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Foosball, pool tables, and televisions.

flameburns623

Registered User
My own home lodge building has a pool table in the social hall, long disused. Several neighboring Lodges likewise have such, and at least one particularly enormous lodge has a foosball table in what was once the DeMolay Room.

One of the brethren commented that, until the late 1980's and early 1990's, aftet work, the social halls of most local Lodges were open for several hours in the evenings, when no meetings were scheduled, that brethren could come into the social hall, play games, drink soda and coffee, perhaps enjoy snacks, and fraternize.

There were charges for these food and drink items, which were small but sufficient to keep things replenished.

The DeMolay Room was open to young men on specified evenings after school. As was another room once devoted to the Rainbow Girls snd Eastern Star. When youths were involved, adult supervision was provided to ensure no injuries nor mischief.

At the permission of the Worshipful Master, non-Masons and nonmembers of adoptive bodies could be guests of members. Always, one or a couple brethren had to maintain order and cleanliness after gatherings.

On weekends, many brethren gathered around the television to watch ball games.

Others played cards, etcetera.

No alcohol and no gambing were permitted, and someone was made responsible for ensuring the area was cleaned and straightened up.

When degree work or other meetings were on the calendar, hours of socializing were curtailed or canceled.

The Ladies of the Lodge Brethren also had a designated day when they would come during the day, ostensibly to clean the entire lodge building.

They typically used a bit of that time to watch daytime television dramas and socialize. In those days, few married women had employment outside of the home.

The arrangement made the Lodge community room a center of social networking. It also facilitated widespread awareness of the local Lodge and of our wholesome nature.

The member recounting this to me said that in his view, significant numbers of candidates resulted from this.

And, by keeping youths occupied and off the streets, much goodwill was accrued in the larger community.

Churches in some towns offered many similar things, particularly in areas with no nearby Masonic Lodge.

Sadly, liability insurance matters, along with an occasional cavalier attitude about being responsible for keeping things tidy, led to discontinuation of the practice.

As well as certain social changes undermined the practice: homebound housewives became quite the exception.

Teens first shifted from playing table games to video arcades and then to handheld devices.

Big screen televisions and cable/satellite became common in homes, where restrictions on consumption of adult beverages need not be circumscribed.

Do other Brethren recollect such things?

And is there any hope that we could recapture what sounds like such a wholesome way to build bonds one with another?
 

TheThumbPuppy

Registered User
I'm probably not going to be popular, but when I read your post, I asked myself, 'Is this what Freemasonry is supposed to be like?'

Now, paraphrasing a famous quote, I suppose that for those who like that sort of thing, that's the sort of thing they like.

And who am I to deliberate what Lodge life should or shouldn't be like after all.

But I wouldn't have gone back, if my first visit to my Lodge had included a bunch of geezers playing pool and watching football.

I enjoy playing bridge, but I wouldn't consider it an added bonus if my Lodge offered a location to play cards, rather a disruptive distraction from the main reason why we meet. The same logic applies for me to other activities that you have mentioned.

Perhaps that's one of the reasons why there used to be a larger number of freemasons a few decades ago. If that was in fact the case, I'm not sure whether people who joined because their Lodge offered a pool table, foosball and tv actually joined for the right reason.

But then again, what do I know?
 

jermy Bell

Registered User
The thumbpuppy,
Are you a veteran? Exveteran ? I am not, but I've been in many VFW, and similar clubs, and what do you see ?? A bunch of old geezers sitting around talking, playing cards, and watching sports. I'm not quite 50 years old yet. But, I find hanging out with the old geezers very entertaining. But that's my opinion
 

TheThumbPuppy

Registered User
Told ya I wasn't going to be popular.
I'm not really sure why it would matter if I'm a veteran or not.
For the record I served in the Army as an officer last century (now that makes me sound ancient).
As for those gentlemen who enjoy playing cards and watching sport, I'm happy for them.
But that's not my cup of tea and I stopped trying to fit in a long time ago.
Similarly I don't expect many people to find interesting what I do.
But hey that's life. No harm done.
Incidentally that was one of my main concerns when I first contacted my Lodge, that is I'm a bit of an odd duck with a few social shortcomings.
 

jermy Bell

Registered User
Told ya I wasn't going to be popular.
I'm not really sure why it would matter if I'm a veteran or not.
For the record I served in the Army as an officer last century (now that makes me sound ancient).
As for those gentlemen who enjoy playing cards and watching sport, I'm happy for them.
But that's not my cup of tea and I stopped trying to fit in a long time ago.
Similarly I don't expect many people to find interesting what I do.
But hey that's life. No harm done.
Incidentally that was one of my main concerns when I first contacted my Lodge, that is I'm a bit of an odd duck with a few social shortcomings.
I understand, I have several tattoos, plus a sleeve, and my ear is pierced 4as and I have my bottom lip pierced. My hair isn't as long as it was when I first started. My hobbies are a bit off. But am accepted by most, and not by a lot. But that doesn't keep me from having fun at my own lodge and when I travel.
 

Elexir

Registered User
(A non-americans opinion)

Opening up the lodge building to the general public is from a security standpoint a big misstake. I know personally a incident that could have gotten really bad wich happend not long before I arrived.

As for people watching sports.
I dont like sport and Im sick of getting sport basicly showed down my throat everywhere so its enough that other members talk about it thank you.

As for playing cards etc, theres always the chance of poor looser or cocky winner wich would make the enviroment pretty bad.

Bottom line. Having something to drink and snack on before lodge and just sitting down and talking/listening on conversations is enough and help build stronger connections then watching tv/playing games are.
 

flameburns623

Registered User
But I wouldn't have gone back, if my first visit to my Lodge had included a bunch of geezers playing pool and watching football

The person describing this to me would be around my age: roughly sixty. In the 1970's through the 1990's he would have been twenty years to forty years old. Not a geezer at all.

And did you miss the part about the DeMolay? Those would have been teens.

I also noted that housewives, presumably mostly younger women, spent some time together in the Lodge.

I don't think that the activities I described were the only things happening at Lodge apart from business meetings. There were likely to have been practice nights, Masonic discussions, etcetera.

But the opportunities for social interaction probably did encourage many more people to join. Yes, I am aware of, and mentioned, certain drawbacks, including civil liability and a failure to sustain rules about housekeeping of the lodge community room.

But at least our lodge buildings did not stand empty for between 160 and 168 hours per week most weeks of the year.

Nowadays, apart from fish fries, spaghetti dinners, and pancake breakfasts, community members have little reason to visit a lodge or strike up acquaintance with a Freemason.

And fundraisers centered on food have pretty stiff competition with fast food restaurants.

As the practice of socializing began to come to an end, the larger lodges began to rent meeting spaces to local businesses, (not in the Lodge room but in the community center and in conference rooms).

As that revenue dried up, we see Lodges leasing space for model train shows and wrestling matches.

Meanwhile the grand old buildings sit empty, barely seeing use apart from monthly or bimonthly meetings. Considering the costs of climate control, cleaning, and upkeep, that's almost a good thing

Eastern Star, Rainbow, Demolay, York Rite, and the local area Shrine clubs have consolidated and consolidated and typically where there were once three, four, five chapters there now are one.

This isn't unique to Freemasonry, which we all know. But the connectedness to the wider community which I heard older brethren describe when they talked of the activities in my opening post is something to wax nostalgic for. Not to be dismissed as "a bunch ofvold geezers". Even if (and my OP took note of some of this) the culture has seen a sea change since that era.
 
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