I recently sent an email to my local Lodge.

I was itching to say something stupid but I did my best to hold back and try to get a response , which unfortunately has not happened yet.

Here`s the email :
Hello ,



I have lived in Sunderland all my life and I have seen your lodge many times , yet never really known what it is you do. I would like to ask you for a little information on your lodge , and freemasonry as a whole.



I would like to ask you why freemasons need to be , A) Men , B) Religious , and C) Preferably wealthy.



I understand a lot of charity work is done , but what I fail to see is the purpose of Freemasons .... And why they tend to be the " rich old white men " hanging around in the background of our history.



Could you please let me know what the Sunderland lodge is for , what the Sunderland lodge has achieved , and what the Sunderland lodge aims to achieve in the future ?



If I was to become a new member of the lodge , what would be my role ?



The following quote is from your website for the Sunderland Lodge :



"Freemasonry is open to all men, but requires you to be of at least 21 years of age, honest and law abiding with a sound spiritual belief in a supreme being regardless of your religious background"



What confuses me here is the final part , " with a sound spiritual belief in a supreme being regardless of your religious background ". Exactly what religion started freemasonry , and why is religion a requirement for members , and which religion`s prayers do you use for ceremonies ?



What problems could be caused by accepting an Atheist into your lodge ?



The promise , you say , is like that taken when in court or joining the armed forces ..... which implies that there can be legal action taken for breaking such a promise , if so , what laws cover this ?



From what I have read , your promises no longer come with the traditional penalties , if they were not literal why were they removed once revealed to the public ? And why would anyone violating simple words be seen as a vile cretin unworthy of existence ... by rich old white men ?



I will admit , i`m sceptical , but i believe that to understand what you do not know you need to look it in the eye.



Thank you for your time and i hope to hear from you soon , weather you consider me worthy of oxygen or not.



-The Black Cat-



P.S - There is spelling mistakes all over your website .

..............................................

Now .... I know its nothing special , but let me explain why I am trying to contact and get a response from the dipshits .

My City , Sunderland (N.E UK) , has been on the WORLD map for a long time . Although it is not taught in schools these days , it is often argued that the greatest shipbuilders in the world sat on the River Wear. In 1905 Doxfords earned the Blue Ribbon for the largest output of all shipyards in the World. The following year, despite not gaining the Blue Ribbon again they were producing a ship almost every two weeks. By 1907 they achieved the highest production in any yard and gained the Blue Ribbon once again

By the 1950s Sunderland had produced more than quarter of the UK`s total tonnage.

In the 80`s Sunderland could not compete with Eastern markets .

From our shipbuilding heritage we carry the name , Mackems . This comes from the regional accents and the difference in our pronunciation of words , the ships were made in sunderland and then took to Newcastle for fitting out ... so the lads on the shipyards used to say , we "mack`em and they tak`em". (make/take)

Sunderland had also played a vital role in the history of England before this though , when the Cavaliers and Roundheads came to a stand off ... Caveliers controlling the residents of Newcastle , who were fighting for King George ... and the people of Sunderland ,which was part of the Borough of Duhram at the time, who were fighting as Roundheads beside a little known man that you have probably never heard of who went by the name of Oliver Cromwell.

The Residents of Newcastle became known as "Geordie`s Men" which later became "Geordies".

In the 70`s the city wasn`t too bad , from what I have seen in pictures and videos it was actually a really nice place when you consider the rest of England at the time.

They started trying to modernise and keep with the shifts in society by changing the Town up every few years , new road systems and all that stuff .... then in the 90`s Sunderland was finally given City status . At the time the city was an absolute shit-hole due to lack of care and respect from what was believed to be the council its self but I have recently started eying up the Masons. The City is a fucking dive now and has no major income at all.

We had a brewery , VAUX Breweries , they brought a lot of money to the city .... closed ... pulled down .... the land stood empty for years , and now they`re building a Tesco.


Everything they do is fucking crude , they build cities and run them , deciding on who gets what and who gets nowt.

And the Sunderland Lodge has been here since 1920. (shipyards spiked and died after that.... get the money and run ? )

Check out this , paying attention to the names of the Lodges .

[link to www.sunderlandlodge.co.uk]

.....
Then check this out .

[link to www.londonderrysunderland.co.uk]

Chuckle.

Little things , I know , but I`m going to start hitting the library in the morning ... I`m hoping I might eventually find a couple of patterns pointing the finger to them ... if so ... well ... one step at a time eh.



BTW , George Washington was from Washington , in Sunderland. But I suppose you all know that by now right ?

Anyway , when I`m at the Library tomorrow I`ve got no real idea where to start after the shipyards and "Vauxies" ,and I`m not too clued up on the departments of the council, any ideas where I might find patterns weather financial or not?



Please excuse any mistakes as I have quickly typed this out and stuck the links in there . Thanks.