The Brethren of Richard Sandbach Lodge of Research (RSLoR) No. 9600 are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Lodge's consecration with a series of Silver Jubilee lectures.
WBro Stuart Morgan PPGReg
WBro Stuart Morgan PPGReg did a superb job of presenting the first lecture, A Phoenix from the Ashes of the Operative Guilds - the Origins of Speculative Freemasonry, during an online Zoom meeting attended by somewhere in the region of 60-brethren on Monday the 16th of November 2020.
WBro Stuart, a member of the Lodge of Merit No. 466 and RSLoR, explored how speculative English Freemasonry developed out of the operative Guilds of medieval times. This story of Masonry's 'pre-history' stretches from the early 13th to the early 18th Century - a period of 500 years.
Stuart explained how the Craft has been shaped by the historical events that saw England move from a feudal society to become an international trading nation, which brought to an end the artisan Guild system, but also laid the foundation of speculative Freemasonry.
A 30-minute podcast of the event has been produced and is available for members to view. Please note that the following is a placeholder only - you will need to log-in to view the video.
The Provincial Grand Master, RWBro Max Bayes, commented:
I congratulate all involved in the research and organisation to produce this wonderful lecture on a most interesting and informative subject matter. I very much look forward to listening again to the recording as there was so much content and information to consider.
The RSLoR Worshipful Master, WBro Dickon Sandbach PAGDC (whose late-father the Lodge was named in honour of), explained:
In this special year, we are endeavouring to expand the reach of the Lodge's research activities across the whole Province, and online presentations are providing us with a wonderful opportunity to achieve that aim.
The mission statement contained in the Lodge's Charter outlines the Lodge's purpose:
To establish the Richard Sandbach Lodge of Research as a focal point within the Province of Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire for the acquisition, collation and dissemination of Masonic Research findings. Research will aim to inform, enlighten and entertain Brethren through a greater understanding of selected aspects of historic, symbolic and esoteric Masonry.
There is no doubt that this first Silver Jubilee lecture met these objectives very well.
We thank the members of the Richard Sandbach Lodge of Research for their outstanding work and look forward to further lectures in this Silver Jubilee series.
The next lecture, The Influences That Crafted Freemasonry, will be presented by WBro Dickon Sandbach on Monday the 21st December 2020 at 7:00pm.
Members can view the relevant Zoom meeting-details by clicking here.
Paid Zoom Account Funded by UGLE
The above RSLoR meeting was made possible using a paid Zoom account funded by UGLE.
Unlike free accounts, this account is not bounded by a 40-minute limit on meetings. It also includes a telephone dial-in facility for those brethren who have little or no Internet access, or whose computer skills are limited.
For more details of this facility, please click here (members-only link).
