At the last meeting I attended before this awful pandemic, I was having a chat with
some of my mates after our festive board and a brother we don’t really know strolled over and joined us.

During the entertaining discussion that followed, it became clear that he and I had grown up in the same small Kent Village and that our paths would have crossed repeatedly all those years ago.

I must admit I’d was quite befuddled by this as it was weird that our paths had crossed again, but now in a large city and in a totally different scenario to that of our childhoods.

This got me thinking about how often we meet people and how often we really have a meaningful conversation with them. Do we settle into the same light-hearted banter that we enjoy, the same jokes, the same characters we play in such settings? If we do, are we engaging with our masonic obligations to be kind and to truly support our brethren?

It is so easy to fall into such conversations but maybe we should make a little effort to engage more with our brethren (and, of course, the wider world) when we see them?
The hashtag #bekind was trending recently but, for hundreds of years, it has been in our core philosophy.

Hopefully, in this edition of Arena, you will see our philosophy in action, in our charitable work, supporting each other in the temple, the work of our almoners and in many other areas.

You’ll also have seen that we’ve delivered the first of the Super Hi-lift Turntable Vehicles to the London Fire Brigade at the Annual Meeting, a life-saving contribution to Londoners.

This Virus has disrupted our lives hugely, but both Metropolitan and Provincial Lodges and Chapters have been inventive with dealing with this challenge, both through the communications across London, to things like Whatsapp groups and Zoom meetings. I urge you to support all these initiatives in your units and across London.

I sincerely hope that you enjoy this edition of Arena and, of course, your Freemasonry across London and beyond.

W Bro Rod Glyn-Thomas LGR
Editor, Arena

contact: arena@metgl.com