Members’ Area
Photo: Founding members of The Brian Bellinger Lodge of Installed Masters at its consecration (February 2024).
The welfare of our members and their dependents is deeply ingrained within the principles of Freemasonry. Building from the bottom upwards, through its Lodges, the organisation provides a support structure designed to underpin this principle.
Masonic Charity is organised charitable support within Freemasonry – caring and spending time and not just money – freely and confidentially given by every able Brother in aid of the sick, aged and needy.
The Provincial Learning and Development Team offer a range of presentations to enhance your lodge evenings. These are open to brethren currently in office and those that have an interest in taking on this role in the future.
The Province of Hampshire & Isle of Wight provides mentoring advice and guidance to help improve the experience of our members.
The Freemasonry in the Community (FITC) initiative provides the Province with a formal link with the wider community.
(From 3rd July 2024)
The North Central Area of the Province is headed by Assistant Provincial Grand Master James Kneller. Its 1,500 members and 44 lodges meet in Masonic Centres in Eastleigh, Chandler’s Ford, Hursley, Winchester, Basingstoke and Andover.
The North East Area of the Province is headed by Assistant Provincial Grand Master Peter Vosser . Its 1,180 members and 42 lodges meet in Masonic Centres in Aldershot, Alton, Bordon, Farnborough, Farnham, and Petersfield.
The South East Area of the Province is headed by Assistant Provincial Grand Master Chris Bayliss. Its 2,000 members and 47 lodges meet in Masonic Centres in Cosham, Havant, Horndean, Portsmouth and Purbrook.
The Solent Area of the Province is headed by Assistant Provincial Grand Master Adrian Cleightonhills. Its 1,500 members and 37 lodges (19 on the IoW) meet in Masonic Centres in Gosport, Fareham, Cowes, East Cowes, Newport, Ryde, Sandown, Seaview, Shanklin and Ventnor.
The South Centra Area of the Province is headed by Assistant Provincial Grand Master Ian Preece. Its 1,700 members and 43 lodges meet in Masonic Centres in Botley, Southampton, Totton and Woolston.
The South West Area of the Province is headed by Assistant Provincial Grand Master Chris Lockwood. Its 1,400 members and 37 lodges meet in Masonic Centres in Bournemouth, Brockenhurst, Christchurch, Lymington, New Milton and Ringwood.
Each year, through a robust process, deserving members receive a first appointment to Provincial Grand Rank or promotion from the Provincial Grand Master which is conferred at the Provincial Annual General Meeting held at Freemasons’ Hall, London.
Main photo: The Grand Temple, Freemason’s Hall, Great Queen Street.
Photos from 2022 AGM at Freemason’s Hall and the following lunch in the Connaught Rooms.
The British Dyslexia Association defines dyslexia as “A learning difficulty which primarily affects reading and writing skills”. It qualifies this by saying “Dyslexia is actually about information processing and that dyslexic people may have difficulty processing and remembering information they see and hear which can affect learning and literacy skills”. Dyslexia can also impact on organisational skills.
Dyslexia is now included in a group of conditions called ‘Neurodiversity’, but the information here is concentrating on dyslexia only and its effects on learning and retaining ritual.
Firstly, it must be acknowledged that people with dyslexia are not unintelligent and will probably have strengths associated with reasoning, design, problem solving, creativity and oral skills. It is not their fault!
In the Masonic context learning from the written word is the most common difficulty experienced and this can be because of a visual discomfort or disturbance. There are several common symptoms that may impair reading ability, or make reading very tiring, including:
There are some other indicators: confusion of the order of letters in words, e.g. interpreting ‘b’ as ‘d’ and vice-versa, understanding verbal information but not the same information in written form, misinterpreting a sequence of instructions, and poor or inconsistent spelling.
A common aid to reading may be as simple as a tinted overlay or a coloured paper background to the text.
Proper diagnosis should be made by a qualified professional. Part of any diagnosis will probably be accompanied by an assessment carried out by a registered optometrist who can make a full health check of the eyes. This will discover the ability for eyes to focus and work properly together, but it will not diagnose dyslexia. It will, however, aid medical professionals in any extended assessment.
In 1816 Grand Lodge took the view that no attempt should be made to commit the ritual to print. Thus, for many years oral instruction and repetition was the only means of learning. Indeed, the Emulation Lodge of Instruction did not sanction a printed book for Emulation ritual until 1969 which means we have members still today who had to learn by repetition with a preceptor or from ‘illicit’ booklets. Its true that various rituals did appear in print from about 1870 and a great many purported to be official Emulation but had no authorisation whatsoever. In offering a printed book, and through its successive editions, the Emulation Committee stresses that, while a book is undoubtedly helpful, it cannot be a substitute for organised attendance, teaching, learning and rehearsal at a Lodge of Instruction. It is there that what is set out in the book is brought to life.
Originally the learning was by dictation and repetition of the lectures but in Victorian times it became common practice to rehearse the ceremonies.
We are a fraternity and thereby a caring organisation that should be willing to assist every member with his engagement in Masonic activities, whatever they may be, including assisting sympathetically with learning and presenting the ritual of our ceremonies.
While its true that the average Mason can learn the ritual from the book, gain experience in performing it in a Lodge of Instruction and make steady progress without concentrated assistance, there will be some who will benefit from personal, one-to-one, help. This could include the old way by dictation and repetition, but it may also be by visual depiction of the text as images or printing on coloured paper or the use of tinted overlays.
It is our duty to help every brother to become Master of his lodge, should he so wish, and likewise it is the duty of that brother to make a proper effort to learn the ritual. If dyslexia is making that more difficult it should not be outside our capacity as an organisation, as a lodge and as individuals to help those in need.
For more information about Dyslexia go to: www.bdadyslexia.org.uk
Solomon is UGLE’s online searchable repository of information and requires only an email address for registration.
Once registered you will be able to access a range of modules containing a wealth of material that will answer many of your questions.
Included to help with your masonic journey is a popular suite of leaning modules mainly intended for those who have just undertaken a ceremony – namely Welcome Apprentice, Welcome Fellowcraft and Welcome Master Mason…Newly added is Welcome Companion.
The Welcome modules adopt gamification to make the learning experience fun and engaging. Though they can be taken in your own home at your own speed this, is not the only way the modules be used. For example, you could work on them as part of a discussion with your Mentor or other lodge members.
This downloadable music has been made available by the Province for use in lodge meetings where an organist is unable to attend. All files have been provided in MP3 format to maximise the available options for playing the music (Computer/Tablet/Mobile Device).
Clicking on a title will play the music in your web browser. Right clicking on the title, and selecting ‘Save Link As:’, will allow you to download the music to your computer.
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