Comradery amongst travel chaos - Reflections from our trip to Freemasons Hall

On Saturday 7 March a group of 14 young Warwickshire Masons from Coventry Foundation, Collegiate and Stivichal lodges embarked on a trip to the Museum of Freemasonry at Freemasons Hall, Great Queen Street in London.

Getting there proved chaotic, train cancellations and delays meant that some of us had to take all manner of diverted journeys, luckily however, we piggybacked on the tour an hour later.

After a few drinks at the Hercules Pillars we travelled up the magnificent main staircase to the museum. Not before washing our hands of course! We were first shown a video, telling us about the history of Freemasonry and the fantastic work Freemasons do around the world. Very informative and enlightening!

We were then shown around the exhibits, various pieces were presented including Winston Churchills third degree apron, the first warrant of a lodge in the USA, King Edward VIII’s first degree apron and a specially commissioned chair for a rather large mason amongst other treasures and jewels.

The lasting memory of the whole tour was the Grand Temple, closed off by magnificent Bronze doors, 1.5 tonnes each that are perfectly designed to open with a light touch.

We were then greeted by the magnificence of the temple, golden thrones and beautiful details of the zodiac signs. Truly a sight to behold.

Some reflections from the masons who went:

"I really enjoyed it, the most interesting part for me was the architecture of both the outside and inside the building, and let's not forget the local Masonic pubs 😀."

"the lodge room it's self was amazing, the magnitude of volume of space inside as well as the wall and silling design was definitely worth the visit."

"Beautiful architecture"

"I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the new and strengthened friendships made with bros both coming with us and some that I’ve met at the bar"

We then retired to a traditional Italian restaurant, La Ballerina, where we wined and dined before having our final drinks at the famed Freemasons arms.

Though the travel was chaotic, we had a fantastic day out in the beautiful building. We would wholeheartedly recommend anyone to visit if they haven’t before!

Written by Charles Ingram