Recruitment Retention & Retrieval (December 2007)

First of all, let me wish you all a happy and healthy New Year. A new year, perhaps, where Buckinghamshire Freemasons can continue to build upon the tremendous strides we have collectively made in the past two or three years, in modernising our approach to the way we organise and operate our Lodges for the benefit of ALL our members, and for the way we look after each other, as members, in a spirit of mutual benevolence and well-being.

The last 12 months have been very exciting. So many projects are coming to fruition that it is hard to "keep tabs" on them. But I will say that the efforts of so many Brethren are making a real difference in our fraternity in Bucks. That is not to say that we can rest on our laurels, because I still think there is a lot to do in the area of the "three R's" - and there are one or two thorny subjects which I would like to address this coming year, particularly in relation to the long-term retention of members.

There is no doubt that one of the major successes in this Province in recent times, is the advent of the North East Corner Clubs. This is a forum for our new (and newer) members to socialise together and learn so much about the "why's & wherefore's" of our society - the host of smaller aspects of our work which go unmentioned and unnoticed in our meeting-to-meeting ritual that we undertake in open Lodge. This forum is where they bind together in friendship and mutual interest - a sure way to feel a real part of this new "world" of theirs, which is Freemasonry. And knowledge also breeds confidence.

Having seen the effect this has had on the enthusiasm of our newer members, I am bound to reflect that our Lodges of Instruction would do well to implement within their work, an element of instruction which goes far wider than just the usual practising of a degree - to incorporate an extension, almost, of the general knowledge format of the NECC. So, to help this process, I am hoping to put together a flip-chart (perhaps even an electronic version) of dozens of short subjects that can be used for LOI (or, even Lodge) purposes. This will make LOI's much more interesting for the younger Mason - "boring" is a common denominator given as a reason for leaving the Craft, as indicated in our Exit Interviews. This cannot continue………

The plight of "modern man", and our need to retain his interest, also leads me to think of other aspects of the way we, as Lodges, generally organise ourselves, and how things might change as a consequence. So, I would like to start a Province-wide debate which will examine the question of the starting times of Lodge meetings (to accommodate the working man); multi-Lodge LOIs (to accommodate those newer Brethren who belong to a Lodge where there is effectively no regular LOI); and the beneficial effect that these two closely related subjects might have on each other in the near future.

Watch this space!

Clifford Drake