BAMR Transactions

Buckinghamshire Association for Masonic Research (BAMR)
and
Buckinghamshire Lodge for Masonic Research (BLMR) No 9585

To inform and Educate

Foreword to the BAMR’s Transactions Vol 10: 2006
by the Association Patron
R.W.Bro. Raymond Reed, PGM

I am delighted to have been invited to contribute a Foreword to this copy of the Transactions by the Buckinghamshire Association for Masonic Research.

On the day of our Initiation, we are all exhorted to make a daily advancement in Masonic knowledge. This is certainly as true, if not more so, of a Provincial Grand Master! There is so much to learn about the varied needs and requirements of 120 plus Lodges. Each one has a rich and diverse history, which makes it such a special organization for its members.

However, the pace of life is now so fast that it is sometimes difficult to find the time to live up to the sentiments of the Charge after Initiation. Yet there is a wealth of material available these days in books, magazines and on the Internet. All this is in addition to the important principles that we learn in our Lodges and Lodges of instruction. It will repay us if we can find space in our crowded schedules to contemplate on the wider themes of Freemasonry.

I am pleased, therefore, to welcome these pages as an opportunity for us to learn a little more about Freemasonry and wider topics. I hope that this is a booklet which will do more than just grace your bookshelves. It is just the right size to read on the train, or the bus, or in the garden on a summer afternoon.

There is certainly a wide range of material here. It moves from 7th Century Italy, via 18th Century New Orleans, to 20th Century Europe. The Research Lodge is blessed with a wide range of interesting speakers and I am pleased that we are able to share their labours through these pages.

The Buckinghamshire Lodge for Masonic Research, together with the Association, had an interesting and varied year in 2006. I wish them every success in their continuing endeavours.