ISSUE 14 – SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 – FREE
Ludlow’s Masonic Lodge Guess who’s passed her driving test? King’s Singer: Patrick Dunachie Bill Pearson’s Castle Lodge Much Ado About Nothing Richard Palmer investigates, again Cycling stars: Stanton-Warren and Fotheringham
“I hear the jingling of the Masons’ jewels as they go down another set of stairs in this maze of a building and, as if by magic, they are sat down by the time the rest of us step into the temple itself...” I’VE often passed the mysterious maroon door on Brand Lane that leads to the Masonic Lodge and, as I suspect many people in Ludlow have, wondered what exactly lay behind it. Occasionally, I’ve witnessed a flock of smartly dressed men, suited and booted, heading towards it with dark briefcases in hand and, being naturally nosy, I’ve felt tempted to follow them in (disguised only with a fake moustache and a pair of socks stuffed down my trousers). Which is why, when I received an invitation to one of the Ludlow Lodge’s occasional ‘open days’, I jumped at the chance. What exactly are the Masons? Who are they? What do they do? And what’s with the rolled up trouser legs and the handshakes?
The air of mystery around the organisation is only heightened when an email arrives. At ‘19:00 hours’, as stipulated by the alliterative Robin Richardson, I’m to meet him on the corner of Brand Lane and Old Street, like a spy in a John le Carré novel. The email says, intriguingly, that he’ll be wearing ‘stripped’ trousers. Disappointingly, this turns out to be a typo and the affable Robin is simply wearing a rather dapper striped suit instead. No sign of an apron. The open evenings, Robin explains, are a chance for potential new members to come and find out more about the Masons and, tonight, they’ve invited me along too as a special guest. It’s surprisingly municipal inside the Lodge, with a faint but discernible
whiff of damp on the ground floor, but I’m swiftly whisked up the stairs to the first floor and into a small, dark-red bar already full of jovial older gents, glasses in hand. Robin introduces me to the current Worshipful Master of the Lodge, the entertaining Brian. Originally from London, he’s moved around a fair bit before ending up in Ludlow, an area he’s got a real passion for. Roger, a prospective new member who’s come along for the open night, agrees wholeheartedly, “I wouldn’t swap it for the world.” Brian originally joined the Masons through his father-in-law. “I thought I’d fit into this, but it took me two years to get in.” Not, he explains, through a cap on numbers but merely because most Lodges meet infrequently.
– www.ludlowledger.co.uk –
His father-in-law’s Lodge only met four times a year in London. Ludlow’s Lodge, by comparison, meets October through to May once a month on the first Wednesday of every month. The meetings start with a ceremony at 6pm (sorry, 18:00 hours) followed by various “bits and pieces” (mainly admin and not as exciting as it sounds) before they retire upstairs for a meal, toasting and wine tastings or drinks. “We leave here around 10pm or so, very happy,” says Brian with a grin. There’s a strong sense that the convivial effects of Shropshire’s finest breweries are a contributing factor to this and there’s vocal appreciation of Ludlow Brewery’s beers in particular.
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