Following a throw-away comment at the annual meeting of the Masonic Libraries and Museums Group held in Great Queen Street in September, the editor of Freemasonry Today and esteemed author Michael Baigent MA, accompanied by their roving reporter and professional masonic speaker Yasha Beresiner expressed an interest in visiting the Newark Masonic Hall museum with a view to doing an article for their quarterly publication.

Their first question being where is Newark on Trent?

So on a damp Tuesday in November our esteemed guests found their way to this provincial backwater and were greeted by Museum Curator Bro Chas Black, along with Past Curator WBro Bert Emerson, and enthusiastic assistants WBro Geoff Tindall and myself. After a brief tour of the Hall to find pieces of interest for the article, the 'company' were treated to a hearty meal over which informal discussions on which the intended article would be based were 'chewed over'.

Our guests were then treated to a surprise private tour of the Newark Castle dungeons, in which the local Templar knights were incarcerated between 1310-11 following the Papal Bull of 1308. There, they were shown the many Templar carvings (and ancient graffiti) so ably narrated by the knowledgeable Parks & Gardens Manager, Rene Mouraille.

The day finished with a photoshoot of the many interesting and antiquated pieces exibited in the Museum, some dating from the 1700's which I commend to any visitor to Newark Masonic Hall.

This little known treasure is available to Masons on any lodge night, and by appointment on most Saturday mornings

Anyone wishing to donate items to, or merely visit, Newark Masonic Museum can contact the Curator on <newarkcurator@hotmail.co.uk>

Photo left to right: Bro A Crampton, WBro G Tindall, WBro B Emerson, Bro A Black (Curator) WBro Y Beresiner, WBro M Baigent