Organisation
BROOKE LODGE 2005
In England & Wales Freemasonry has a three tier organisation the foundations of which rest on the individual Mason.
Masons meet together in Lodges, normally consisting of between 20 and 50 members although some are much larger. Lodges themselves are grouped together geographically into Provincial Grand lodges, the provincial groupings corresponding roughly to the county boundaries as they existed in the late 18th or early 19th century. Finally, the provinces come together under the auspices of Grand Lodge.
A group of Masons meeting together is called a Lodge. This name is supposed to originate from the time when operative stonemasons lived on-site at large building projects, when their accommodation was known as a lodge. Lodges are the basic “unit” of Masonry and generally meet once a month over the October to April period. The lodge is presided over by a Master, assisted by his Wardens and officers – in effect the committee who schedule the work. A Lodge meeting is much like a meeting of any other association, in that it considers the formal business, such as the minutes of the previous meeting, dealing with propositions for membership, the accounts of general and charitable funds, subscriptions, donations, etc. However, it is within the Lodge that the ceremonies of admitting new Masons and teaching them Freemasonry’s moral message takes place.
Contrary to popular belief, these ceremonies are not secret, anyone who is interested can pick up one of many books describing them at their local library. But reading the ceremonies does not give the full picture, it is only by experiencing them that their full value can be derived.
The room in which a Lodge meets is called a Temple. This is in not intended to imply that a lodge meeting is in any way a religious gathering, it is not. Rather, the name reflects the symbolic association which Masonry makes with the building of King Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. In practice Lodges meet either in buildings specially constructed for the purpose or in rooms rented or set aside in pubs or clubs.
These are Lodges in the same form as ordinary lodges in that they have precisely the same officers and meet in the same way. However, they act as the umbrella group coordinating the efforts of individual lodges at, broadly speaking, county level in order to provide for charitable institutions over a wider area.
Brooke Lodge is part of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Essex.
Grand Lodge is the umbrella for the Provincial Grand Lodges, coordinating at a national level.
Brooke Lodge operates under the jurisdiction of The United Grand Lodge of England.