"And, as touching the Temple, I hold and profess We are Fellow Craftsmen - no more and no less"
Rudyard Kipling
79% of members who have joined in the last 20 years are still financial members and 67% are active members, so we have a high retention rate which speaks to the benefits gained by the brethren.
Blackwood Lodge has the resources and the will to continue building membership and standards to engage and retain its members. Many members have celebrated over 50 years involvement.
Current internal activities include development of a Master Business Plan, including mentorship, succession planning, a care team and leadership / management direction.
External activities include charitable works, benevolence and support of the local Blackwood Community as well as supporting the state wide program of Freemasons Foundation Centre for Mens Health, established in 2007 as a joint venture with the University of Adelaide and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
So, what is all this about values and ethics? Those who recognise an enduring moral order and high duties toward their fellow humans tend to find the brotherly way of Freemasonry a safe and comfortable environment.
Freemasonry is the natural home of men who recognise the enduring moral order and seek an end to narcissism and a return to traditional, faith-based "family values".
Young Freemasons Network (YFN) is a SA organisation which assists new and younger freemasons connect socially. Once a member of a lodge, new Freemasons can join this network to connect with more members. The Grand Lodge of SA and NT has some information here. In the Grand Lodge of South Australia and the Northern Territory, 75 per cent of its 115 new members over the past year were in the 20–30-year-old age bracket. Since then over 200 have joined up across all ages.
Throughout history there have been, and are, many thousands of famous Freemasons, including actors, singers, politicians, astronauts, Governors, Prime Ministers, Presidents and even Royalty. In the UK, names such as Sir Winston Churchill, The Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, King George VI, Bud Abbott (but not Costello), and in the US, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, President Truman, John Wayne, Richard Pryor, Shaquille O’Neill and Buzz Aldrin; in Australia Sir Robert Menzies, Sir John Gorton, Sir Thomas Playford, Bud Tingwell, Chips Rafferty, Sir Donald Bradman and 'Weary' Dunlop. Even Mozart was a Freemason, as was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. To just name a few. Each saw something of value in the Craft, despite wildly varying backgrounds.
All lodges in a jurisdiction are coordinated and controlled by a Grand Lodge. In South Australia and the NT, that peak body is called Freemasons SA & NT and is based at Freemason’s Hall, 254 North Tce Adelaide. See more at
SANT
The Role of Grand Lodge is one principally of oversight and guidance. It conducts ceremonies of Lodge Installations, Grand Communications to usher in new ideas, and produces the Warrants under which individual lodges in the jurisdiction operate, as well as the Constitution and Regulations within which lodges are bound.
Lodges are held in most countries which operate as a democracy and as the first Grand Lodge was established in the UK, this is where Freemasonry is strongest. The United Grand Lodge of England employs over 100 people directly, putting it at the forefront of modernising and de-sensitising the movement. It's worth having a look at UGLE
