Please note that this is not our home lodge but is a lodge that one of our brethen has visited. Our lodge is located in the San Fracisco Bay Area.

  On a visit to London, I was lucky enough to attend a meeting at the UGLE (United Grand Lodge of England) building.
   I came earlier that day and was able to visit the Museum which is amazing. The library contains also books that are so valuable that I was nervous just looking at them. Interestingly enough, the exhibit at the time of the visit was “Freemasons and the French Revolution” hmmm... J
   After presenting my credential to the GL officer in charge of relation with other GL (my formal introduction letter from the GL of California was kept by the lodge in Singapore I visited last under the English Consitution), I was given the option to attend 5 to 6 different lodge meetings that night. I picked up a lodge having a First Degree, Eastern Star Lodge #95. Little I know that I had actually picked up a lodge with a great and vibrant fraternal spirit. I was kindly examined by Past Masters and introduce to Wor Bro. T.D., Master of the Lodge. The meeting was quite different from our ritual and the First Degree also diverged in the floor work and some of the wording but the essence of it was the same. The Director of Ceremonies, Bro. D took great care in making sure I could follow.

   The best part of the meeting was certainly after the lodge was close when the Brethren invited me to a wonderful dinner and then to the pub where for the ridiculous sum of 10 GBP, you could drink to the end of the night. At that time, we had some very passionate and interesting discussion on the lodge history, ritual differences, the past and future of masonry and what it meant to be a Mason today. Again, Bro. D. being so nice gave me his official tie from the UGLE. I also got a Trestleboard signed by all the brethren present that night as a keepsake. It was more than what I was bargaining for when I randomly picked up that lodge. Sometimes, randomness results in very enjoyable moment.
   Furthermore, I also made lasting friendship, to this day, I still correspond with Bro. M, the Jr Deacon of the Lodge and we talk about various topic from the Masonic and Profane world.
   If any brother goes to London and doesn’t attempt to go to the UGLE building and attend a meeting, it would be a pity!

Submitted by Sebastien Taveau, P.M.