Fear of Nazi arrest is the reason our image of secrecy developed

10:15am Monday 4th December 2006

MY quest to dispel the secrecy image of Freemasonry had a rather inauspicious start. I couldn't find the entrance drive to Worcester's Masonic Hall.

Certainly I had been there before, several times. But a passing lorry or ne'erdowells had knocked the direction sign skew-whiff and workmen had erected a set of roadworks, complete with barriers and flashing lights, at the mouth of the drive off Rainbow Hill. So I drove past it three times until twigging exactly where it was.

Not quite clandestine stuff, but considering the mission, a minor spanner in the works.

Never mind, I arrived at last and had barely figured out how to switch off the pool car - a racy beast with string around a hubcap - before the hall door opened and a firm handshake was offered. This was a meeting the Freemasons had asked for, because they want to change their public profile. At least the profile they imagine, with some accuracy, the public has of the fraternal brotherhood.

Over the years, Freemasonry hasn't always had the best of press. Mainly because it has been portrayed as some form of secret society, looking after its own, doing deals behind closed doors and being the all-moving, unseen hand behind life today. Rarely, if ever, it is mentioned that Freemasons are among the world's biggest fund-raisers for charity. For example, only last week this newspaper carried a photograph of Freemasons from Dudley handing over a £2,000 cheque to Worcester's Acorn's Hospice.

In 2000, the Masonic Province of Worcestershire wound up a Grand Charity Appeal having raised £2.35m. A tidy sum in anyone's language. Sure, they do look after their own, but they help look after a lot of other people too.

"The image of secrecy only really developed during the Second World War," said Graeme Collins, the city's Freemason community co-ordinator.

"Up until then it was very much like any other fraternal organisation. But the Nazis saw it as a potential source of opposition because of its closely bonded connections and clamped down. Following the fall of Paris, the Gestapo arrested all known members of the French masonic movement. Most were transported to concentration camps, never to return. The threat of Germany invading the UK was very real and British masons were forced into a state of secrecy through fear. Unfortunately, through habit, this persisted after the war was over.

"It was only after our grand master the Duke of Kent decided, in 1984, that the organisation should revert to being more open things began to change.

"Freemasons readily accept their reluctance to answer questions about their aims, organisational structure and membership has, in the past, left a void which has created opportunities for misplaced criticism and distrust. A situation we are now more than happy to resolve." Which is how come I was invited along to Worcester's Masonic Hall to meet the present provincial grand master of the Masonic Province of Worcestershire, the Right Worshipful Brother Richard George Hamilton Goddard MA, now retired, but a former house master at Malvern College.

And, dare I say, looking every inch of it, with a sagacious air of quiet authority honed by decades teaching young gentlemen the finer points of history. Three totems underpin Freemasonry - brotherly love, belief andtruth.

"We are not a secret society' and never have been," Mr Goddard said. "We are, like so many other societies, private' and should be able to expect, like any golf club, horticultural club or Rotary club, privacy for our members. Far from being secret, we publish a year book of our members, unlike many other societies. Our proud traditions in Freemasonry have been handed down to us through generations of committed contributors to society."

The origins of Freemasonry have been long lost in the midst of time and are open to some dispute, with some scholars claiming the organisation to have roots in the Megalithic tribes of pre-historic Britain, while others link it to the Knights Templar. However, the most accepted and plausible explanation is that it originated in England, descending from the mediaeval craft guilds, in particular the stonemasons. Certainly, the language and symbols used in the fraternity's rituals come from this era. For example the word lodge' is derived from the rough lean-to shelters known as allodgements' constructed by the mediaeval stonemasons - who were considered people of status in society through their skills - at each building site. In the lodges they could meet, train apprentices, eat and socialise.

Within reason, ie. being aged over 21, of good character and must believe in a supreme being (as Freemasonry is multi-faith), anyone can become a mason and the usual recruitment is through a friend.

Here in Worcester, Freemasonry has a superb opportunity, which it is going to take, I hasten to add, to dispel the secrecy myth forever.

Because the Masonic Centre in Rainbow Hill houses the Provincial Library and Museum, which includes the largest and most important collection of masonic artefacts and treasures outside the Grand Lodge Museum in London.

Among them are a huge number of masonic jewels, regalia, porcelain, particularly Royal Worcester, Sunderland ware, banners, photographs, apparel, medals and decorations.

This Provincial Museum is undergoing total refurbishment. When the work is finished next spring, it will open to the public, making a major attraction for visitors to the city and research resource for students. Everyone will be able to discover just what Freemasonry is all about.

I just hope, by then, they've fixed the direction sign and the roadworks have gone.