Bethnal Green Area.

[Angler89]

I have been asked by a Brother who is a RWM in his lodge in Scotland,if I knew any info about Lodges in the Bethnal Green area of London.His future Son In Law is interested in joining Freemasonry.I thought I would put a post on to see if anyone could help me.

[JulesTheBit]

I have been asked by a Brother who is a RWM in his lodge in Scotland,if I knew any info about Lodges in the Bethnal Green area of London.His future Son In Law is interested in joining Freemasonry.I thought I would put a post on to see if anyone could help me.

Hi Ant

There may be Lodges that carry the name "Bethnal Green" but there are no Masonic meeting places actually in that small area. Nearest would be the Gun Tavern near Petticoat Lane market which has a few Lodges meeting there. Corvino's restaurant in Aldgate is also quite close but has become unpopular, Lodges are moving out. Freemasons Hall, Gt Queen St is probably easier to get to (Central Line) depending on where exactly he lives.

Happy to help, you have my details.

S&F, Jules

[asabovesobelow]

The Central London Masonic Centre at Clerkenwell (EC1) may be more convenient and closer to Bethnal Green (E2) than Great Queen Street (WC2). - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethnal_Green

Central London Masonic Centre - http://www.sessionshouse.com/masonic/index1.htm - Currently 233 Lodges and 78 Chapters meet here. A number of other Masonic Orders meet at the Centre which also provides meeting facilities for 160 Lodges of Instruction

Clerkenwell Green, London EC1 - http://www.mqmagazine.co.uk/issue-11/p-34.php - The Central London Masonic Centre occupies a splendid Grade II Listed building on Clerkenwell Green, very close to the City of London boundary. This building was originally the Sessions House, or court building, for the Middlesex Quarter Sessions.

[JulesTheBit]

The Central London Masonic Centre at Clerkenwell (EC1) may be more convenient and closer to Bethnal Green (E2) than Great Queen Street (WC2). - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethnal_Green

Central London Masonic Centre - http://www.sessionshouse.com/masonic/index1.htm - Currently 233 Lodges and 78 Chapters meet here. A number of other Masonic Orders meet at the Centre which also provides meeting facilities for 160 Lodges of Instruction

Clerkenwell Green, London EC1 - http://www.mqmagazine.co.uk/issue-11/p-34.php - The Central London Masonic Centre occupies a splendid Grade II Listed building on Clerkenwell Green, very close to the City of London boundary. This building was originally the Sessions House, or court building, for the Middlesex Quarter Sessions.

Thanks for the additional info.

Splendid building on the outside but linoleum floors in the lodgerooms instead of carpet and school-type metal furniture are not splendid in my opinion. The management of that centre is oft quoted as the reason Lodges are moving out much faster than they're moving in.

It might be closer as the crow flies to Bethnal Green but it requires a change on the tube and a longer walk, though it is handy for the lap-dancing club round the corner if you like that sort of thing.

Others might like Clerkenwell I suppose, and it's the people that make a Lodge, but as a meeting venue I certainly wouldn't recommended it. I've visited over 50 Masonic centres and I can't think of one I dislike more.

S&F, Jules

[asabovesobelow]

The management of that centre is oft quoted as the reason Lodges are moving out much faster than they're moving in.

If so, does anyone know why this problem is not being addressed by the trustees or the chairman of the management committee? What do members of this forum who meet at Clerkenwell actually think about the overall matter that is described?

[JulesTheBit]

The management of that centre is oft quoted as the reason Lodges are moving out much faster than they're moving in.

If so, does anyone know why this problem is not being addressed by the trustees or the chairman of the management committee? What do members of this forum who meet at Clerkenwell actually think about the overall matter that is described?

Clerkenwell doesn't have trustees, it's a private company with shareholders (the Lodges that founded it).

As Private Eye would say, allegedly the board was effectively fired at the last shareholders meeting earlier this year. Allegedly events at that meeting included a report of a loss of £17,000 on the bar, to which the FD responded that he had not been aware that the bar was losing money. Seems to me that the FD's job description must be rather unusual.

As a Lodge secretary I've looked at changing venues several times. Each time the bottom line cost to the members including dining was higher at Clerkenwell than at FMH. Friends whose Lodges have moved out of Clerkenwell tell me the principal reason was that they objected to paying premium prices when they could get better service and facilities cheaper elsewhere.

According to the MetGL "extranet" site today the number of Lodges meeting at Clerkenwell is down to 185 from the 233 that you quoted. Despite the confusion it must cause, even "Clerkenwell Chapter of Assiduity" has moved to FMH.

S&F, Jules

[asabovesobelow]

I have attended meetings at Clerkenwell and know one of the key players that helped rescue this building and set it up as a Masonic Centre many years ago and at that time put it on a firm financial basis. It seems to have gone down hill for some reason and its days may now be numbered for Masonic meetings even though many lodge still meet at Clerkenwell.

[JulesTheBit]

I have attended meetings at Clerkenwell and know one of the key players that helped rescue this building and set it up as a Masonic Centre many years ago and at that time put it on a firm financial basis. It seems to have gone down hill for some reason and its days may now be numbered for Masonic meetings even though many lodge still meet at Clerkenwell.

Clerkenwell has changed, particularly over the last 10 years. The initial vision & policy was agreeable and I liked the place. I was a frequent visitor at a Founding Lodge there and attended that Lodge's LOI most weeks for several years. Members of that Lodge grew increasingly concerned about some perceived aspects of management (=board) policy and finally moved out 2 years ago. I spent 6 years as a member of a Clerkenwell Mark & RAM including 1 as WM and 2 as IPM. I've also seen it from the non-masonic point of view, attending non-Masonic meetings and conferences there and speaking at some of them.

In my opinion the root cause of the problem has been Board policy. Attempts to blame issues on the management employed by the Board cannot succeed in the long term. Changing the General Manager and other managers doesn't work if the cause of issues is Board policy.

The shareholders are Lodges and don't necessarilly have much current business experience, and hardly any of them have experience of conferences and banquetting from the supplier side so they didn't ask the right questions at the AGMs. Some of us who asked questions weren't impressed as we watched developments and compared them with what we had been told to expect.

You won't find it hard to find publicity material saying what a nice place Clerkenwell is - I see you already have - but the practicalities and financial aspects of meeting there make it unattractive to an increasing number of masons, evidenced by the surprising number of Lodges moving out over the last few years. In addition there are resignations within Lodges from people who switched to Lodges at other London centres.

Anyway; as I said previously, if you live in Bethnal Green you will find GQS a very nice place and very quick and easy to get there on the tube.

S&F, Jules

[zambuk]

This was a blast from the past!

Sorry to go off topic, but my Dad had a bike shop in Cambridge Heath Road near a Museum in the 40's, before we emigrated to Australia in 1950.

Cheers

zambuk

[PhillR]

No idea at all where these places are Bro. Ant - but if your friends are ever on a trip over here in South Africa there are a few places they could visit!

Hermanus.... http://www.hermanus7015.co.za
Pinelands..... http://www.freemasonrycape.net

or the Country Club Estate where I live: http://www.hemel-en-aarde.co.za

S&F,

[robert w crowe]

Brethren & Bro Antony,

May I thank you all for the many suggestions it helped greatly along with the inquiries that I made at Grand Lodge of England.

Matthew works under contract for NATO the MOD and the French Gov and his job is very much like a member of our own armed forces. I have obtained permission to initiate him and give him all of his craft degrees in Scotland ! He can then join a London Lodge next year as a mark master mason. Matthew is to be initiated on Tuesday 13th April in Lodge St John 174 Dunning Perthshire East.

Many thanks & Fraternal greatings,

Bro Robert W Crowe RWM 174

[Chestnut]

This was a blast from the past!

Sorry to go off topic, but my Dad had a bike shop in Cambridge Heath Road near a Museum in the 40's, before we emigrated to Australia in 1950.

Cheers

zambuk

Worked there in the 80's, the Museum is still there and is a toy museum.