Flying The Masonic Flag At The Hanwell Carnival

IAIN RAYMOND

Brother Iain Raymond, Masonic Outreach Ambassador and member of Bedfont Lodge No 8381 has provided this report:

“On the 17th June the Trailer was delivered to Elthorne Park, Hanwell around 9.00am by Bro Tim Williams. We then set up the trailer, tables, leaflets and equipment deciding to place display tables at each side of the Trailer instead of the usual position in front to make any approach more inviting and to encourage enquiries from passers-by. It seemed to work and had two Expression of Interest forms completed before midday. The area got very busy just after Noon, when the Carnival arrived, which brought in large numbers. Bro Roy Vollrath joined me in the early afternoon to help out. There were numerous enquiries throughout the day including some from ladies.

Having been a recruitment Ambassador for a few occasions now, a plan might be to have specially designed A5 Leaflets available to hand out the public, rather than the traditional static approach. It would make us look more pro-active and approachable. The Leaflet could contain basic but essential Masonic recruitment information with contact links etc. However, we did enjoy some humour and I’m sure many brethren have experienced this. Once again freemasons were accused of being devil worshippers, the elite rich linked to the Illuminati and a few other weird and wonderful things as well. Humour aside, we did have some really interesting chats with a number of people who had genuine questions. It was nice to be able to crush some of the negative rumours sometimes associated with freemasonry.

The Outreach programme is headed by Keith Gregory and he coordinates the  Ambassadors over several locations within the Middlesex area during the Summer season. There are several other volunteers recruited from a number of Middlesex Lodges of all masonic ranks.”

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