The OB Masonic Lodge has been in existence since the 1920s and is amongst the older public school Lodges. It has 24 members, all of whom are former pupils at the college or former members of staff.
The Lodge meets three times a year in April, October and January. Two meetings are held in London at Freemasons Hall in Great Queen Street, the historic home of British Masonry, built as a memorial to the Fallen in the First World War. The third meeting in April takes place at the College and is an opportunity to reconnect with the school and entertain guests, members’ wives and partners, staff and pupils of the school.
The Lodge Meetings are ceremonial and social gatherings. Masonry has a charitable purpose and regularly raises substantial sums of money for good causes. The Lodge provides a framework for keeping in touch with a group of people who share a common interest and who wish to explore the values which underpin the way we live. The one condition of membership is that there should be a belief in a god but the identity of God is not made specific and all religions are welcome. This has enabled masonry to become a centre of tolerance and shared understanding in a sometimes rather fractured and intolerant world.
The meetings consist of a series of ceremonies, usually learnt by heart, where the Brethren, or members of the Lodge, memorise traditional scripts which are then delivered. The content of these is driven by a desire to clarify moral principles and the purpose of being a mason is to improve our understanding of proper conduct and one's connection with the community and other people. After the ceremony is completed, the Brethren of the Lodge gather for a dinner.
The dinner is formal but very relaxed and concludes with short speeches and toasts to The Brotherhood of Masonry, allegiance to our country and to each other. The Old Bradfield Lodge provides an ideal means of staying in touch with the school in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. We support the school by means of a travel bursary which is awarded by the Headmaster to a current pupil each year for some travel project which involves discovery and support for the community abroad.
Masonry is an international organisation and has had an enormous influence over the development of Western political and social culture. Many of Britain’s former colonies have been shaped quite profoundly by masonic influence and our world leaders today, particularly in the US, also derive much of their tradition and culture from masonic roots. There is a fine Washington Memorial in Washington which records the impact that masonry has had on American political and social life. The first President and many of his successors have been masons.
If you would like to find out more about Masonry and the Old Bradfield Lodge please email Quentin Edwards on
qge1066@gmail.com or telephone 01747 830720. The Old Bradfield Lodge is for men only, but there are Ladies Lodges and if there was sufficient interest, we would be delighted to help form one for Bradfield. Quentin would be happy to answer any questions.
