His name appears on most of the sheets on the margin as Frater George Bickham Junr sc. Indicating his little known membership of the Craft. Each sheet in The Musical Entertainer has a different engraving heading the music and words that follow. Groups of four plates at a time are dedicated to various Grand Masters ... Samuel Wesley Samuel Wesley was the son of Charles Wesley, the hymn-writer and nephew of John wesley, the founder of Methodism. Charles, his brother, had a prodigious musical talent and was a strong influence on Samuel. In 1778 the Wesley family moved from Bristol to London and settled in Marylebone. Here the two boys performed at a number of concerts. Charles at the age of twenty adopted the profession of music and built up a reputation and practice as a teacher. Samuel is particularly remembered for introducing the music of J.S.Bach to this country ... Who Was Lord Petre, Anyway? I am a Companion of Pythagorean Chapter No 79, a member of the Petre Group. The Group is named after the 9th Lord Petre (1733-1810), a man about whom I knew nothing until I began researching a lecture for my Mother Chapter. What I found was so interesting I thought I should share it with readers. The founder of the Petre family fortunes was William Petre who was born in Exeter early in the reign of King Henry VIII and went on to hold office under all the Tudor monarchs after him, up to and including Queen Elizabeth I ... Review: The Lodge of Edinburgh, No.1. Review: The Arch and the Rainbow Review: Cathares et Templiers Review: My Ancestor was a Freemason Review: The Order of Free Gardeners Review: History of Dorset Freemasonry Review: Web of Gold Stiletto Museums these days are so keen to count their clientele and steer them shopwards that an army of lackeys are employed to propel them through the portals; not so the Grand Lodge of Scotland Museum, Queen Street, Edinburgh. After a brief and solitary loiter on the step, I passed on the two moribund-looking bells in the wall and went for a newer one set in a brass door panel. Its distant ring was followed by a friendly click. I chose one of the three sets of imposing doors and happily the handle gave under my hand. Safely inside I climbed the stairs and found myself ... The Revolutionary Charge of the Third Degree The rituals of Craft Freemasonry involve a symbolic journey over three symbolic days; in other words, a pilgrimage, a quest. The work for the initiate is his own quest, one revealed as the search for the Lost Word. It is not fully resolved until the 3rd Degree is completed in the Royal Arch. The peak moment of this mysterious journey comes in the Third Degree with the Charge. I would like now to take a closer look at it and try to seek its meaning. What vision is seeking expression in the words? We can divide this charge into 3 sections ... Letters to the Editor Lord Millett — London organisation — Sphinx — Shaving bowls — Forget-Me-Not — Daylight Lodges — Image — Religion — English-speaking — Mundijong — Peninsular games — Book of Constitutions — Royal Arch — Masons Made at Sight Who Was Raphael? In one of the Other Degrees of Freemasonry a character is introduced with these words (right): This is Raphael who conducts the candidate through an important part of the ceremony. The words are obviously a quotation, but you will look for them in vain in the Old and New Testaments; they come in fact from the Apocrypha, a collection of books which may be used for ‘instruction of manners’ but are not included in the canonical Holy Scriptures. The book quoted here is Tobit, a curious tale which might well have come from the Arabian Nights, yet contains some wonderful prayers ...   Issue 13, Summer 2000 © Grand Lodge Publications Ltd 1997-2008