FREEMASONS in Bridlington are having an open day to help dispel some of the myths surrounding what people often believe is a secret society.
According to Chris Thomas of the St John of Bridlington Lodge – which is hosting the event – the opposite is true.
"The Freemasons are not a secret society, although we do have a couple of secrets relating to ritual which we keep as part of our ceremonies," he said.
The purpose of Saturday's open day is to let anyone who is interested have a look around the early 1900s Masonic Hall in St John's Avenue, which is home to five separate Bridlington Lodges, together having around 250 members in the town. The oldest lodge, Londesborough, dates back to 1858. The others are Burlington, Old Bridlingtonian and Bridlington Bay lodges.
The Masonic Hall, which is also used by dozens of other local groups as a meetings venue, will be open from 2pm to 5pm for anyone wanting to know about the Masonic movement and the work of Freemasons in the community, also anyone interested in joining.
Mr Thomas said: "The thing most people find surprising is the amount of money we put back into the local community each year, which is around £5,000 or more, and that which we also put into the provincial fund."
Donations can be anything from around £150,000 the region has given to support two air ambulances, to providing free teddy bears for children in hospital.
Locally one of their latest donations was to provide an electric guitar and amplifier for Bridlington's Bay Primary School, which is keen to increase interest in music but was short of instruments.
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