Suspension riles Welsh masons

FREEMASONRY and nationalism in Wales appear to be incompatible after the only lodge to conduct its services in Welsh was suspended for five years, though its 50 members must continue to send their pounds 60 affiliation fees to London.

It remains to be seen if Welsh- speaking masons will support members of the Dewi Sant Lodge in the fight to get the ban overturned.

Lodge officials were yesterday at a ceremonial meeting at the Masonic Lodge in Swansea. The members are still Freemasons - it is the lodge that has been suspended. No date has been set for the hearing of the formal appeal.

The suspended lodge met at Maesteg, Mid Glamorgan, and drew its members from a wide area from Newport to Swansea. Members had translated the masonic ceremonies into Welsh and were hoping that the Welsh version would receive official approval.

A long letter from the Provincial Grand Secretary in Cardiff has disabused them of that view.

The moves by Dewi Sant Lodge were being followed, albeit at a more conservative pace, by other lodges in Wales. Some had already taken to opening and closing ceremonies in Welsh.