UGLE First Rising

You will all have received your August edition of ‘First Rising’ from UGLE and will see that they are referring to two recent newspaper articles about Freemasonry.

The first one is in the Financial Times. I couldn’t read that one because I wasn’t going to pay to sign up to the paper - after all, masonry is free (right!) The second one is published in The Metro, which I understood to mean an underground train system in a city, and a short form of the word metropolitan. You learn something new every day!

Their reporter (and photographer) were allowed access into Grand Lodge – a building ‘famed for its secrecy and hidden ritual’ apparently. Unfortunately, I found the photos confusing. The main picture wasn’t taken in the Grand Temple, and showed the room prepared for a Chapter meeting, rather than a Craft meeting. Similarly, the mysterious robes that freemasons wear were also Chapter regalia. The ‘Grand Chairs’ that Senior Masons sit in the ceremonies were also set up for a Chapter meeting.

But does it really matter if it raises the profile of masonry?

The article did comment on the huge amount of money raised by freemasons for charities which the public are generally unaware of. There was a useful comment from the General Secretary, Adrian Marsh, who says that Freemasons are trying to recruit younger members. ‘Everyone says masonry is full of old people, but they were 25 once’.

The UGLE are also benefiting from the ‘Gen Z loneliness crisis’. However, If you are old like me, you will have no idea what that means. Allow Professor Google to explain: Generation Z (or Gen Z) is the demographic group born between 1997 and 2012, succeeding Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha. Also known as "Zoomers," they are the first generation to grow up as true digital natives with constant access to smartphones, the internet, and social media. It is also said that they are the loneliest generation, driven by digital isolation, pandemic disruptions, and economic pressures. Up to 80% report feeling lonely, frequently replacing human interaction with artificial intelligence and online scrolling. So, can freemasonry help? I think it can, but it needs a lot of work. Surely the key to everything these days is advertising – but the right kind of advertising. Freemasonry is starting to ‘put the word out’ - albeit 20 years too late. But let’s be positive, let’s show the world who we are and what we do, in words and pictures that all age groups can relate to.

So, in my own small way, that’s what I’m doing with this website – and I’m human, not AI generated!