SOME OF YOU WILL NOTICE THAT I HAVE CUT DOWN MY BLOG-WELL IT DOESN'T REALLY NEED TO BE UP HERE FOR MONTHS AND MONTHS SO I WILL BE STARTING AFRESH EVERY THREE MONTHS AND PUBLISHING THE OLDER BLOGS IN A BOOK LATER ON IN THE YEAR!  SCROLL DOWN...THERE'S ALWAYS THE LATEST BLOG BELOW....

 

 

 FRIDAY SEPTEMBER THE 26th 2008

 

Good Morning,

 the Judicial Liaison and Appeals Commission held it's inaugural and "raison d'etre" meeting on Sunday in Bielefeld.  I was of course also there.

 

 There were 6 points which the Disciplinary Committee in their inaugural and raison d'etre meeting made resulting in their recommendation to the GM that a well known brother be expelled from Grand Lodge.  When you get the opportunity to read the transcript of the meeting on Sunday you will realise and acknowledge that the points made were all answered satisfatorily and the actual so called charges from the disciplinary committee actually amount to nothing.

 

 It will be a travesty if the excellent work and professional attitude of the members of the Judicial and Liaison Appeals Commission were negated by orders from above, resulting in the GL making itself alone responsible for further legal action and involvement of many senior GL members in court cases by not actually realising that there was as good as no case to answer.

 

 Many people are awaiting the outcome of the meeting last week.  Under normal circumstances an answer would normally have been forthcoming if the matter in hand was a formality.  The judicial Liaison and appeals Commission were confronted with perfectly plausible and truthful explanation s of the facts and should be able to now make a decision based on these facts.

 

 Monday the 29th and life goes on.....................

 I now have a letter from the "Grand" secretary of the Grand Lodge which is confirmation that he has lost his marbles.  Beside it being badly constructed and containing simple spelling mistakes, the general tone is that it has been written by someone resembling John Cleese in one of his ranting and raging moments in Fawlty Towers.  I am not exaggerating at all. Suffice it to say that Norbert has taken it upon himself to actually threaten me with legal action which, as those of you who know me already are aware of, I would welcome with open arms.  It would certainly be transparency at it's best if this whole matter were brought out into public via a court of law, then we could finally see what has been happening and who is telling the truth.  If you would like to know more please feel free to email me on pjgw@glbfg.de.

 

 Of course it really is not the best way to tackle this ongoing situation within Grand Lodge.  I would have always preferred the way our Freemasonry has tried to teach us to settle our differences and indeed I have made numerous attempts to get around a table with those in Grand Lodge responsible for a drame which seems never ending and most certainly will not stop with the "expulsion" of anybody.

 

 The fact is that all down the line there have been accusation levelled at me and I have not been given the opportunity to be heard.  Aside from one meeting of a hastily constructed three man board early in 2006 prior to Frederick Colbran becoming GM, I have just been ignored by the leaders of GL.  They didn't react at all to my point for point rubuttal of John Hebels "audit" based on falsified accounts, even when I proved that the paperwork I had submitted was "disregarded" by publishing the emails from the lodge auditor.  They even managed to turn around the Beschluss(Ruling) from the court in Soest and tried to make out that it was in fact the exact opposite of what it was, in spite of the fact that I published the official court ruling when they simply maintained I had not been accurate in my English translation.  Well that's why I submitted the original court papers in German so any German speaker could read the ridiculousness of their argument.  They still haven't actually said what they think these papers said which was so different to my translation.  Perhaps they are still working on it, although these papers were published in 2007.  Check out my GL Affair pages to see the relevant documents.

 

So why does this go on and on?  Because not enough of the brethren of the GL have said or done enough against it. Will it stop with my eventual expulsion from Grand Lodge?  No, it will just get a whole deal worse and it is a sign of how much or in this case, how little those at the top realise what harm they are doing Grand Lodge which in turn of course means YOU!

 

 Did you know that the Grand Lodge of British Freemasons in Germany with some 340 resident but not all active members has 113 wearers of dark blue amongst it's midst of which 34 are Grand/Past Grand Wardens, 17 resident and 17 non-resident. This amounts to about 6% of our total Grand Lodge membership being Very Worshipful brethren.  If this were emulated in England they would have over 21.000 Past Grand Wardens. I believe they have around 20.  I think that certain brethren have been over zealous when handing out Grand Rank in the past, I can think of no other explanation as to why we have so many VW Brethren can you?  As for myself, I am presently the only holder of Past Junior Grand Warden who has actually done the job of Junior Grand Warden which I attained 19 years after being initiated.  We have some PJGW's in this Grand Lodge who have been awarded this incredibly high honour in less than 10 years as Masons!  Truly amazing.

 

STOP PRESS!!  INSERTED IN JANUARY 2009 -NOW WE HAVE A FURTHER 4 PAST GRAND WARDENS WHO WERE NEVER GRAND WARDENS!!  PROBABLY MORE NOW THAN PAST GRAND STEWARDS.

 

Having received recent Summons from Doric lodge I noted with some mixture of sadness and incredulity that a point on the agenda was "To discuss the future of Doric Lodge"!!  For at least six years I have been advocating the formulation of some kind of course of action to enable our lodges to continue existence long after the military leave Germany.  I have said on many occasions and in letters and articles, that we cannot afford to undergo the kind of desimation as befell the American Canadian Grand Lodge after the first phase of military drawdown.  This saw that Grand Lodge "lose" at least 10 of their 40 lodges and today there are 29 lodges in the ACGL  whereby SEVEN of them are not even in Germany and a couple are active "in name only". When the next round of drawdown comes around it is most likely to have even more of a dramatic effect on the ACGL.  In our areas in NW Germany we do have a huge "uptapped" number of expatriates living here and a great deal of them are not servicemen who have decided to stay here but either Brits or English speakers and that should give us many opportunities to let these people know we are here.  Unfortunately, since publishing my manifesto some three years ago where I mentioned certain things we could and should do to ensure our future, nothing has been done.  ....and now a correction.  I made a mistake with my observations regarding Doric Lodge.  It appears that discussions have been ongoing every few months about the lodge's future over the last few years.  I made my remarks because I had seen it on the Doric Summons for the first time.  I am sorry if I let it seem as if the members of Doric had just not done anything-this is not true.  All credit to them for working hard on this problem.  I do hear however, that one solution which a particular brother has taken it upon himself to suggest and attempt, is to get as many Doric Members as possible to join Thistle & Saltire.  This kind of action will do Doric lodge no good at all.  I sincerely hope the senior members of Doric will mention this in no uncertain terms next time they speak to Tam

I am not sure my above apology was correct.  I do not believe that Doric Lodge will survive!  Important Addition I am now informed that the situation in Doric Lodge is dire.  There have been some urgent activities to try and get new members but this cannot happen quickly or all you have are people you don't know coming into the lodge and we all know where that leads.  I know a couple of brethren are doing their best now to keep the lodge alive but I feel that they only just seem to have woken up to the situation and that it is all too little, too late.  I hope I am wrong.

 

Now I can hear some of you saying that John Kellas thinks he knows it all, and although not too far from the truth,  I can safely say without fear of contradiction that as good as NOTHING has been forthcoming from the Grand Lodge in the way of ideas or initiatives as to how we can safeguard our future.  We did have a kind of initiative which Barrie Gibson attempted to organise in 2006 but until we receive some kind of written conclusions or report from him as to what happened, -because Brethren the whole thing was actually done to raise Barrie Gibsons' profile and nothing actually happened at all-we will just have to remain in the dark about what went on.  Exactly the opposite of what we need though, isn't it?  Prior to that the Boards of General Purposes attempted to address the situation in 2005 but that fissled down to me boldly stating what I thought and Norbert Schoen submitting a paper based on what another chap had written.  No other ideas were forthcoming. Hardly a think tank is it?

 Then again, I have to ask the membership of our lodges if you are satisfied with your transitory passage through the Grand Lodge, particularly if you are a member of HM Forces and don't really give too much time and effort thinking about what might happen to this GL after you have moved on? I think that may be closer to the point.  Our non-resident membership in UK has fallen even more dramatically that the resident membership and this can be explained by those who have returned to UK after having been initiated into our lodges just do not possess the same intrinsic feelings towards the GL as those in times before then obviously did!  Sad, but true.

 Now we see too many of our lodges holding meetings with single figure attendances and still we do NOTHING.  Of course as a person who is not considered to be of any value to GL I haven't been asked to head up a Task Force to address the ever increasing problem of membership numbers.  Maybe when Doric Lodge has closed down somebody might take notice.  "Doric Lodge will never close down I hear you say?  Why then was there discussion about the future of the lodge at the last meeting? 

Look at Lodge Bridge of Fellowship.  With only 6 members at their last meeting it is in meltdown.  Some had taken office as a favour to the Grand Master Frederick Colbran who probably actually does believe that he has saved the lodge from something or other! Of the 6 members present two will soon be turning their backs on the lodge for good.  What do we do then?  Close it down?  Bus in visitors every month to keep it going?  All too little, too late I am afraid.  The epitaph will read "Destroyed by the joint efforts of the GM and DGM in 2008".  I only wish I could help.

 

 

 

Instead of planning scandalous amounts of expenditure for a glorious celebration of our 50th year as a Grand Lodge, historically incorrect in any case as we first became a Grand Land Lodge in 1971 and didn't actually drop the "Land" until 1980 which by my reckoning makes us at best 37 years and at worst 28 years a Grand Lodge, we would be much better advised to set up a committee of intelligent bi-lingual businessmen members of GL with a view to delivering a sensible strategy paper within  2 months of formation.  This could then go out to the lodges who would be required to deal with it expediently and pass it to an additional meeting, if necessary,  of the Boards of General Purposes and Benevolence for recommendation to Grand Lodge.  What is so difficult about this?  We require a few members with some vision as to where we shall be in 20 years time!  I am ready for the call!

 

1st of October-a bit of very late in the evening blog!

 There must be some brethren out there who can understand the big picture as far as our Grand Lodge and it's position within German Freemasonry is concerned.  We are very fortunate that we are allowed to be a Grand Lodge at all.  Those of you who know the history of our GL will surely agree that were it not for the rather unique construction of the United Grand Lodges of Germany, we simply couldn't exist as a Grand Lodge.  The United Grand Lodges of Germany has always been the body that represents German Freemasonry in foreign climes, but we have always been allowed to have direct contacts with the Grand Lodges of England, Scotland and Ireland.  It seems very obvious to me why this is.  Most of our members eventually end up in one of these GL's on their return to the British Isles and it makes sense that we are given this permission to communicate directly.  What about Denmark then?  What about Switzerland, Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Luxembourg!??  What do you think is the reasoning behind our leaders making "official" visits which aren't really official and can't really be official.  What possible benefit is gained by our members to have representatives of this GL going all around Europe "representing" us?  I can not ever remember being asked and I can not ever remember the Boards of General Purposes sanctioning expenses to be paid out for these trips.  I'll continue on this theme nearer the weekend! 

 

I went to Bergen today to see Jimmy Howe.  Have you all read his article about charity work in Romania?  It's under the articles button-have a read it is very interesting!

 

It's now Saturday and 17 years and one day since the Wiedervereinigung-Doesn't time fly? 

 

I have been thinking about the measures presently being taken to attempt to throw me out of Freemasonry and after reading the so called evidence against me which the Disciplinary Committee considered and then going through it again with the Appeals Commission it is clear in my mind that both of these Committees have been given the result before the game even kicked off.  How do I come to this conclusion?  Well, after reading this so called evidence I just couldn't believe that they were attempting to expel me on such a flimsy, predominantly hearsay based,  few scraps of paper.   How could I ensure that I was not the only person who thought like this?  Well, the only way is for me to make certain that all other interested parties have the opportunity to see what has been going on at the committee stage and so I am publishing all the documents which were first handed to me at the Appeals Commission on the 21st of September, which was the FIRST TIME I had been allowed to see them.  Thereafter I'll publish the word for word transcript of the whole meeting of the Appeals Commission and finally follow it up with a letter sent to the 3 members of that commission yesrterday-so there will be some reading for you all a little later today.

 

 I am not purposely trying to damage the Grand Lodge of British Freemasons in Germany as that is being ably done by others, but I will not allow my name to be rubbished by individuals who have distorted the truth, presented facts which aren't, made up fantasy regulations as they go along and generally should have spent their time better in attempting to rescue this Grand Lodge from self-destruction than getting involved in the conspiracy against me.  Looking back over the Grand Mastership of Frederick Colbran in May 2009, somebody will have to try and stand up and say some nice positive things.  That will be incredibly difficult if sticking to the truth is essential.  We still have a situation which the present GM could sort out in very short time with hugely positive results for GL, but I find myself wondering whether he could manage to escape from the policy of the advisors he seems to have!  It would make the difference between forgetting the not so good times and having them continously raked up whenever having your name mentioned.  I doubt even a PGM could live happily with the latter.

  10TH OF OCTOBER 2008

 I had a long chat to a couple of my best Masonic friends today with somewhat surprising results.  Both of them said that in retrospect, they fully understand that I have little course of action other than full publicity of all that's been going on and ensuring that the guilty parties are named, shamed and hopefully will act out of consequence of their behaviour.  I told both of them not to hold their breath on that last one!.

 Not too long ago Barrie Gibson sent the following to a good brother in our Grand Lodge.  Once you've read it you'll certainly wonder why Barrie Gibson said it, as it has been shown by his correspondence included under our heading "Evidence" on this website, that he played a very large part in the organised conspiracy against a member of this Grand Lodge, namely me!!  I for one cannot imagine why he would send this to a brother as if to say "this is how it should be" when he is actively involved in a variety of actions which prove that either he hasn't read it himself or it's just another version of the "don't do as I do, do as I say" mentality of the higher ups of our Grand Lodge.  This is what he sent:

 Then there is the poor state of our brotherhood. We are no longer held together as brothers by such things as honour, trust, and mutual respect. We have replaced these things with thousands of rules written in Masonic Code books. The rules are so complex that we have been forced to create jurisprudence committees to maintain and interpret them for us. Ours is no longer an enlightened brotherhood of free-thinkers such as Benjamin Franklin and Voltaire, but a group of automatons blindly conforming to rules regardless of their moral consequences. We are not taught to think as individuals working towards a greater good, but that conformity in some magical way accomplishes this without any effort on our part.
 

 

Is it really any wonder why the public and the community have lost their faith in our fraternity? Is it a mystery to anyone why we are declining? We need to start rebuilding our lodges today. It needs to begin with a true spirit of brotherhood and cooperation. We need to realise that rules do not make us brothers and that honor, trust, and mutual respect are the things that bind us together. We need to learn our Craft and once again become true Masters of the Royal Art so that we can pass on our age-old traditions to future generations. Grand Lodges cannot mandate by edict that we be brothers and it have any real substance or meaning. It must begin in each and every individual lodge across the Universe  If Freemasonry dies it is our fault for not taking responsibility for our own lodge and expecting our Grand Lodge to solve all our problems for us.

 

 Incredulous isn't it, particularly if you are a member of Lodge Bridge of Fellowship No.929.

 

I am presently having some discussions with "Spit The Dog" on the forum.  One of the things he said was that I had gone against my Manifesto of 2005 by using internet to fight a battle of words.  Well yes I am, that's right, but this is truly a last resort.  I explained that 3 years ago things were different and that's why my Manifesto says what it does.  Spit contered with something like "Ah but you might change other parts of your manifesto"  well here he's right again.  What I wrote then was right for the time.  Had there have been an election for GM in 2005 and I had have won it, then I would have tried desperately hard to stick to the Manifesto, but circumstances change and policies do too.  We must always strive towards that which is right for the moment.  Presently I do not subscribe to the "Get rid of John Kellas and everything will return to normal again" doctrine because,  as the letters from Graham and Shiney, Barrie Gibson and now Mike Neary have clearly shown,  there are disastrous things happening in Grand Lodge which they have been able to achieve quite well on their own with no assistance from me! 

It comes as no surprise to me that David Stevens is earmarked to become the next JGW or that Alan Olinski is leaving the office.  Alan, a great Freemason, and he and I go back almost 40 years, was given the JGW's job after the sad death of Harry Ungerer.  There are many in GL who were opposed to this but Alan was there and we needed a JGW.  All the time hurrying and scurrying in the background was David Stevens.  He is one of these brethren who has managed to climb up the ladder by default.  He has always proved fiercely loyal to the GM, and shown immediate disinterest when a subject arose which couldn't be used to raise his profile.  Some of the things he has put in writing over the last year or so about me have been extremely unmasonic and in many cases displayed a complete lack of understanding on...well everything really.  I hope he is not going to swan on through this new appointment without making an effort to do something substantial and prove to the membership that promotion to such high an office cannot be gained by just anybody.  I feel sorry for Alan who feels that he must leave the JGW's office but have this piece of advice.  Don't accept a higher Past Grand Rank Alan-they can always take that away from you.  Join me as only the second PJGW in Grand Lodge who actually did the job!

 

20TH OF OCTOBER 2008

  

Well it seems that both the Disciplinary Committee and the Appeals Commission were corrupt.  They  just could not hand out an expulsion for the so called contraventions of Grand Lodge Regulations because quite simply no GL Regulations as listed in their evidence, were in fact contravened.

 

I asked a great deal of questions of the Appeals Commission which they were not able to answer and did not give me the courtesy of a written reply later.  All three members of that Appeals Commission knew what their orders were prior to going through with the farce of holding the meeting.  Joe Maison should not have been on the Appeals Commission as a named member of the Disciplinary Committee, but as those that lead the Grand Lodge  make a habit of just ignoring Regulation, particularly those that they have just introduced without too much thinking going in to them, what do you expect?  Most readers will have probably read the transcript of what happened.  Do you think these charges were hard and fast and particularly well argumented by the members of the Commission?  Their knowledge on the subject matter was atrociously lacking.  How can they consider an appeal when they didn't actually understand the subject matter?  It was a play acting excercise that they carried out.  The Commission was corrupt, extremely corrupt.

 

I have not yet received any kind of notification from either the Grand Secretary or the Chairman of the Appeals Commission, Roger Fairfield, recently promoted in Grand Rank.  He was not so ably assisted by Joe Maison who, as is clear from the transcript, had considerable difficulty understanding what was going on and further difficulties in trying to formulate questions.  He has recently been promoted in Grand Rank.  Hans-Christian Hermanni said very little but still was able to pronounce the appeal failed.  He has only been out of the chair a year or so but I will wager he gets some kind of recognition within 6 months.  Corrupt.

   

 

 I will be really interested to see their final report and on what exactly they based their decision!   The Disciplinary Committee had an even harder job as they had "evidence" to go from which was just not evidence at all.  Somehow they managed to come to their mistaken conclusions and yet still they actually have not proved anxything.  Just take Point 1 of their evidence-the part about me continuing to call myself a Past Junior Grand Warden.  I am a Past Junior Grand Warden that's why.  Not one of the six brethren making up these two bodies could tell me where a GM has the ability or authority to change an historical fact.  There are no regulations pertaining to the removal of my Past Grand Rank and neither can there ever be.  It's not really difficult to understand, well for brethren with a reasonable portion of intellect it isn't.

 

  

I have eventually received a letter from Norbert Schoen which I have printed as a part of the following statemment:

 

 

STATEMENT FROM  VWBro John T. Kellas PJGW

 

It is now the 24^th of October 2008 and over a month since the Appeal Commission and yet I still have not received any correspondence from either the Grand Secretary or the Chairman of the Appeals Commission.

It is necessary, due to the fact that the Grand Secretary, in his capacity of representing the policies and views of the Grand Lodge by circulating a so called proclamation, to bring to the attention of the brethren of the Grand Lodge of British Freemasons in Germany, the following important and indisputable points.

The Disciplinary Committee met without informing me and inviting me to have my say because they knew that with the witnesses and correspondence I would present, that they had no case for expelling me from the GL.  It was only possible for this committee to adhere to the orders of the Grand Master by totally ignoring any contribution from me or even considering giving me the democratic right to answer my accusers.  It still is not clear who these accusers were and what exactly they accused me of, however the Disciplinary Committee was corrupt by having prearranged conclusions.

·       The Disciplinary Committee’s existence has to be brought into question in any case as the whole change of regulations which brought it into being was engineered by false information given to Grand Lodge by the President of the Boards of General Purposes.  He openly stated in Grand Lodge that the Boards had agreed to a variety of points at their meetings in 2007 and 2008 which they had not.   This is an irrefutable fact. There are many witnesses to this fact in the persons of Boards Members who were disgusted at the methods used to get these changes through. The President of the Boards is also guilty of writing an untrue and defamatory report about the accounts of Beaver Lodge in an attempt to discredit me.  As most reading this will know, this drove me to take civil action through the courts and the matter was thus settled in my favour, culminating in the issuing of the court decision, which can be read under my "The GL Affair" column.

        The Grand Master having read these conclusions, somehow came to agree with them. That they had no foundation or even substance and that I hadn’t been given any opportunity to defend myself against these so-called accusations was not deemed to be important enough by the GM to safeguard my rights to defend myself against said accusers.  It is obvious that no Masonic influence was present in his decision to write the word “Approved” on their written recommendation to expel me from the GL the 20^th of June 2008. I herewith conclude that this whole matter was a foregone conclusion and therefore the work of the Disciplinary Committee was at worse illegal and at best corruptive.  No attempt whatsoever was made to ascertain the facts as the other side wished to present and therefore the conclusions of the Disciplinary Committee were based on unsubstantiated documents and hearsay. The members of this disciplinary committee were simply frightened to sit down with me in as they would have heard facts which would have made it impossible to have come to the conclusions they did.

 

The resulting meeting of the Appeals Commission was just as corrupted.  If anybody has read the transcript of that meeting and still believes that their final conclusion was correct, then they are out of touch with reality.  It is evident that the Commission was made up of certain members who just did not understand the subject matter and were almost brainwashed into believing the opposite of the facts. This Commission has made it’s decision based on orders received and have not yet informed me about it.  Neither has the Grand Secretary.

 

  The Grand Lodge of British Freemasons in Germany(GLBFG) is not a GL in the sense of those recognised by the United Grand Lodge of England(UGLE), the Grand Lodge of Scotland and the Grand Lodge of Ireland by way of the “Basic Principles For Recognition” adopted by all three of these Grand Lodges.  All international recognition is with the United Grand Lodges of Germany(VGLvD) and not the GLBFG.  My legally recognised Grand Lodge Certificate in Germany was issued by the VGLvD and not the GLBFG. The Magna Charta of the VGLvD protects the right of a German Mason to attend lodges and practise Freemasonry and it is therefore their inherent power and theirs alone, to expel a brother from the VGLvD. I do not recognise the contents of the letter written by the Grand Secretary of GLBFG called a “proclamation”.   The GLBFG is not legally entitled to issue such a document as this “proclamation” let alone distribute it to all Grand Lodges world wide.  Now I am being made to look like some kind of criminal by a Grand Secretary who is a policeman to all Grand Lodges throughout the World.  This is all done in spite of the fact that there is actually no evidence whatsoever and that their catalogue of my transgressions is based purely on the fact that I have found them out on numerous occasions in the past, as being not exactly the shining examples they are supposed to be.

 

The accompanying email sent out by the Grand Secretary is illegal. It is against the laws of Germany to threaten action and punishment against an individual just for talking to somebody else. I am extremely surprised that the Grand Secretary, due to his close proximity to the law through his profession, didn’t realise just how dangerous the ground is that he is treading on and I shall be asking for a complete and unconditional retraction of the contents of that email, otherwise I must protect my rights and ensure the laws of the land are applied.

 

There have already been many letters, emails and telephone calls pledging support, although running the risk of being intimidated, threatened and disciplined by out brotherly GL leadership. It is disgraceful that they should be so threatened.

 

I have put up some more correspondence on my blog showing again how much I tried to get some dialogue going with our current Grand Master over the last few years, all to no avail.

Yesterday the 24th of October 2008 I received the following letter from Norbert Schoen but first here is the illegal proclamation he says he has sent out world-wide, but of course he hasn't because he is too frightened of the consequences!

 

You can view this better  by copying and enlargening it!

 

Here is the letter he sent to me....

 

 

 

 

 

This letter is proof that those who hold any senior administrative office or belong to either the disciplinary or appeals committees are corrupted beyond imaginable belief.  If you read this letter from Norbert Schoen you will identify the surreal thoughts of these people in the couple of exclamation marks used.  You have to know the mentality of these people to understand the significance of such a small punctuation mark, but believe me when I say it speaks volumes about their total lack of integrity. I am now having to take this whole matter through the German civil courts and thereby being forced to take action which will cause the GLBFG  harm.

 

 

 

The last paragraph where the Grand Secretary has the audacity to remind me of my Masonic Obligations and further to quote me a GL Regulation in his letter would actually be quite funny were it not for the fact that he means it.  If, as he maintains, I am all of a sudden no longer a Freemason then what possible incentive does he think I have to follow GL Regulations?  How does he possibly explain what the reference to "internal matters" means?  Does he understand the stupidity of this paragraph at all?  No, he doesn't of course and this only goes to highlighting the problems we have within Grand Lodge.  Anyway here is a copy of my reply to this letter:

 Letter will appear here soon!

 

At the risk of being accused over dramatic I can safely state that I will never stop until my name has been cleared from the biased, corruptive and untrue "allegations" these people have invented in order to give some kind of semblance of regularity to their conspiracy.  It really takes some believing that Barrie Gibson, after experiencing Frederick Colbrans extremely difficult time as GM because of all of this, seems prepared to go through his three years as GM, assuming of course it lasts that long, in an even more difficult situation, for as soon as the legal actions have been started the problems will multiply to such an extent that he will find it terribly difficult even sitting down and calculating his expenses.

I realise that many amongst you will feel intimidated by the style of the Grand Secretary's letter and the instructions which are being sent out to the lodges, warning against contact with me.  Nevertheless I would be very happy to receive communications from you.  Should you not wish to be the victim of intimidation and threats you can leave your message on my guest book anonymously.

 

I shall be updated all legal actions as and when they happen.  It will all be very transparent because I have absolutely nothing to hide. During this period, however long it may take, I shall be attending lodges and other Masonic functions and where appropriate will also be wearing my Past Junior Grand Warden's regalia.  I shall be publishing photographs of such functions.  I will always adhere to a regularly constructed administration of this GL but never bow down to a style of dictatorship never before experienced not only in this GL, but in Fremasonry throughout the world.

By finally sending out such information the Grand Lodge of British Freemasons in Germany has sealed it's own fate.   It is never a wise move to fight battles without weapons of substance against those who basically have nothing to lose.

 

VWBro John Kellas PJGW

 

CHARITY MATTERS, DOESN'T IT? 

 

 

We nearly "came a cropper" by sending money to a charity that wasn't didn't we?  Can you imagine if emotions had got the better of the GM and the money had been sent on the assumption that Grand Lodge would OK it?  Haven't we been here before though?  So why haven't we learned?  The charitable activities of this Grand Lodge of British Freemasons in Germany really need a good shake up. Many members are  not happy at the continued support of Katies Ski Tracks.  I can't think why anyone should be against this.  It seems obvious that they are so happy to have the GL supporting them, I just hope we don't just stop without warning.

 

 

Obviously being in Germany we should support German charities.  We would not be criticised for using our support of local German charities in order to make our presence better known and thereby hopefully encourage more men to look towards Fremasonry as a society they might like to have more to do with.  For more that 10 years now we have been talking about this but we somehow don't seem to be able to hatch out a policy which both makes us better known as a charitable organisation as well as potentially increasing our membership numbers!

 

It is very commendable whenever a lodge identifies a local charity instead of giving a big cheque towards the Grand Lodge Charity Appeal Fund, have decided to support the local need..  This is all well and good in theory but first we have to hope that an individual lodge can actually donate an amount that will make a difference.  I feel that the Grand Lodge should be much more active in discussing this particular proble and would be motre than happy to give the Grand Charity Steward the benefit of my experience to help formulate some kind of sensible strategy for the future.

 

 

More later! 

  

 

 I have had correspondence from a Past Master of one of our lodges currently residing in Cyprus who tells me that his lodge over there were asked to make a donation to this Maltese business but after checking them out they quickly came to the conclusion that this was definitely not a charity and actually said that the lodge described recognising the fact was a "no brainer" !  Well of course this remark makes it even more amazing that our Grand Master wanted to donate something as he is surely pefectly qualified to recognise "no brainers" when they arise.

 

I am continually trying to change the writing font in order to make it easier to read.  Many of you told me by email that this would be better.  Comments please!

 

Last Friday the 31st of October, I was having dinner in the Munnich Hotel in Münster when the Grand Secretary walked past me.  What are you doing here? he asked.  Having dinner I replied.  That was the extent of the conversation.  Then I was exceptionally pleased to exchange pleasantries with Alan Olinski, Jeremy Stevens, Julian Knowles, Tom Culpeck, the famous Smith Brothers from Southern Star Lodge and Bill Hayler.  Later on both Barrie Gibson and Ron Cairns said hello which was really very nice of them as they both evidently harbour grevious feelings of hate towards me.  Perhaps the refreshment had softened them a little.  I had a long chat with WBro Shiney MacKinnon who wanted to discuss with me how the situation could be resolved.  I indicated to him that I too was very interested in resolving the situation but as it had been caused by Frederick Colbran, only he could resolve it.  Shiney mentioned that this business was destroying the Grand Lodge but I had to correct him that it was the GM who was destroying Grand Lodge and it appears that his successor does not possess the wherewithall to change things dramatically and that the GL is just continuing to slide down it's slippery slope to self-destruction.  By the way, all those brethren who spoke with me risk "strong disciplinary action being forced on them" according to the Grand Secretary, but wait.....didn't he talk to me as well?  Do they all understand what it is they are doing?

 

 Peter Muratroyd, David Stevens and of course, Frederick Colbran were the only brethren there who didn't even say hello.  Even David Francombe, the GM's protege(just watch Grand Rank being dished out in May 2009), managed a "Hello".  I think many were wondering just what I was doing there but they will just have to get used to me cropping up all over the place from now on I'm afraid.  The gloves, due to their illegal expulsion letter, are well and truly off.  Of course I am still most receptive to dialogue but this has been initially ruled out by the GM whoi apparently would rather put the future of the GL at stake than change any of the decisions he was told to make.  What a sad situation and not a very nice legacy for Barrie Gibson who will inherit three years of future aggravation from the brother who has been wrongly treated by his brethren.

 

I really do not have much of an alternative than to go through the courts. This will not only cause our GL but also the United Grand Lodges of Germany, much embarrassment.  It really is all so easily remedied if only the will were there!

 

 I will be writing much about the Chapter on my new page www.gcbramg.com for those of you who wish to know where the Grand Chapters future lies.  To many, the Grand Chapter has lost it's raison d'etre and I will be offering up many points as to why this is.  Look out for the new site towards the weekend.

 

Belated birthday greetings to W Bro Peter Frenes, the Grand Chameleon of the Grand Lodge and a staunch agitater of Lodge Bridge of Fellowship.  I hope you had a nice day yesterday Peter(5th of November) and it is a remarkable coincidence that you should share a birthday with one of the most famous backroom plotters in English history.

 

 

 

PAUL PAIN's WEBSITE

 

 

 It seems to me that once an individual feels threatened by a Grand Lodge for operating a freedom of speech Forum on the Internet, then things have really gone too far.  I cannot believe that Paul Pain, for whom I have the greatest respect, needs to run his life according to what the "Grand Lodge" says.  Quite incredible, but this little missive will go into my file and be recounted in a court of law in the forseeable future.  It is just the kind of proof that I am looking for about how the few at the top of what was once a respectable Grand Lodge, will attempt anything to threaten and intimidate members to such an extent that it affects the decisions they make in their lives-just like Paul has.  Let's hope we have no military members about to become embroiled in legalities because of our Grand Lodge.  Let's hope we have no public servants such as police officers who are about to become embroiled in similar legalities.  Undoubtedly this will have some negative affect on their professional positions.  Good old Grand Lodge eh?  Really know about human kindness and particularly about looking after their members.

 

   

 Any comments?  Please don't be intimidated, write anonymously to me at pjgw@glbfg.de

 

.....or make an entry onto my guestbook or forum giving a fantasy email address to protect your identity.

 

 

It would appear that we need to ask ourselves some questions in the GL of British Freemasons in Germany.  We firstly need to fully understand what exactly our Grand Lodge is, as there is much misinformation about.  Our Grand Lodge is not a sovereign Grand Lodge in the understanding of say, the Grand Lodge of Scotland or the United Grand Lodge of England & Wales.  Were it not for the formation of the United Grand Lodges of Germany in 1958, we wouldn't be a Grand Lodge even in name only today.  Originally our first three lodges, New Absalom, Saxony and Britannia were constituent lodges of the United Grand Lodge AF & AM of Germany.  This Grand Lodge was everything other than "United" at that time and if the agreement for a Unted Grand Lodges of Germany had not been made, we would be, at the most, a District of the Grand Lodge AF & AM as it now exists.  Not a lot of people know that.  So what happened next?  Well in the early days of British Freemasons in Germany we had a very up-market type of members, usually officer status and we had one thing then which we definitely do not have today, an abundance of candidates.

 

 

 As we grew, somewhere along the line we lost sight of our humble beginings and sure enough, the little District of AF & AM finally pronounced itself a Grand Lodge in 1980.  So we have only been a Grand Lodge for 28 years.  Strange that we've already celebrated our 40th anniversary then isn't it?  Well this was done to ensure that a) John Woodhouse was GM when it happened and  b) that we still had enough members to celebrate it!  In fact we became a province in 1962 which didn't give us the right to celebrate 40 years as a GL in 2002,  but we did anyway!.  Read into that what you will.    

 

                                         
After becoming a GL in 1980 it was imperative that we adhered to the Magna Charter of German Freemasons, particularly in matters of international recognition, for it was only by the formation of the United Grand Lodges of Germany as we have today, that German Freemasons, us included, were recognised as being "regular" by the majority of other GL's in the world, particularly by the United Grand Lodge of England, considered by most to be the "Mother" GL of the world.                            

 

 

 Our Grand Lodge has been granted autonomy by the United Grand Lodges of Germany over most matters concerning internal workings etc. but when it comes to international relations with other Grand Lodges, we are breaking basic agreements put in place as far back as 50 years ago.  Although the UGLG had "given us the wink" that it was ok to correspond and make visits to England, Scotland and Ireland because of our unique membership make up. Grand Lodges in other countries were no-go areas.  This was the sole responsibility of the United Grand Lodges of Germany after it's formation in 1958.  Nowadays the majority of our membership doesn't necessarily reurn to UK after a short time and the communication between our GL and the 3 Home Nation GL's serves more to allow our GM accompanied by high ranking officers to attend Communications of those 3 bodies where they are shown levels of respect and hospitality which far outweighs their standing in world Masonry!

 

 

 So after the quality of leadership of our Grand Lodge began it's inexorable slide to the bottom of the quality barrel it followed that going to foreign climes and being adulated was infinitely more agreeable than trying to prevent the destruction of our Grand Lodge.  Many speeches have ben given about how wonderful our spirit is and  how we are always taking our Freemasonry very seriously!  It must sound good to those foreign Grand Lodges to hear such things and indeed elevate the speaker to even more remarkable heights of adulation.  If only they knew.

   

 Coming back home, we cannot honestly say that the upper echelons of Grand Lodge are taking our Freemasonry or our Grand Lodge seriously.  In fact the only thing many brethren take seriously any more is themselves and their quest for a higher promotion.  

 

 

Too many of them are playing the fiddle whilst the Grand Lodge burns.

  

 I want to do something about it before it's too late.  Read the documents on this website.  You'll notice that many things I have said or warned against have a strange habit of coming true.  That I am someone to get rid of is just a further clear indication that my words and actions hit home and ring true. 

  

 

 This Grand Lodge as it presently exists has really lost it's right to be called a Grand Lodge.  As our membership has declined throughout the years, so have the attempts tp make us a kind of European power in Masonry increased.  We have less than half the members now than we had as a province in 1969, some 40 years ago.  In those days our Provincial Grand Masters knew our status and our place.  Nowadays I am afraid the human weaknesses of vanity, power-grabbing, self importance and a massive ego are the traits of our leaders.  Gone are those things we were taught as Masons when I was a new brother.  I hope and pray that they are not gone forever.

 

 

The ridiculousness of the policies of GL can be highlighted by looking at how much effort they went to in having me expelled. 

 

They think that now, after all the lies and dubious changes to our regulations, they can issue a so-called "proclamation" and I am no more.  I am certian they didn't take electronic communication into account, in fact I believe they gave communication  a complete miss in persuing their goal in ridding the GL of the brother who was exposing them and their corruptive practices.  Still here though and definitely not going anywhere and I shall fight the injustices to the bitter end or until we finally get a Grand Master once again worthy of that title.

 

               

 
 3rd of DECEMBER 2008

Just in time for the Annual Convocation of the Grand Chapter this coming weekend, my www.gcbramg.com website will be online by Thursday.  Packed full of opinion and a smatteringof interesting news, to be expanded over the coming months as more documents are made available to me by my very own "deep throat" within GCBRAMG....

 

CONGRATULATIONS FEBRUARY 2009

 

Congratulations to VWBro Norman McDermott who is designated to become our new Assistant Grand Master and to VW Bro Alan Wainwright who will be the Senior Grand Warden.  Both appointments will be with effect from May 2009.

 

I have recently had some communication with the Secretary of Lodge Bridge of Fellowship No.929.  It seems that certain Grand Officers in the lodge have lost all sight of how to do things!  During their recent Ceremony one of the brethren had to rush out when the candidate left the lodge for a most urgent visit to relieve himself.  This was frowned upon by one of the Grand Officers and to be fair, we will try not to mention Steve Pipes' name.  It was deemed that the actions of the brother, who evidently had held his desire at least until the candidate leaving, were not correct.  It can only be assumed that brethren who wish to relieve themselves during a lodge meeting must do it there and then!  This apparently then complies with Masonic protocoll.  The Grand Master was also present at the meeting highlighting the current policies of blind leading blind, or in this case distressed brethren with wet trousers!  The mind does boggle!

Other interesting exchanges with Bro Secretary of 929 are anticipated in the future!  

 

ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS!

You will no doubt remember that MW Bro David Gale was removed from his position as President of the Boards of General Purposes and Benevolence after having discovered grave misappropriation of GL Funds by Frederick Colbran.  There followed a farcical "investigation" which can at best be described as corrupt.  Frederick Colbran disputed the fact that he had misappropriated monies to fly off on holiday to the Channel Islands.  Instead he maintained that it was "official Masonic business".  Aside from the fact that our GL cannot have any official Masonic business directly with the Provincial GL's of the Channel Islands, it is noteworthy to mention that our GM has family there.

So after maintaining the taking of monies was permissable and above board, although evidence points  in the other direction, it now transpires that Frederick Colbran has paid the money back!  What for?  By paying it back he is admitting that the money was misappropriated in the first instance.  Somebody needs to get their story right.  It was once even suggested by Frederick Colbran that he had received an official invitation to visit the Province in the Channel Islands but strangely enough nobody talks about it anymore.  Another misunderstanding perhaps?

 

 The GM had some press recently in the Sixth Sense Forces Newspaper.  It appears he had been invited to meet the Bundespresident Horst Köhler up in Berlin and this was reported comprehensively in the Sixth Sense.  The article then gave a complete run down of the GM's lifetime achievements.  A typical example of another lost opportunity to present our Grand Lodge  to the public at large instead of another "Cult Of Frederick Colbran" report!   A wasted opportunity, thrown away by paying more attention to his own need for self publicity!  It is particularly sad when reflectingf on the state of our organisation.  Seemingly Frederick Colbran is the only one who thinks that everything is fine.

 

HELP ME OUT HERE PLEASE? 

 

Can somebody please confirm that this didn't happen....?

  

I was told that Barrie Gibson travelled a total of 1,417 kms last Saturday to attend Doric and Frederick Colbran travelled  a total of 1,321kms to attend Souithern Star.  If F. Colbran went to Doric he would travel 347 kms total.  If B. Gibson attended Southern Star he would rack up a total of 390 kms.  Now I am not sure what they are charging but in my mind it's an unnecessary amount of 2,001 Kms which I suggest you can conservatively estimate at costing around 800 € more than necessary.  B. Gibson will most probably need two overnights!  What do you think of that?  Isn't it just ridiculous?  Can anybody confirm that this scandalous waste of YOUR money is justified and on whose authorisation are these expenses paid out.  Don't they think?

 

 

The New Absalom Installation resulted in the lodge voting to close down in May 2009.  This vote took place whilst  MWBro David Gale was in the lodge but he left when the GM and his Officers were about to enter the lodge out of protest against the manner in which GL had intended to trat New Absalom.  The warrant was going to be removed by Frederick Colbran in order to prevent the members from closing their lodge.  This had been explained by John Hebel at the Boards Meeting who also said that all members of 841 would then no longer be members of the Grand Lodge and that David Gale would no longer be allowed to call himself a Past Grand Master.  How much more stupid can this man get?  As someone who is President of the Boards of General Purposes & Benevolence he has proved time and time again that he cannot tell the truth to Boards Members.  You know about him lying to Grand Lodge in his report last year about what Regulations had been approved and I have made no secret about teling you all about it, but it seems he just cannot stop.  He has told the Boards Members that I am spreading "malicious lies".  Goodness me, what are these malicious lies then?  Let's hear all about it John!  The only thing I am guilty of is speaking my mind and having an opinion which was never influenced by the promise of future promotion.  I feel that a brother such as John Hebel should not be allowed to progress any further in Grand Lodge, particularly not into any office where he has influence, as we have seen quite clearly that he has huge problems with democracy and the truth.

 

Whilst I am on my high horse today I would just like to comment on 841's Installation Festive Board on Saturday the 14th of March.  WBro David Wallace, who was initiated into Keys of Münster just shortly after me and for whom I have the greatest respect as both a man and a Mason, decided to have a few words criticising the Grand Lodge and particularly what it had done and attempted to do to New Absalom.  It appears that David's words, true to the smallest detail, were too much for our Grand Master Elect to bear and he stood up and walked out.  A disgrace brethren, truly.  If Barrie Gibson didn't like what David Wallace said, he should have remained and given a positive indication that he would welcome the opportunity of discussing those points. and resolving any problems.  By just leaving the Festive Board and driving off he has shown his total unsuitability to become Grand Master.  Mark my words brethren, things will not get better when he is the Grand Master. A missed opportunity again!  It's a good job these peopleare not politicians-they'd be out of a job in no time.  There just seems to be a total misunderstanding by the leadership about what the Brethren want and indeed, what they as a leadership should be able to deliver.

 

Barrie Gibson thinks that the senior members of New Absalom have not done enough to try and "save" the lodge, again showling clearly that he completely misunderstands the situation.  I fear the absolute worst when he becomes GM.

 

But before Barrie Gibson gets in Frederick Colbran has more of our money he wishes to spend.  He is off up to Denmark in April to say farewell to the Grand Lodge of Denmark by making his final visit as GM.  Why?  Over this three year period that he has been GM what has his friendly relationship with Denmark actually done for either each one of us or our Grand Lodge collectively.  I respectfully suggest nothing!  It has only been instrumental is consuming our monies for what can only be described as a "junket".  What advantages has this "relationship with the Grand Lodge of Denmark brought us?  I'll wager there isn't a brother in the lodges who actually knows the name of their Grand Master let alone why we have this relationship.  As stated previously, we are batting too high up the order by cultivating fraternal relations with foreign Grand lodges.  The United Grand Lodges of Germany should have made certain we realised that aside from the 3 British GL's,(i.e. in the British Isles-before you start complaining!) where we've been given permission to have direct relations, we must acknowledge that the UGLG has the sole responsibility for foreign relations in the name of German Freemasonry, not our GL.  If, as is sometimes put over as a kind of excuse, the UGLG have somehow "requested" us to represent them, then I am certain they will be willing to cover our costs.  Our GL Funds must no longer be plundered by the GM from a Grand Treasurer who disregards the wishes of the brethren who elected him.  it must stop.  Will Barrie Gibson be the one to do it?  After ghis behaviour at New Absalom and recent performances in Bridge of Fellowship, I doubt it.

 

Heartfelt personal best wishes go out from me to WBro Trevor Parfit and WBro Tim Tacey, both of whom have been very poorly of late.  I sincerely wish you will both soon be on the road to recovery and am sure you will be meeting up with brethren on the square in the not too distant future.  Once again on behalf of all of your brethren in Masonry-GET WELL SOON.

 

I trust the new Grand Almoner will be in touch soon.

 

NEW Grand Almoner?  Well I met up today with WBro Allan Baker of Lodge Neuhaus who told me that Terry Dryden had resigned his position of Grand Almoner.  Although not especially specific in his explanation, it would appear that Barrie Gibsons obvious intention to carry on the lottery of dishing out remarkably high Grand Rank to remarkably young and inexperienced Grand Officers may be the reason for Terry's sudden resignation.

 

On many occasions in the past and on recent numerous discussions with senior Brethren, particularly members of the Boards of General Purposes, I have warned against the demise of the Grand Lodge and how the trading of Grand Rank had played an important part in it's downfall and in the main, my partners in conversation agreed with me.  Some however were more hesitant.  Now of course we have yet another example of non-existent man management and even those who were prepared to give Barrie Gibson the benefit of the doubt can see that I was right all along.

 

Don't forget to check regularly for more inside news and views of the willful destruction of our Grand Lodge.

 

Money is no object

 

I personally do not care where Frederick Colbran goes on his Masonic travels.  What I do care about is that the expenses from such travels are invariably met from Grand Lodge Funds.  I know that it is always maintained that he visits other constitutions "on our behalf" but quite frankly, that is just a wishy washy way of trying to justify the monies that are taken for these journeys.  Not content with his Denmark  junket Frederick colbrans last few weeks as Grand master deserve as much money throwing at them as possible it seems!   I am not aware of any great Masonic links between our Grand Lodge and Romania but Frederick Colbran is going to be taking our money again this month for a trip to Bucharest, which is of course in Romania.  It cannot be that these journeys are paid for by the brethren of this Grand lodge and yet the recommendations of the Boards in days gone by regarding restrictions on expenses to travel around Europe have been completely ignored.  I really urge the members of the Boards to re-introduce this item again and to carefully check through your Boards minutes over the last 5 or 6 years and compare them with the contents of the Presidents reports, particularly those issued by the present incumbent, John Hebel.  You will most certainly discover many anomilies which will justify you bringing iup the subject again in September.  Oh, and please insist that it is discussed.  The President "presides" over the Boards meeting but it is not his decision as to whether a topic shall be discussed or not-that is for the Boards Members to decide themselves on the day.

 

Of course another golden opportunity to really practise what he preaches and truly promote our Grand Lodge in Romania has once again been missed by a man more determined to flaunt arount as a GM than actually do something worthwhile.  What am I talking about?  Well, read the article about Bro James Howe of the Keys of Münster Lodge and see what he has been doing over the last two decades in Romania and then ask yourselves-couldn't Frederick Colbran have thought for just one minute about this and invited Bro James Howe to accompany him to Bucharest?  If nothing else it would have been a been a sign of real understanding of a particular subject-something Frederick Colbran has been unable to prove that he has up to now!

 

Speaking of John Hebel, he has recently been making statements that he knows who has "been leaking information about Boards Meetings to John Kellas".  Apart from the fact that I would have imagined that John Hebel had much more important things to do for the good of Grand Lodge than go searching for the Scarlet Pimpernel, I cannot see what good his expenditure of time and effort will do.  He says he thinks he knows who it is-but has no proof.  Well John, I think I know how the world was created, but I too have no proof!  It is truly incredulous that the president of the Boards who has already lied in Grand Lodge in order to get policies through against the wishes of the Boards of General Purposes and Benevolence(can't touch me John-it is true and provable!) is now devoting what little spare time he has in trying to uncover a mole.  Let me pose this question-if there is absolutely nothing untoward happening within the Boards and it is generally acknowledged that it is the Boards members who make the recommendations to GL not the President-he just reads them out(sometimes), then why should there be such secrecy as to what happens at the Boards?  As a member of two lodges I get to hear about what went on anyway as a matter of course, so any accusations about a "mole" is really  complete fantasy, bordering on MI5 !!

 

Perhaps there are listening devices placed hidden each time the Board meets?

 

 

Bridge to nowhere

 

It would appear that the recent Installation meeting in Lodge Bridge of Fellowship, which I was illegally prevented from attending, despite being a member, was attended by around 30 Brethren.  Well under present circumstances that's not bad, I hear you say.  The Installing Master, WBro Udo Vongehr did an excellent job as Installing Master with no book and no reading.  We all know how seriously Bro Udo takes Freemasonry and so this was almost expected-well done Udo. There were many brethren from Saxony Lodge in support and some German and English brethren as visitors.  So how many members of the lodge were actually there when it opened?  Well there were 4 subscribing members there!  If anyone ever tells you that what I have written about the GM & DGM doing their best to destroy Lodge Bridge of Fellowship was off the mark, just let that figure sink in please-4 BRETHREN!!  Well done Barrie Gibson, great job there.

 

With such low figures it is probable that W Bro Wolfgang Schneider may even have to stay in the chair again next year.  Not perhaps an ideal situation but it will surely give him ample time in which to learn the ritual, I should have thought!-

 

The Business Paper issued with the Summons to the Grand Lodge Communication contains certain revelations, the seriousness of which I am not too sure the brethren have noticed.

 

In no particular order there's a remark by the Auditors regarding the apparent setting up of a so-called "Anniversary Account" without any authority to do so.  Before we explore the need or not for such an account we should analyse just what it is that's happening here.  Quite simply, this is yet another disgraceful example of how YOUR money is being used by certain members of Grand Lodge as if it were their own, to finance what can only be described as an over the top jolly, to allegedly celebrate the 50 Years of the Grand Lodge.  This is only for a few people to be able to pat themselves on the back and spend a weekend posturing as supreme beings at OUR expense.  It actually does NOTHING for the good and benefit of Grand Lodge and it's membership, i.e. all of us. 

 

Of course I have mentioned it quite a few times before that the 50th Anniversary isn't actually the 50th Anniversary, either of British Freemasons in Germany nor of Grand Lodge.  It came about because in 1987 the then Grand Master decided to celebrate a 25th Anniversary.  What of exactly, I am not sure.  It wasn't British Freemasons in Germany.  It wasn't Grand Lodge.  It wasn't Provincial Grand Lodge.  It could only have been Keys of Münster Lodge as this was the only Masonic organisation within our system which was founded in 1962 and is still going!  Of course it wasn't that at all.  It was yet another reason to attempt to make our Grand Lodge seem grander than it is.  Although it was reasonably Grand in 1987, we cannot say the same of it today.  To now start commandeering funds belonging to the brethren of Grand Lodge without even asking them is showing the worst possible disdain for all those not fortunate enough to be at the top of our organisation.

  

It is really interesting to note that no initiatives regarding membership figures, public relations, charitable activities or such like have been forthcoming from Grand Lodge.  This is a leadership with a disgraceful disdain of attempting to do anything for the good of the whole, preferring to stick to the preserving of the gravy train policies for the very few.  This is especially highlighted by the Auditors Report.  We don't even have to read between the lines.  They state it exactly. Grand Lodge leadership have been travelling First Class on  the German Railways.  This is very expensive.  Did they care? No.  Then there has been monies paid out as expenses to Officers of Grand Lodge which were never approved and it must be added, paid out by a Grand Treasurer who is elected by the membership, has a responsibility to the membership, yet disregards both of these matters, seemingly in an attempt to please the leadership.  It cannot go unnoticed that the Grand Treasurer was recently awarded Past Junior Grand Warden.  I wouldn't have accepted it...in fact when John Woodhouse offered it to me iat the begining of the decade, I turned it down.  The Grand Treasurer should only pay invoices and expenses that have been specifically approved.  It is not a satisfactory answer just to say that the Grand Master told him to pay it.  He answers to Grand Lodge membership and not the GM.  The GM cannot remove him from his office, a fact which probably expalins to a certain extent, why the sudden high promotion.

 

My view is of course, that Past Junior Grand Warden is actually now not worth the paper the Certificate is printed on, as we probable have as many PJGW's now as all the other "proper" Grand Lodge's in West Europe put together.  Remarkable fact that, isn't it?

 

But there's more........refreshments being charged to GL without authority, and I cannot possibly imagine what extenuating conditions might prevail which would allow a claimant to produce credit card slips but no original receipts, other than stupidity of course, in case they lost them, in which case they shouldn't be entitled to claim the money at all.  It obviously not being of that much importance that they can't keep the receipts safe!

 

The Auditors, bless them, suggest that certain expenses should be allowed based on the German Tax System.  As an organisation which has been running both scared and foul of German Law for many years, this suggestion is taken as a kind of bad joke.

 

GRAND LODGE ANNUAL COMMUNICATION 2009

 

Well there wasn't a very big turnout at the Annual Communication in Münster and as I was there I should know.  I did catch some very interesting snippets of conversation between Frederich Colbran and Michael Cooper as they stood next to my car in the car park, talking away.  I was sat in my car at the time.  I had to go into the Halle Munsterland to deliver something to the Grand Secretary and was greeted in a very friendly manner by WBro Peter Read, a brother for whom I have the utmost respect.,  He did however ask me if I was going to try and go into Grand Lodge.  I am certain there had been discussions earlier to determine what actions would be taken should I attempt to enter GL with all guns blazing!  

 

I said hello to Adrian Lane, Norman McDermott, Gary Wormald and many other brethren.

 

One of the most disgraceful episodes to come from the meeting however, had to do with the Boards or more specifically the "Report" of it's President, John Hebel.  In this report it was stated that a sum of money had been agreed on by the Boards to go to the so called "reserve fund".  This reserve fund and even the theory behind it has not been fully discussed and recommended by the Boards Members to Grand Lodge-AND YET IT ALREADY EXISTS!  When W Bro Glyn Edmunds challenged the existence of this fund in Grand Lodge he was told by John Hebel that the Boards Members had agreed and recommended it 3 years ago and GL had agreed it.  POPPYCOCK.  ..or to put it more bluntly, John Hebel was once again guilty of telling lies to the Grand Lodge membership.  WBro Glyn obviously asked this question after studying what had been written in the auditors eport where the authority for the existence of this "reserve fund" was strongly questioned.  It is par for the course for John Hebel though as most of you who have read my blog will appreciate, this is by no means the first time he has blatantly lied to GL.  I make no bones about calling it that as I can back up what I say with facts, both verbal and documental.

 

It is amazing though that all of the VIP's who Barrie Gibson wants us to treat on the future occasion of our 50th anniversary that isn't, were there in force supporting our GL as a result of all of the flamboyant visiting we do to their foreign climes.........hold on, just a moment-THERE WERE NONE!  Not one foreign visitor came for what is a most important meeting, the Installation of a new Grand Master.  How they must value the importance of Barrie Gibson.! Wow they must value the importance of our Grand Lodge!  Still, if this reserve fund isn't thrown out then they will all turn up in 2012 for a mostly heavily subsidised long weekend jolly at the brethrens expense.  I'm sorry but this is no longer Freemasonry.

 

More later.

 

 

I have visited two lodges in the last month.  Now most regular Masonic bodies are having their summer break and I am looking forward to that too.  In the autumn I shall be accepting two invitations to attend lodges of recognised constitutions in Europe where I am also giving a talk.  It seems that many Masons like to know what is going on and I am very happy to oblige.

 

Wednesday the 27th of May 2009

 

As of today I am very close to finding out in whose name the illegal investments using stolen GL money were made.  Once the name is known it will be possible, should any member of GL feel it is necessary,  to take legal action against the name on the documents.  I do not say this without thinking about the ramifications for Grand Lodge, but then again, those who stole the brethrens money for these illegal investments didn't really think about it either, did they?

 

We still haven't had any response from my challenge to name the guilty parties and so it appears that I will once again be forced to be the bearer of bad news.  I suppose you could liken the top individuals in our Grand Lodge to those MP's whose actions have inadvertently been the cause of a movement which will change the face of British politics completely.  If only there were more members of GL who would ask some direct questions and not stop asking until they get answers.  All you hear are lies and excuses, backed by the sinister threat of being put into suspended animation as far as your Masonic "career" goes.  How sad.

 

I hope Ian McLelland Irving is telling the truth about the investments made during his tenure as Grand Treasurer otherwise it could also have grave consequences for him.  The noise coming down from the top of GL is that he did all of the investments "off his own back".  If this is really true why hasn't he been excluded from the GL.  If it isn't true, then why is this information filtering through?  Since my last conversation with Ian, during which he told me a few very interesting things indeed, I haven't been able to contact him.  I wonder if he has been told to keep his mouth closed on this subject?  Why don't some of you valued readers just ask him?  "Hey Ian, in whose name were those illegal investments taken out?"  Easy isn't it?  I am certain there are many of you who want know aren't there?

 

INFORMATION EVENINGS

 

Over the coming months I am planning to hold some Masonic information evenings or Forums.  The first two will be in Paderborn and Herford.

 

These information evenings will obviously be open to everybody and they will be well advertised in advance 

 

BEAVER IS DOING WHAT?

 

Beaver Lodge appear to have reversed their status as an eingetragene Verein(registered association) in Germany.  This they have not done with the required percentage of members votes, but what's new here? Now they can no longer be classed as a legal entity when it comes to such matters as insurances, bank accounts, collective responsibility and a variety of other matters which are really invaluable to an organisation which takes itself seriously.  Now there is a bank account which is no longer in the name of the lodge!  A backwards step, particularly when you see the example set by those who run Grand Lodge-those of just taking monies and using them for almost anything they want without obtaining members express permission.  Well, Beaver Lodge will now have a Treasurer who has the lodge funds in his name or the name of any other individual.  Transparent-No I don't think so.  A good idea-definitely not., just ask the members of Lodge Neuhauss of the dangers involved with this type of lax control.  I cannot imagine any individual wanting to hold lodge money on his own personal account.  What happens if he unfortunately dies?  Even more probable, what if he has debts and either a civil debtor or indeed the Finanzamt put a block on the account and take their money?  Do you think this safeguards YOUR money?

 

So I wonder why Beaver are doing it?

 

Beaver, or at least a certain individual whio is a member of it, has openly accused me of fraud and made ridiculous charges against me about charitable activities in Soest(See report under "Charity").  Once again they are allowing their emotions to get the better of them.  Of course there is absolutely no charges to answer but the fact that they or he took the time to make such charges highlights just how far away from Masonic basic thinking these individuals are.  They made up stories in an attempt to discredit me yet again-you would have thought that after my successful court action against them in 2007 they would have learned that unless you have facts, you'd be better advised to keep your opinions to yourself.  The reason that I cause such a stir with the things I make public is simply because I have the information, I have the facts, I do not make things up and as long as I experience the corruption and deception that continually goes on in an organisation which should know better, I will continue to expose them.

 

We have had lies and theft already this year.  That nobody has answered my accusations speaks volumes doesn't it?

 

THE NEW BROOM

 

Well after 6 weeks the new GM has finally put up his greeting on the GL website.  It wasn't worth waiting for.  We could have all been forgiven for thinking that Barrie Gibson could bring the "Obama" effect to Grand Lodge.  Unfortunately it would appear that it will be more of the same.  As Frederick Colbran received the OSM for his three disgraceful years as Grand Master, emulating his policies and ways of doing things will drive our standards down even further.  We are almost at a situation where a chap can be initiated into Masonry and become an Officer of Grand Lodge within as little as 5 years!  We are slowly becoming the laughing stock of European Masonry(We have long been such within the United Grand Lodges of Germany)

 

Think about what you were told Freemasonry was about and indeed what some Grand Officers will still insist it is about.  What do you learn?  Who teaches you?  When do you learn?  Do you hoold Lodge of Instruction at your lodge?  If you do you'll probably only practise ritual and that is not what an LOI is there fore.  Unfortunately there just are not the knowledgable brethren around anymore to impart Masonic knowledge to the junior members.  Ignorance then breeds ignorance.

 

As stated above I intend to hold some Masonic Forums soon and I hope you will put aside all of your pre-conceived ideas about John Kellas and come along and help in positive discussions about the future of our Grand Lodge.  If you recognise that all is far from right that is.  Should you already be of the mindset that everything is rosy, then you do not need to attend, but I would urge you all to come along.  The information will be going out soon.

 

More blog later this week.

 

 

Joseph Maison was named as a member of the Disciplinary body set up by Grand Lodge.  New regulations were written.  Before the ink was even dry they had broken these new regulation themselves by putting Joseph Maison on the Appeals body(set up at the same time).  Their own new regulations governing these two bodies state quite catagorically that a member of one body is not allowed to sit on the other body.

 

An oversight perhaps?  More likely to be yet another glaring example of:

 

a) The lack of intelligence of those allegedly leading the Grand Lodge.

 

b) The total disregard for all regulations, even those set up by themselves.

 

c) The complete disdain they show to the general membership of Grand Lodge, particularly any member who has an opinion.

 

How much longer will the membership of GL allow themselves to be "dumbed down" in this manner?
 

 

 

I am happy to tell you that this website has now been included in the excellent www.masons.start4all.com website where you can find topics on almost every Masonic and other fraternal organistions.

 

THE FOLLOWING IS FROM AN AMERICAN BROTHER.  I THOUGHT I'D PUBLISH IT HERE.......

 

In my travels I've met very few Masons who were truly Masons. At least in my mind. Oh sure, they wear the ring with pride and just love to call everyone brother. But what is a brother? Cain and Abel were also brothers.

 The Lodge room antics and even the sometimes back stabbing because "we never did it that way" is not the way to be a brother in my mind. Cutting off your nose to spite your face has become the norm. The 32nd degree Masons aren't what they used to be either. Most have gotten that on a bus trip in a day. After I was raised I served as an appointed officer for a few years but refused to get on that bus.

 Nor did I have any interest in going through the chairs just to say I am a PM. (Even tho I was offered the chance) So without more time to devote I still sit at the sublime degree of Master Mason in the 3rd degree. And I'm quite content here, thank you.

 I could not sit and listen to the brother who speaks of how well trained his new puppy is or the trouble another had putting up a new clothes line for his wife. So meetings to me became quite mundane. Instead I seek outside the Lodge for ways to make my life meaningful by observing others and finding needs to fill if I can. When my cable tow is pulled, I heed it's call if I can. But my quest to help outside those walls is much more meaningful to me. I have no qualms with going that extra step for a brother. Yes there is that extra bit of comraderie if he be a brother, but he need not be a brother to find my help. Nor do I find some special need to be known as the one that helped. I am a Freemason. It's what we do.

 As most of you know, my business is about promoting Freemasonry. I'm certainly not knocking Masonry. It's wonderful.... IF you get the concept. Not many do. At least not "really" do. To call another a brother is a good feeling. To actually BE a brother... well, there are no words to describe it. That's what most don't get. And it's sad.

 A little story here. I met a really nice young fellow a while back and I was wearing one of my Masonic shirts. He asked if I was a Mason and of course I said yes. He said his dad and uncle were both masons. I gave him a few magnets with my business logo on them for them. Then I asked if he was going to join. He said that they never asked him. When I told him they "can't" ask you! You have to ask them! His eyes lit up. Well, to make a long story short, he is now an EA. Does anyone out there have any idea how many good men want to join but don't realize they cannot be asked? Personally, I never once noticed a ring on a brother. Last thing I look for. So I got the idea to create shirts and plaques etc. Those are noticed. In fact, can't miss 'em!

 Anyway, we say we take good men and make them better. But do we? We do take good men, but somehow we have lost the ability to teach them to be better. The light we seach for is flickering and more often then not we fail them.

 On the other hand, most on this list seem to be "true" Masons. And I am proud to be among you.

 

Thursday the 9th July 2009

You can follow some interesting exchanges on the Masonic Forum pages of this website at present.  There is a contributor calling himself "Cowboy" who it seems has been planted by Grand Lodge to cause as much aggravation as possible on my site.  However, as is usual in almost all non-Masonic actions(and unfortunately most Masonic Actions too!!) they involve themselves in, it has very quickly reached the dizzy heights of ridiculousness.  Have a look!  Make an entry if you have an opinion.

 

This chap calling himself Cowboy has obviously not read my website thoroughly otherwise he would know that all documents are available on my site.  Anything that has been alleged in my BLOG is backed up by the  relevant correspondance elsewhere on the site.

 

 

 

Masonic Matters

 

When did you last attend a Lodge of Instruction where you were actually taught anything other than ceremonial?  I know, it's tragic isn't it?  Do you think the new Grand Master Barrie Gibson will be able to reverse this dreadful trend?  Will he be around long enough to do so?  Once the Brethren of this GL realise that the office of GM requires an individual who is in tune with the rank and file membership and possesses enough Masonic knowledge to impart on the membership, then their conclusion must be that Barrie Gibson is not suitable for this office.  You would have thought that anyone in their right mind could have seen that the GL was in a dreadful mess, particularly after three years of Frederick Colbran, easily the most ineffective individual ever to occupy the office of GM.  As a Deputy GM you would have been formulating your plans and ideas over the six months after election and before Installation.  Thereafter you announce these gems, or at least some of them, to the brethren assembled to let them know that you will change things for the better.  Well that's how it works in theory.  In practise it appears that Barrie Gibson believes Frederick Colbran did a good job-otherwise why give him the OSM?  This  of course, causes even more cause for concern about Barrie Gibsons suitability to be Grand Master.

 

I believe that as this year passes by we will hear of no new initiative to help the lodges but will hear much about international travelling to foreign climes for the "purpose of representing you!"

 

When will GL organise some more teaching seminars?  When will our charitable work as a Grand Lodge get some positive co-ordination into it's policies?  When will Grand Rank or Past Grand Rank stop being used as a kind of corrupt bribe? When will the report of the President of the Boards again contain nothing but the truth?  When will David Stevens get a haircut?

 

It is all so very tragic.

 

Recent entries on my website under both the guestbook and the Masonic Forum have been a bit passionate, causing me to wonder about the general feeling of the members of the GL of British Freemasons in Germany with regards to their future and the organisations future.

 

Aside from the obvious misinformed and misunderstood viewpoints of the cow fraternity there have been other entries which give huge cause for concern and actually go a long way to proving that  my observations and warnings are correct.

 

It does mean that I have to take the time to try and explain about the stolen money.

 

Sometime in the past, I do not know when because the Presisent of the Boards hasn't told anybody, 53.000,00 € of Grand Lodge Members Benevolence money was illegally taken from Grand Lodge and invested in the stock market in Ford Motor Company shares.  Who took it and in whose name these shares are is also not known as here again the PBdsGP&B decided not to reveal........ well hardly anything actually, other than the actual amounts of money involved.

 

We all know that this Ford Motor Company business involved 53.000,00 € because we were told that this amount is currently worth 35.000,00 €,  meaning even before we try and take any action to recover these monies, 18.000,00 € of it has already gone!  The PBdsGP&B has told the Boards Members that the original 53K will be worth 50K in January 2010 and because it has already earned a couple of thousand a year in dividends the loss will be minimal.  Well even allowing for 6 years at a dividend of 2,000 € we are presently still some 6.000,00 € down on the deal with the "investment" being worth 18K less than was originally invested.  Plus the word "guaranteed" is strangely missing from the PBdsGP&B statement on the subject-so do we know that the 50K in January 2010 is a guaranteed amount?  No, we don't know but if it is you would have naturally assumed that this would have been conveyed to the Boards Members as priority information considering the gravity of this whole scandal.  Well, wouldn't you? Follow me so far?  If 50K had have been placed on a long term savings account with a reputable German bank it would have earned us a net sum of at least 8K over the same period without any risk that the invested amount would lose value!  I have persons unknown on my website telling me to go to the police with my "evidence".  You all have this evidence and if you haven't you only have to ask your lodge's Boards Representative to give you a copy.  It's not a secret document-I have a copy of it.

 

Whatever way you look at this it is theft. The money was taken illegally.  Who by?
 

 SEPTEMBER the 5th

 

As I write this, the Boards of General Purposes & Benevolence will be meeting in Münster.  I can imagine that there will again be harsh words about the President of the Boards lying to Grand Lodge and not giving the true account of what took place at the March 2009 Meeting.  I wonder if we have any of our democratically elected members who are brave enough to keep on this subject.  I say democratically elected as we actually have at least one lodge who do not have a representative who has been elected by the members of his lodge.  This is against regulations but as you know, these are made up and/or ignored by those at the top as they go along.  I wonder if anyone will have the guts to ask John Hebel for a guarantee that the 53.000 € stolen will be returned to the tune of 50.000 € in January 2010 as he told the Boards Members in March 2009.  I doubt whether, even if he is asked, that he will be able to give this undertaking.  I reckon that the eagerly awaited 50k will be well below 40k and that this will just be brushed under the carpet.

 

Ask your Boards representatives what happen.  Get informed about this matter.  It is YOUR money that  has been stolen!

 

 

 

LIES AND MORE LIES

 

The Grand Secretary wrote a letter allegedly to all Grand Lodges in the world(not true) informing them that I had been expelled from Freemasonry and was no longer a Mason.  Again these are lies which although the people who write them might actually believe them, they are nevertheless lies.

 

I am a member of  Lodge Bridge of Fellowship No. 929 and of course a  Member of Keys of Münster No. 881, which is my Mother Lodge. I am also an honorary member of a German Lodge and I am a Mason within the United Grand Lodge of England.  I will always be a Freemason in spite of what certain so-called Freemasons have tried to do to me.  Just to put it down on record

 

IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS!

 

The Boards of General Purposes & Benevolence(BGP&Ben) met last Saturday the 5th of September 2009.  It appears that the GM was there, at least the written minutes give that impression.  I hope you've got a bit of time if you're reading this, because every time you think that things just couldn't get any worse, those who apparently run this GL pull another rabbit out of the hat!

 

The first part of the minutes are difficult to understand...I quote

 

"The GM spoke about the clarity of information which was lacking, information from the board was not being passed to brethren;two lodges had not even spoken to brethren or their committee about the agenda thus leaving gaps of understanding and this resulted in a lack of expectancies, this is not good enough"

 

From this opening sentence alone you just know you are in for a confused and troubled literary masterpiece!  Nevertheless the GM actually goes on to criticise the lodges for not embracing the changed system of elected permanent representatives which he obviously thinks makes the BGP&Ben effective.  Has he forgotten how many times in recent years that the wishes of the Boards Members, representing all members of GL, have just been ignored or worse still, totally misrepresented by John Hebel in his reports at GL Meetings?  I cannot believe that we have a GM who totally misses the point.  The point is that he is there to listen to what the majority decide and then to lead us through it.  It is not his duty to be some kind of executive power who can take or leave the recommendations of the BGP&Ben, but this is what he and his recent predecessors have been doing.  That is why the GL is in such a dreadful state.  Items appear on the Agenda at his behest or even worse, by the President of the Boards just placing it on there.  The Boards members are  no longer able to have their wishes heard, let alone adopted!  The GM says that "the agenda MUST have been discussed before the Boards Meeting otherwise the points drag on unnecessarily"

 

OK, what about the subject of expenses? It dragged on for ages(still is!) and then only because the GM would not accept what the Boards members recommended

 

What about financial irregularities? They are continually being brought to the attention of the Boards but there is never any action to keep them down due to the egotistical desire for our leading brethren to travel around Europe seeking acclaim and accolades(in YOUR name of course) whilst just ignoring the much more pressing problems of membership, ritual and other general and basic standards of our Freemasonry.

 

What about teaching our younger brethren Freemasonry?  Pardon me for being blunt but the gaggle at the top of GL is just not capable of teaching anyone.  Don't forget Barrie Gibsons last performance in Herford at the so-called seminar.  There is only one word for it:-atrocious.

 

What about our regulations?  Well these have been truly bastardised by a succession of GM's who were hell bent on stopping any regulation which would prevent them for attaining total power over GL.  In the old days I successfully used Regulations against those in our organisation who were attempting to move well above their station, no doubt one of the many reasons they decided to completely re-write anything to do with the power of the GM.  Our regulations bear little resemblance to those of regular Grand Lodges in Europe.  By the way, does anyone have a printed copy?  I am awaiting my access to the members area on the GL website but until it comes through could someone copy me the file please?

 

What about the theft from our benevolence fund?  Nobody seems to acknowledge that money has been stolen.  Everyone is waiting for 50K to magically reappear on the 10th of January 2010.  I am a little disappointed that nobody thought to bring this up on the 5th of September!  I would suggest to all readers that this 50.000,00 € will NOT materialise in January 2010.  The amount will be considerably less.  We must demand to know who is the beneficiary?  To whom will this money be paid back?  Is it safeguarded against this individual simply saying, "it's my money" ?

The GM then went on about the Website, that's the www.gl-bfg.com website and not  this one.   I have already made comment on Barrie Gibsons opening greeting-it is pitifully bad.  The fact that he will not change it(I have already volunteered to write it for him) just shows the complete inability of the man to recognise reality.  This is further highlighted by the entries on the GL Guestbook. Only 6 entries this year and 5 of them are from me-or does anyone really think there's a Spacky Spackman?

 

We have some great pictures of the GL Half Annual Communication from almost 3 year ago!  The Grand Master then has the gall to make critical comments that "at the moment the website is boring as a result of lack of information"  .......the mind boggles!

 

The GM continues by heralding the fact that we are saving 4.000 € by moving the venue from GL and by "addressing the problem of Dual Membership", although the latter really has me puzzled!  Before we can get our head around this large amount of savings he is telling us that we must find ways of getting in even  more money!!  I have a few ideas brethren:

a) Stop payments on all travel expenses

b) Stop attempting to change the calendar to enable "anniversaries" which aren't(GL 50th for example-see more below!)

c) Stop stealing money from GL Funds

 

That would certainly be my first choices but what does Barrie suggest?  Well he says we can increase "Fees of Honour" arguing that "if someone wishes to become a grand lodge officer(no such thing by the way) he ought not to quibble about paying for the privilege"  BLIMEY, don't do as I do eh Barrie, do as I say!  You couldn't have shot yourself more accurately in the foot if you were the "Shooting yourself accurately in the foot" World Champion.  It's like this.....

 

"look guys, if you want to have some dark blue and feel important you can have it but you have to pay more as I need to go travelling around Europe at your expense-OK?"

 

No, of course it isn't OK, but why are not more of you doing something about it?

 

Then Barrie stumbles on another true Masonic trait to enable more income to be raised to finance the junkets of the hierarchy-Fine everybody!  Fine them for not adhering to the regulations and yes, change the regulations to make them much more confusing and thereby more likely to be contravened.  Fine individual brethren, fine lodges, it's the same principle as parking fines and speeding fines isn't it.  It would be comical if it were not so tragic.  These are not the ideas of a man who has the good of the Grand Lodge of British Freemasons in Germany at heart.  These are not the ideas of a man who listens to and understands his fellow brethren.  With stuff like this after only 6 months Barrie, you have surely already outstayed your welcome.

 

To then say that by introducing these measures may help "eliminate" increasing Grand Lodge Dues, well you have lost it big time Barrie.

 

The GM's next suggestion, to form a committee to "deal with promotion to Grand Rank" highlights his total unsuitability to be Grand Master.  If he is not able to stop dishing out Grand Rank willy nilly by just stopping it, the problem is not solved by passing the buck to a new committee.  It should be the GM who appoints to Grand Rank.  He has his officers up and down the country and should be able to make such decisions based on what he sees himself augmented by information from these brethren.  It is a sad state of affairs in which we find ourself-for the last 9 years GM's have been dishing out Grand Rank "with the rations" whilst making a big point about then not being "Dished out with the rations".  Isn't it incredible?

 

Barrie Gibson is criticising the standard of ritual in lodges?  Where has he been for the last 10 years.  I can't recall hearing him say much about this in the past, in fact I can't ever remember him saying anything about it.  This is probably down to the old adage of those who live in glass houses not throwing stones.  Barrie Gibson has always had a standard of ritual akin to that of Dr. Stanley Unwin. We now have a situation in the lodges where the quality of members has fallen and their general Masonic standards of knowledge and more importantly, behaviour have fallen accordingly.  The old and bold in our lodges have been letting this decline just happen over the years.  John Woodhouse told Jim Stear he could read everything as Master of the Lodge Keys of Münster. This is not only my Mother Lodge but the current GM's too.  I cannot recall him saying anything then and now it's all too little, too late.

 

The bit about behaviour at Festive Boards is a bit of a joke.  On the assumtion that one of the reasons Past Grand Rank is flung all over the place is that the recipients have a very basic grasp of Freemasonry, at least regarding decorum at Festive Boards, why does the GM see fit to mention this.  It is an admission that Grand Officers have either no interest in improving the ritual in their lodges or no influence?

 

The funniest item on the GM's piece in the Minutes was the  statement "You are informed that it is planned to re-open New Absalom Lodge in Gütersloh in March 2010".  This serves absolutely no purpose and is in fact a measure which, if it happens, will damage the GL and help reduce it's membership even more.  Missing the point is obviously at the top of Barrie Gibsons Top Ten list of "Things I am good at".

 

Then we have the announcement "Two separate lodges(is that the same as "two lodges"?) have approached the GM who wish to open a lodge using our emulation ritual but in the German language.  He has given his approval!"  Bet one is in Langenargen eh?  What kind of a bad joke is this I wonder.  Watch this space for more on this subject, but I imagine this "approval" from the GM has not taken the German speaking GL's interests into consideration.  We haven't heard the last of this brethren.  Once again we are heading off in another direction when what we really need is to go back to where we were!!

 

Now to a ridiculous point, that of the 50th year anniversary.  I have already mentioned this elsewhere in my blog but to put it in a nutshell, neither 2009 nor 2010 are any kind of anniversary years for our Grand Lodge at all.  Look, we had a 40 year anniversary in 2002 which, although this was also incorrect, would at least give us a basis for 2012 as a pseudo-anniversary!  What is the reason for this desperation?  Any ideas?  Please drop me a line to pjgw@glbfg.de.  My own favourite explanation for this haste is that they want to hold this anniversary whilst we still have enough members to attend!  2012 just might be too late, I fear.  You just couldn't make this up. The true reason may be that Barrie Gibson might not be GM by the time we celebrate our "50 Years" in front of representatives of World Masonry, attempting to show them how important we consider ourselves to be.

 

We then come to the part of the meeting attributed to the President of the Boards. As one of the most senior officers of Grand Lodge and President of the policy making Boards he is no doubt one of the most informed members of GL.   It is all the more disturbing when he writes that he needs to know " Who is going to organise the event? Is there already an organising team? Who will be responsible? How to generate funds(just take it from Benevolence John, no need to ask surely?) and anticipate costs?  How much do we have and how much can be made available?  Is the proposed date acceptable to the Board Members?(Blimey, asking the Board Members-that's a first)  Etc. etc. etc. I am not making this up.  It is the proverbial blind leading the blind.  John Hebel writes that  "It is felt that the celebrations should be held as near to the actual date it occurs"  I put it to you dear reader, do you know the actual date? Does anybody?  It is a shambles.  Let me organise it in 2012 and you will all be party to a successful event which would reflect the importance of the occasion.  It would run at a profit not a loss and would do the GL justice.  What are the chances do you think?  Right, none!  It will not be a success as you just cannot get any member of GL excited about it with all the other more pressing problems we have to endure presently.    I recommend that the lodges instruct their representatives to recommend a sum of 3.000 € as the absolute maximum budget spend from GL general fund. for this "celebration"  The event must strive to be self financing and if it isn't looking like it will be then somebody else must organise it.  We are already becoming a laughing stock in Europe as it is, without actually trying even harder to be so. MORE LATER

 

It was nice to see that I already have points of view on my piece above on the website and I thank the brethren who take the time to write but more than that, have taken the time to give some thought to what I am writing about.  That is the serious difference-don't  just read it, try and understand it.  If you don't understand it ask  a wearer of dark blue to explain and should yiou already be a wearer of dark blue, you should resign immediately.

 

I see that the dates of formation of the various Provincial/Grand Land Lodge etc. were discussed at length by the Boards Members.  Assuming they were correct then you will know that if we are to celebrate Grand Lodge then we are 29 years old.  If we are to celebrate from the Grand Land Lodge then we are 38 years old.  If we are to celebrate Provincial Grand Lodge as a stand alone organisation then we are 47 years old and as a Provinz Britische Freimaurer as a part of the GL AF & AM we are already 50 years old.  If however, we are going to go back to the first official Masonic activities then we are already 52 years old and from the very begining with the organisation of Masonic Circles eventually forming into the Association of British Freemasons in Germany, then we are 62 years old.  In 1987 we celebrated 25 years when the then Grand Master Cecil Bayfield  decided to take 1962, the formation of the first Province of British Freemasons in Germany as his basis.  Then in 2002  John Woodhouse celebrated our 40th anniversary.  It therefore follows that if we want to continue in a correct manner we must celebrate 50 years in 2012.  I fail to see what the problem is, why it can't be organised properly without costing so much money and why all this confusion reigns.  I advise Barrie Gibson to make plans for 2012 as the only year we can seriously hold a 50 year anniverary, but will he listen to me?

 

The next part of the minutes deals with the expenditure at the Annual and Installation Communication iheld in May 2009.  We actually read that the co-ordinating team should be congratulated for being under budget.  I would like to see every little bit of expenditure which made up this 3,605,00 €.  I fail to see why the costs should have to be paid for  from Grand Lodge funds.  What for?  Aside from the use of the rooms what else is there?  Rooms should be paid by the individual occupying them.  I note there wasn't any foreign visitors at that meeting(read the minutes!) so we were not even paying for that.  What is puzzling is that a "contribution" came from the co-ordinating committee amounting some 988,00 € allegedly from Festive Board and Gala Dinner.   This actually means a profit then doesn't it.  Excess income over expenditure for Festive Board and Gala Dinner of 988,00 €.  Call me old fashioned but I am against a profit of this magnitude being made on these items, particularly as the majority of the brethen are trying to keep costs down, only for it to be used to subsidise, well...what exactly?  The 130,90 € mentioned for flowers was in contravention of the new regulations laid down for such expenditure and is even called "a Grand Lodge Edict" in the minutes!!  This amount should be paid by the individual responsible for contravening these regulations, otherwise it is a misappropriation of funds, isn't it?  MORE LATER

 

HEIKO RUPERTI-CAMPBELL was then "discussed" by the Boards in the form of some kind of information being submitted by VWBro Ralph Cockerill stating that this brother allegedly had done something wrong in South Africa!  He was mentioned in the minutes as "a Heiko Ruperti-Campbell"  How low have we slumped in what we practice as Masonry brethren.  WBro Heiko is a Past Master of Niederrhein(1987/88) as well as the holder of Past Grand Rank from our Grand Lodge(PGSwdB).  There was no real substance to the allegations as given in the minutes and I was wondering if we just have to endure the hierarchy of GL(VWBro Ralph is a PSGW, after all) just stating something and we must all judge the recipient guilty as hell.  Never mind getting the facts.  If we had facts why were they not published in detail.  Why was this point mentioned at all?  Does it risk damaging our GL?  I would suggest that the terribly amateurish way it has been haphazardly included in our Minutes from the Boards does much more to show others just what kind of an organisation we are-they must be shocked to read such things.  I know, let's get Heiko back to Germany and burn him at the stake.  After all, doesn't he deserve it?  You really could not make this kind of rubbish up and suddenly Minutes of a "used to be" important part of GL-the Boards, are now just laughable or would be were this not such an important thing. Heiko Ruperti Campbell was a terrific member of our Grand Lodge and just to have a go at him in this way, without any details etc., well it's just cowardly.  I am on your side Heiko, I know you read this ;-)

 

There is now a small piece in the minutes about this website for which I take this opportunity to thank the President and Members of the Board for this accolade. The Boards members were then given a description of the www.gl-bfg.com "official" GL Website, obviously because there is some confusion as to which is the real one.  Well I can understand that but had to laugh out loud when I read this passage!!   Then I believe it might have been one of my old friends who suggested that the GSec should write to the GSec of the UGLG.  If the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of British Freemasons in Germany were to write to the Grand Secretary of the United Grand Lodges of Germany asking him to to inform Grand Lodges world wide of my "expulsion", there would just be more legal activities but the difference would be that the United Grand Lodges of Germany would become embroiled in court action.  It must not be forgotten that the procedure to try and have me removed or "un-made a mason" as well as the proclamation so ably written by Norbert Schoen, were both illegal.  I will not rest until I have proved this through legal channels and please do not believe what you may have been told about the legalities-they are going through as we speak and soon there will be questions for Frederick Colbran to answer in a court of law.  I personally cannot wait to see how the GL hierarchy can possibly make their corruptive system of "ridding the Craft of an individual" stand up in court.  I am a Freemason within the United Grand Lodges of Germany.  I belong to two English speaking lodges therein.  The Grand Secretary of the United Grand Lodges of Germany has already written to me stating that they(the UGLG) have no correspondence regarding any case against me and furthermore it has nothing to do with them.  I really do have this in black and white and personally signed by the Grand Secretary of the UGLG! I  have a Master Masons certificate from the United Grand Lodges of Germany as well as one from the United Grand Lodge of England.  These have not been recalled.  Why would they be?  There are no grounds!  I also have an Altmeister Zertifikat issued to me by the United Grand Lodges of Germany to prove that I was Master in a lodge(3 actually) of the UGLG. MORE LATER

 

It must be reasonable to assume that I will not be voluntarily be stopping the actions I have started to clear my name and have the so-called "Proclamation" decreed null and void.  It really doesn't make any difference that there are some members of GL who think that my website has not done anything in favour of my case!    As I was never given any opportunity to answer my "judges" and the pathetic appeals committee, (just read the 100% accurate transcript on other pages on this site and you'll see that they already had been told what to do before they even heard me).  The GL of BFG is steadily going downhill and certainly what they term as "The Kellas Affair", although it's true name is the Grand Lodge Corruption and Deception Affair", has helped this decline.  It could still be so different if those leading this organisation would stand back and look at what they are doing to OUR Grand Lodge.  They should be able to show that they possess the atributes necessary to keep Freemasonry and it's ideals on the straight and narrow.  The problem is that we just have too many individuals occupying Grand Office or holding Past Grand Rank for which this is the pinnacle of their achievements in life.  Under these circumstances the burning dresire to wear dark blue and to be seen to be important has long overtaken the basic principles of Freemasonry we used to be taught.  They just don't understand.  Look at the farce with the intention or re-opening 841 in Gütersloh!  Don't they understand that it doesn't make any difference?  Can they only think along the lines of .....

 

"We'll show them-we'll re-open it again.  They won't get the better of us"

 

New Absalom in Gütersloh just shows how ridiculous those who came up with the idea are.  The members of New Absalom who closed the lodge down have to be asked if they want it re-opening or reponing(Not in the Oxford Dictionary of English, by the way)

 

 

THE FUTURE?

 

Well I keep saying it is bleak but I hereby issue a challenge to Barrie Gibson to call upon those experienced Brethren such as David Gale, Milan Badjak, Garrett O'Sullivan, Trevor Parfitt, Peter Read, Ashleigh Turley, Udo Vongehr, Terry Dryden and of course myself, to form a think tank to help him gain some kind of normal perspective.  Presently he is really surrounded by yes men who always tell him he's in charge-he's the boss.  Yes sure that may be the case but dear brother Barrie, you cannot see the woods for the trees at present.  You are capable of sorting it out if you act now.  It is a sad reflection of your lack of a singular "way forward" that I know you will not be able to meet my challenge.  If at any time, you might wish to discuss the problems of this Grand Lodge, whilst there still is a Grand Lodge, I would be more than prepared to meet and talk. 

 

 

A NEW BEGINING?

 

Hot off the press comes the news that Barrie Gibson has finally listened to my advice and agreed that there should not be a 50th Anniversary of Grand Lodge until 2012.  Well done Barrie,  a good decision.

 

NOT A NEW BEGINING

 

It is now scheduled to reopen the New Absalom Lodge No. 841 in Gütersloh in March next year.  This causes quite a few questions of some magnitude to be raised.  These questions MUST be addressed and soon.

 

If the intention is to "repone" this lodge, then it would seem that all previous members are still members.  If this is the case have they all been asked if they want their lodge opened up again 200 kilometres away from where it used to be?  I believe that those resident members who purposely closed New Absalom down in May 2009 do not wish it re-opened.  If this goes ahead then it is obvious that Andrew Johnson is still the Worshipful Master.  "Until the next regular period of election within this lodge and until a successor shall have been duly elected and installed in my stead" is an exerpt from what all Masters pledge themselves to.  This reopening can only be done therefore, with the agreement and indeed will of those resident members who closed it down.  The resident members will be asked to submit their signature to a petition addressed to the United Grand Lodges of Germany that the New Absalom Lodge NOT be reopened(Reponed).  The United Grand Lodges of Germany are bound to accept the wishes of the resident members responsible for taking the decision for closure.  If they do not then they are not excercising that responsibility which comes from being the supreme Masonic body in Germany and protector of the Magna Charta of German Freemasons.

 

It is not rocket science to observe that there has always been a Gütersloh, longer in fact than there has been a Grand Lodge .  It is decidedly suspicious that all of a sudden there's a requirement for a lodge there.  I mean, we have one down the road in Bielefeld-Britannia Lodge No.843- whose membership caused an unholy row at the Boards of General Purposes when Rose of Minden "moved" their lodge in a unilateral action which was only communicated to the Boards after the fact.  Can we now assume that the reasons for the many protestations a few years ago no longer exist?  I doubt it.  I would suggest that in the present clime of membership numbers decreasing, the last thing 843 (and to a certain extent 946 and 918 too) wants is another lodge opening up on it's doorstep.  So let's see what the GL  can do shall we?  Well they cannot just re-open 841 in Gütersloh, that is a fact.  The lodge that was consecrated in 1957 doesn't exist any more, having been closed down by it's members and the Warrant being returned to the issuing authority.  This lodge cannot just be re-opened and new poeple just assume the lodge's history.  This lodge is closed and finished.  The GL could of course consecrate a new lodge in Gütersloh(why didn't they think of this before?), apply for a new warrant from the United Grand Lodges of Germany and obtain a new number.  It is conceivable that this lodge could in fact be called New Absalom, but this doesn't mean it would assume it's identity and history.  The naivety of the question from GL to past members of 841 as to the whereabouts of lodge furnishings and monies is once again indicitive of the ignorance of most Grand Officers in things Masonic(How can you be a Grand Officer and know nothing about Freemasonry?)  Yes this question was actually posed!  You couldn't make this up!  I could only imagine the past members of 841, i.e. those who  closed the lodge in May 2009, applying to GLBFG to re-open it(which will never happen) but not a gang of new members suddenly turning up for this purpose.

 

To attempt to reopen a lodge in the manner they intend is Masonically irregular and will surely be fought against by the last resident members before closure.

 

It seems to most sane British Freemasons here Germany that the reason and motivation for so desperately wanting to re open 841 can only be put down to a need to show some semblance of authority borne out of the necessity to feel important caused by certain psychological deficiencies.

 

MORE LATER

 

 

 

There are only 14 weeks until 50.000,00 € of the stolen 53.000,0 € are paid by the Ford Motor Company into the private account of the individual who stole the money.  I am convinced that the members of the Boards who meet around  the 6th of March 2010 will be eagerly awaiting written confirmation from John Hebel that the whole amount has been returned.  Personally I feel that the missing 3k(assuming of course that this money comes back at all!) should be paid by the thief.  It is still inconceivable that John Hebel has not yet disclosed to the Boards all the details about this matter and even more inconceivable that no member of the Boards has specifically asked these questions.

 

 

LATEST NEWS ABOUT "The Grand Lodge Affair"

 

The Grand Secretary has tried to negotiate an agreement with me whereby I hand over all the Masonic documents I own, my Grand Rank Regalia and close down my website. Furthermore he wanted me to refrain from calling myself a Mason and stop selling Masonic items on the Internet.

 

Once again the hierarchy of this Grand Lodge have shown how little they are in touch with what really matters.  Never mind falling membership figures, lodges closing(and there will be another one sooner rather than later), attempting to re-open 841 in Gütersloh, and spending our money as if it was their own, we now have the Grand Secretary attempting to engineer a deal along the lines of what I wrote above.  How did it come about?  Well the Grand Secretary is a good Ebay customer of mine.  Recently he has refused to give me any feedback marks on the transactions we had.  I therefore put him on my black list meaning he could no longer bid for my items.  He the asked his girlfriend to bid!!  I told him that if he wanted to buy everything I was putting on Ebay he could surely do so for a price.  He immediately came back with the above outlined affront!  I told him that I needed my regalia for visiting lodges.  I also told him that my website was an independant forum with no censorship and therefore an outlet for oppressed Freemasons to voice their opinions.  Something by the way, which the Grand Lodge of British Freemasons in Germany does not afford them.

 

What do you think about that then?

 

 

Many thanks to those of you who have made donations towards the upkeep of this website.  We still need more support however so if you'd like to ensure the longevity of this independant forum for Masons you can send a donation.

See the details on the website or send me an email to pjgw@glbfg.de

MORE TO COME!!

 

 

 

 

 

LODGE BRIDGE OF FELLOWSHIP-THE FINAL THROWS?

 

It has come to my notice that due to a variety of incompetence, non-communication, apathy, ignorance and  well yes, stupidity, the Lodge Bridge of Fellowship held a Regular Meeting last Friday in Hannover.  Unfortunately there were more visitors than members.  This wouldn't be such a great disaster until you know that the amount of members present was 1.  Yes that's right ONE!  Therefore no meeting took place.  It would be easy to blame the Secretary Bill Hayler and so I will.  Whether the Master of a lodge is an experienced brother or not, I know from my own experience that it is the Secretary of a lodge who co-ordinates, organises and basically keeps everything together.  In this case this obviously wasn't done with Bill preferring to attend the British Legion rather than his lodge.(Not that I have anything at all against the British Legion, before any remarks start to come in!).  If I had have become the Master of 929 in  April 2008, I can quite clearly state with as much conviction as I can muster, that this kind of thing would just NEVER have happened.  We would have a larger vibrant membership.  We would be holding Lodges of Instruction, organising visits to other lodges and having regular social gatherings to make certain lodge evenings were not the only time the members spent together.  So what kind of thing is going on in 929?  Well I will  just run one small and some may say insignificant point passed you.  A while ago, in order to allow a couple of members not to pay dues but still give them votes in the lodge(?) a "new accolade" was suggested by Fred Colbran("who else?" I hear you say)  This idea was to nominate these brethren as "Distinguished Brethren".  This is an innovation for which there is no place in Freemasonry, despite the Bond of Friendship Lodge also having one or two distinguished brethren!  Now things have reached ridiculous proportions when you look on the summons and actually see the following:

 

DWBro W. Hayler

DBro G. Lax

 

DWBro?  DBro?  Not only is this laughable and must not be seen as a bad joke but it is exactly what Barrie Gibson was talking about when he said lodges must be FINED for their transgressions.  There is no such thing as a DWBro or a DBro and therefore they are not amongst the titles  and forms of address listed in this weeks edition of the Grand Lodge Regulations.  This in turn means that the lodge has not adhered to GL Regulations and so Barrie can fine them to get in even more money to spend on himself!  "K'CHING" eh, Barrie?  Normally you would try and give a bit of understanding to somebody making a mistake, but this was done by a brother who has been a Freemason for years and has held many very senior GL positions.  This in itself of course just reinforces many of the things I have been saying about the dangers of promoting brethren to offices where their inadequacies become embarrassingly clear. 

 

 

 

BROTHERLY LOVE

 

 

WBro Jim Stear was my Proposer into Freemasonry almost 26 years ago. I recently learned that he was in a bit of a conflict with another brother in the Keys of Münster so I dropped him a line asking him if I could do anything to help.  He wrote to me asking why should someone who is not a Mason be involving himself in matters Masonic.  Well Jim, fairly obvious that you have completely forgotten your Obligation and your duties and responsibilities as a Proposer.  Thank you very much for your brotherly understanding.  The offer still stands.

 

 

 

MARK MY WORDS

 

I have often warned against joining so-called "side degrees" in the past and I certainly have not changed my opinion.  The Tremonia Mark and RAM(Royal Ark Mariner)in Hannover, led presently by Lambertus Coppens with  Stephen Pipes taking over in November have shot  themselves firmly in the feet  by  apparently having as their Secretary, a person who is not even a member of the RAM Lodge! Amazing eh?  Well, when you consider that the poor chap who is presently trying his best to run the lodge on a "stand in secretary" basis, my old friend Eduard Schmitt Zörner lives in IRELAND you'll begin to understand the problem.  Of course the fact that those members who live in the area are doing very little to keep things running, including the Master Stephen Pipes, shows exactly the problems I have been warning against for some years now.  If you are a Freemason and really want to understand Freemasonry properly and how it can alter your life for the better of you, your family and all those around you, DON'T JOIN ALL OF THESE SIDE DEGREES.  Remember the definition of Pure Antient Masonry as laid down in the tenets of the Craft.  There just cannot be any Freemason who has "completed the course" as far as Craft is concerned because there is no end to the learning and amount of improvement we can bring into our Masonic lives.  Those brethren who join every order that moves are really kidding themselves or they are on a further quest for some high office to feel important.  I make no apologies for saying this.  The Mark Degree is really just a made up thing which has no teachings that Craft  Freemasonry doesn't already cover.  It's another day, another expense, another ritual, another regalia but also another chance to get further "Grand honours"  I really despair!  Bro Eduard was even requested to arrange the festive board in Hannover!  He lives in IRELAND.  Stephen Pipes is a really good guy but obviously has been mislead into thinking that Mark and RAM are something he should really be in.  That he doesn't have the time and that the lodge(s) now have named an unqualified Secretary and that the festive board is organised from another country just really highlights the ridiculousness of the situation.  Once again, you just couldn't make it up.

 

My advice to Eduard is to leave it all behind, concentrate on your Craft Freemasonry and get rid of all of this unwanted stress.  

 

My advice to Stephen is to have a long hard think about in how many parts can you split yourself to "honour" your committments.  You KNOW it is Craft Freemasonry that is the most important and when we have limited time available, we should never take on other responsibilities to the detriment of the light blue.   You know I am right.

 

 

 

HAMBURGANORAK

 

Once again our inexperienced Grand Secretary has been active on Ebay attempting to blacken my name.

 

I sell Masonic items on the Ebay which is perfectly legal.  The Grand Secretary uses Grand Lodge Funds to buy them.  He refuses to give me a positive Ebay Feedback and has recently resesorted to leaving remarks online which could result in him having legal action taken against him.  Recently he wrote this:

 

Ich habe lediglich sachlich festgestellt, dass die Jahrbücher und andere Unterlagen, die Herr Kellas über E-Bay verkauft hat, nicht für den Verkauf bei E-Bay bestimmt sind. Herr Kellas verkauft vereinsinterne Unterlagen mit persönlichen und vertraulichen Daten der Mitglieder, eines Vereins, aus dem er ausgeschlossen wurde, die ihm aber während seiner Mitgliedschaft anvertraut wurden. Wäre er noch Mitglied in dem Verein, würde er für den Verkauf der Unterlagen über E-Bay ausgeschlossen werden.

 

This basically says that I am not supposed to be selling my own private property via ebay and that the items and their contents belong to an Association from which Mr. Kellas has been expelled.  REALLY?  I wonder which Association that could be.  He furthermore says that if I wasn't already expelled from this unnamed Association I would be for selling my own private property!

 

Well I wish to make it clear that our Norbert is completely WRONG.  Instead of leaving daft messages via Ebay, if he really believes he has a justified beef against me, why on earth doesn't he take me to court?  If what I am supposed to be doing is causing so much consternation amongst the hierarchy of GL to such an extent that they are "taking" your money to buy the items I am selling, then they should surely be able to end it in the courts?  Personally I can't wait.

 

Wait is what you all still have to do however, in order to see if the 50.000 € magically materialises on the 15th of January 2010 as claimed by John Hebel at the Boards Meeting.  No doubt you are voting through his BGP & B Report in Bad Iburg as I write this.  Hopefully not though. Perhaps one of the members might just be interested enough in this amount of money to ask questions.  Why does a Grand Secretary spend so much time and effort on little old me selling off a few old Yearbooks when he could really be asking about the theft of the 50 K € of your money.  Why not ask him yourselves when you see him.

 

Some of you may be interested to know that I will be undergoing a quintuple heart bypass operation next week in Dortmund.

 

I go to the hospital next Thursday and a few days later they'll operate.  It was quite a shock I can tell you.  I will be in the  St. Johannes Hospital in Dortmund and the telephone number is 023118432299.  I'll try and get my own phone organised in case anyone wishes to contact me.

 

I am happy to be able to tell you all that most of the things Freemasonry has taught me will stand me in good stead in order to get through this somewhat difficult event and I can promise you that I'll come out the other end continuing in my quest to ensure that all deception and corruption will  eventually be removed from our Grand Lodge.  

 

 

 

 

I hate to say it again but I will.  It is my opinion that most of the brethren who join all of these side orders have missed the true meaning of Freemasonry which again, in my opinion is restricted to Craft Freemasonry.  Anybody who tells me they are not gleaning anything of Masonic value from their Craft lodge and feel that they have to join other orders have honestly completely missed the point or more importantly, the teachings of Freemasonry.  This borders on a scandal and it is doubtful that it can be put right.   There are similar situations in other MMM and RAM lodges in the District and their future is not looking good.  NO WONDER BARRIE GIBSON THREW IT IN WHEN HE WAS THE "DEPUTY DISTRICT GRAND MASTER" A FEW YEARS AGO!  T

 

 

 

ENTRIES ON THE FORUM

 

As most of you know I allow entries to be made on both the Forum and the Guest Book anonymously.  This is the only way I can ensure that we get some of the brethren of the Grand Lodge of British Freemasons in Germany to say what's on their minds without fear of any reprisal from the Grand Master or any of his gang.  What really makes my blood boil however is when we see various postings which obviously are only there to make mischief, as is the case with my "hot and cold" subscriber "sonofthewidow".  I won't mention too much more here but have a look at the aforementioned areas of this website and you'll see what I mean.  It is such a pity that a man who has very strong controversial opinions about the leadership of the GL still feels that he must hide himself behind a nickname.  Why?  Future promotions?  Well, far be it from me to suggest that this is what guides him but he is blowing so hot and cold that I sometimes wonder whether he really is a Freemason at all and  I have suggested that he makes himself known to me but he is obviously too terrified to do so.  Maybe he's in his second year in the chair and expecting some  Grand Rank in the not too distant future.

 

 

FIT AND WELL

 

 

 

To all my friends and brothers, you will be no doubt happy to hear that I am now back at home after my three weeks rehabilitation in the heart clinic in Bad Oeynhausen. My new telephone number is 02921 6609187.

 

The Grand Secretary still hasn't got back to me with further details regarding the deal he put to me recently where monetry incentive was offered in return for me basically "going away".  I hear that he has put a slightly different slant on this episode when relating it to other Grand Lodge members but I have the email!

There was just one more thing I was going to say in this new blog, let me see, what was it?  Oh yes!  There are now only 17 days until the 50,000 Euros are supposed to be returned to an unknown investor in Ford Motor Company Shares who used Grand Lodge Benevolence funds to purchase the shares in the first place.  As the person responsible had no authority to take this money in the first place there are a variety of ways in which the taking of them anyway can be described.  My favourite is THEFT.

If I have it all wrong and there is a perfectly simple explanation as to why 53.000 € was originally "taken without asking" then why hasn't there been an explanation from the President of the Boards.  The Board Members are collectively responsible for the control of GL Funds and by not asking questions and forcing the issue, they have albeit perhaps inadvertantly, not carried out their responsibilities to the brethren who elect them.  Believe me, I would give anything to be wrong but I feel that in 17 days we will have our answer, all except one-who took the money and in whose name was it invested?

If there is nothing to cover up then why is it that these details are being covered up?  I can only tell you this; by continually mentioning it and demanding answers I am not purposely attempting to damage the GL in any way-that has already been done.  I am simply asking the kind of question they tried to throw me out of the GL for asking.  It is that unique kind of question that one doesn't encounter very often and my continually repeating it is obviously upsetting those who allowed this money to be stolen in the first place.  It is a question that has no apparent answers!  Maybe more of you should start asking at Lodge Committee level just exactly what is going on.  If you need any further details I will be happy to help.

Have a great New Year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

splitList){pluginList[index].__RP_Connection_Callback = str;pluginList[index].__RP_Connection_Callback_Url = splitList[0];};__RP_Callback_Helper(str, null, 2, func);} //-->