We are fortunate to be able to welcome Dr Ric Berman to Northumberland Province on 3rd April to deliver his Prestonian Lecture “Foundations” at St Gabriel Lodge in Byker. The meeting starts at 7pm and will be followed by a silver service festive board.
Over the past three years Ric has become one of the most-travelled Prestonian Lecturers having spoken at multiple venues across the UK, Europe, North & South America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
Ric’s lecture explores the evolution of Freemasonry, queries long-standing myths and explains the step change that occurred with the creation of the first Grand Lodge in England in 1717. He outlines the connections between Freemasonry and the British establishment in the eighteenth century, and how and why its leaders positioned Grand Lodge and freemasonry as a bastion of support for the government. The talk will be followed by a Q&A.
Ric is the author of Foundations of Modern Freemasonry, now in its second edition; Schism, an examination of the origins of ‘Antients Freemasonry’; and Espionage, Diplomacy and the Lodge. He has also written on American freemasonry; Loyalists & Malcontents presents a history of colonial freemasonry in South Carolina and Georgia; and From Roanoke to Raleigh offers a new history of freemasonry in North Carolina.
Ric has been a freemason for over forty years and holds Senior London and Provincial Grand Rank. He is a PM of several English Constitution lodges and WM of Quatuor Coronati Lodge, No. 2076 (EC), the premier Masonic research lodge.