The (Leicester) Lodge of Research

A symposium on 27th January 2014

Two Hundred Years of the United Grand Lodge of England

The (Leicester) Lodge of Research announces a symposium on 27th January 2014 to commemorate the two-hundredth anniversary of the Union between the Grand Lodge of the Modern Freemasons and the Grand Lodge of the Antients.  It will take place in Freemasons’ Hall, London Road, Leicester.  

There will be on view a special exhibition in the Museum and there will be during the morning a presentation explaining the particular significance of the items on display.  Luncheon will be available at 12.15 pm for those who will have indicated that they would wish to take lunch and have made a booking.

A symposium will open at 1.30 pm in Freemasons’ Hall at which a number of speakers will present short papers, each of which will last for not more than about ten minutes on some aspect of the Union between Antient and Modern Freemasons. The formal symposium will end at 4.45.

Following that the Leicester Lodge of Research will open at 6.00pm.  The Lodge will be honoured by the presence of the Assistant Grand Master (Grand Patron of the Association of Atholl Lodges) and the Provincial Grand Master (and his officers).  After the formal business of the Lodge has been conducted representatives of St Johns’ Lodge (a former Moderns Lodge) and of Knights of Malta Lodge (a former Antients Lodge) will request admission and will be welcomed on the occasion of this bi-centenary.  The Lodge will then be ‘called–off’, non-Masonic visitors will be invited to enter, and a member of each of these Lodges will present a paper on the significance to them of the Union and what is revealed by the minutes of their Lodges of how the Union was received and the changes(if any) brought about by that Union.  There will be a further short paper on the implications of the Union for the Province and Freemasonry in general.

An opportunity will be available for remarks by the AGM and the PGM.  Non-Masonic visitors will then be invited to leave, and the Lodge will then be ‘called-on’ and formally closed by 7.15pm.  The brethren and visitors will move to the lounge for drinks prior to the dinner (a white table).

Anyone who is interested in attending the symposium is invited to communicate either with the Secretary of the Lodge, David Sharpe (research2429@yahoo.co.uk), or with Aubrey Newman (new@le.ac.uk) who is co-ordinating the arrangements.  There will be a Registration fee for the symposium of £5.00.  All participants will receive a full set of abstracts of the papers.  It is intended to publish all the papers in a special volume of the Transactions of the Lodge, and all those attending will be able to buy copies of the volume at the discounted price of £10.00, including postage.

All meals will have to be booked on the accompanying form and paid for in advance.  It will not be possible to make payment on the day itself.

For a full list of speakers and their topics please click here.