National Apprenticeship Week: What does it mean for Freemasonry?

We’re in the heart of National Apprenticeship Week, which runs until Sunday 15th February. It’s really aimed at business and industry, but has it got anything to offer for Freemasonry – or more importantly, what has Freemasonry to offer for it?

In the wider world, the week is billed as a week-long celebration that brings together businesses and apprentices across the country to shine a light on the positive impact that apprentices make to individuals, businesses and the wider economy.

The key takeaway from that sentence is the ‘positive impact’ part. Just as apprentices are the embodiment of the future for business and industry, gathering skills and knowledge about their chosen profession, so Freemasonry’s Entered Apprentices are doing exactly the same thing about Freemasonry.

And don’t we owe it to Freemasonry, as much as to the Apprentices themselves, to give them the best possible grounding in what has kept Freemasonry strong for more than 300 years?

The answer has to be a resounding ‘yes’; not just for a week in February, but throughout the year. The fellowship of Freemasonry can truly earn the name only if it embraces everyone – Apprentices and Fellow Crafts included. Making Freemasonry inclusive calls on all of us to welcome the new guy from Day One, and to make him feel part of something special and important. Start off well, and you’re well on the way to helping someone to make a life-long commitment…

And that’s why National Apprenticeship Week should be an annual reminder that we don’t own Freemasonry. We are merely stewards, ready to hand it on to the next generation – and that generation is personified by the man in the white apron standing over there …

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