Kimon's Story.

This is the story of one man's quest to follow in his great-grandfather's foot steps, and tells of his personal experiences of using the internet to research and eventually find a Lodge to join, and welcome him into Freemasonry.

Since I was a young kid, back in Greece, I had a fascination about Freemasonry. I knew that my great-grandfather had been a member, but the trail stopped there, lost in the family history mist. So I started reading the available literature. This however only confused me even more as there were literally thousands of volumes on the subject, often with diametrically opposing views and opinions. So as the years were passing by I decided that I had to find out for myself.

I took that decision, whilst I was here in England, were I had travelled from Greece to study and work.However i still had a problem within the literature, when it came to joining a reoccurring theme kept surfacing: "to be one, ask one...."As I came to know, this referred to the fact that a candidate has to be proposed and seconded by two proposers already members. So that the proposers, (who usually know the candidate personally), can vouch for his character and morality.
Unfortunately I didn’t know anyone that to my knowledge was already a member of the Craft. Even if I knew one, how could they vouch for me, being a complete stranger to them? I felt I was looking at a dead end, but I didn’t give up, I started to look for answers to my questions, myself.

The most obvious place to start was the Internet. I located fairly easily the website of the United Grand Lodge of England and started looking for the FAQ's. Unfortunately I couldn’t find anything that was directly relevant to my problem, so browsing on, I found a link to the Provincial Lodge of West Lancashire, my place of residence being under its jurisdiction. Again I browsed through the FAQ's, but again I couldn’t find any information regarding my peculiar situation. So I decided to ask the question myself. Having found the “Contact Us” link, I sent an email explaining my situation. To my surprise I received an answer in a very short time saying that my request had been passed to the Preston Group (as I live in Preston) and that someone would contact me shortly.
Indeed after a few days I received another email this time from a member of Ribble Lodge. After a brief exchange of emails, I received an information pack with various leaflets and booklets about Freemasonry. The purpose of which was to make me aware of as many aspects of Freemasonry as possible, so I could make my mind up and without any pressure whatsoever. A courtesy, which was greatly appreciated

Once I was happy with all the available information, an informal meeting was arranged with two members of Ribble Lodge, at the Masonic Hall in Preston. The meeting was really informal and very pleasant as both members went out of their way to make me feel comfortable and relaxed; after all it was a meeting with complete strangers in what was literally, a completely strange environment for me, and under strange circumstances! Despite the oddity of the situation however, the outcome of this meeting left me with a very positive feeling that re-enforced my willingness to go ahead.
Hence another meeting was arranged, more formal this time. It was a sort of interview with some of the senior and several other members of Ribble Lodge being present too. It was a chance for me to meet them and for them to meet me. After all, I was as complete a stranger to them, as they were to me! Again, although the circumstances were a lot more formal this time, every single member went out of their way yet again to make me feel welcome and comfortable, resulting in very positive experience. After the meeting ended, I was informed that a ballot would have to be taken, according to tradition, regarding my application to join and that I would be notified. Since the next Lodge meeting was months away (due to a summer holiday break), I had a long wait ahead of me. Indeed, it took almost a year before I actually joined, but it was definitely worth waiting for!

I was finally proposed and seconded by the two Ribble Lodge members that I met at the first informal meeting. These members decided to pledge for me, despite the fact that, at the end of the day, I was a person that they had met only twice in their lives so far! Fortunately, having been satisfied with what they had seen so far, they decided to bestow me with their trust, for which I am really grateful. This made me even more eager to work hard and contribute to Ribble Lodge as best as I could, in order to honour the trust of my proposers and of all the members of Ribble Lodge that made me feel so welcome from day one, and what a day that was! The First Degree initiation ceremony… an unforgettable experience, but I won’t spoil that for you; you’ll have to find out for yourself!

What I have to say though, is that by joining, I found out that another recurring motto in Masonic literature is absolutely true:
In Freemasonry there are no strangers, just friends you haven’t yet met…

Article written by Kimon Manitakis.