Alfred Robbins Lodge

RW Bro Warren Duke’s path to the top of Freemasonry began in the West (Country).
And while he might not have known how far he would travel, there was little doubt he would join the Craft. 

W Bro Nick Saalfeld reports

Photographs by W Bro Daren Lewis

“I grew up in Cornwall and came into Freemasonry as a young man into a Lodge in St Ives: Tregenna Lodge, No 1272. I followed in the literal footsteps of my father, my grandfather and my great grandfather; so as I said at my Investiture, you could say I never had a chance! At my Initiation, I knew every single man in the room.”

“So it was quite a natural thing for me to do. But when I came to London as a young man of 21 to make my way in the world, it hadn’t occurred to me just what a useful support and constant Freemasonry would be. I did some visiting because it took me a little while to find a Lodge and Chapter I wanted to join. But in a new city, it was something I could do immediately, enjoy, and through which I could make friends. And I think that’s true of Freemasonry in all cities. London is so diverse and offers so much culturally, but it can also be quite a lonely place for some. So Freemasonry was a perfect complement to my emerging life as a young man.”

“My journey changed in 2007, when I was proud to become a Metropolitan Steward in the Craft, and I joined Metropolitan Grand Stewards’ Lodge No 9812. I got to see the whole of London – and Freemasonry – from a completely new perspective. I still love the camaraderie of the Stewards today. And that put me into a new world of Masonic projects and initiatives. That continued in 2011 when I was invited to become one of the Metropolitan Deputy Grand Directors of Ceremonies, which saw me in further different types of meetings, plus the slightly terrifying prospect of being DC at some rather large and important ceremonies, too. Again, I thrived because of the camaraderie.”

“I started to be part of Sir Michael’s team when I was asked to be the Metropolitan Grand Director of Ceremonies. It was a privilege to join the Executive, where you’re given the opportunity to contribute to the strategy, planning and execution within Met. Again, I just love the team: it’s committed, talented men, working hard to serve our members.”

In those twenty-plus years of service to the Craft, there have been changes – and Bro Duke intends to keep the same course but up the momentum. “What’s emerged for me in London in those twenty years is a more sincere humility amongst members, Rulers and volunteers alike. We exist to serve our members, not to direct them. I really thrive on that. We’ve quite a flat team structure in Met, and I think Lodges, Chapters and Met work better that way. Volunteers need to feel that they can contribute, that they can make a difference, and that they have a voice. Only flat, energised teams can do that. I might be in charge, but I’m surrounded by people with many skills from many walks of life. It’s my job to leverage that to enable everyone to contribute.”

“That new dynamic is echoed everywhere, for example the ‘Yes, if’ strategy coming out of UGLE, which is brilliantly simple in encouraging openness and challenging us to evolve our culture. With the membership challenge which lies at the heart of our future success; and the value that we can provide for new members that’s been such a rallying point post COVID, I’m really excited about the change we can engender. Post COVID, we find ourselves with many young men feeling rudderless and alone – even physically alone sometimes – and Freemasonry can make a new, exciting and different contribution to people’s lives than we ever thought could be the case. That strategy would have been unthinkable 30 years ago. But if we don’t become more agile, we’re not going to attract more young men into Freemasonry.”

“To young men in particular, we’ve never been more relevant. When we run ‘Discover Freemasonry’ events, three themes consistently resonate with them. First, it’s the ability to contribute to society: working together for shared goals, whether that is a Lodge’s own projects or something bigger like the air ambulance. Second, it’s just good fun. It’s clear that young Masons enjoy it – from the challenge of meetings and ritual to a dinner where we break bread, relax and unwind. But third and most importantly, we build meaningful, lifelong friendships. You’re going to know those men in your Lodge and Chapter for the rest of your life, through ups and downs. Those three things at the heart of what we offer have never been more relevant and important.”

Sir Michael and Russel Race have laid the foundations for the ongoing direction of Metropolitan Grand Lodge, and Bro Warren says that the challenge now is to scale up. “The basics are in place, and of course we need to preserve and nurture them. But what we must do now is scale our approach to two themes: attracting new members and serving our existing Brethren and Companions.” 

“On the membership challenge, we want to move from two membership events annually to seven. When we run membership events like ‘Discover Freemasonry’, typically over half those who attend will join. We’ve also got to come up with more, and more innovative, ways to make Freemasonry accessible to new members. That could mean new content that we create and share; it could mean the new digital channels that we share it on. Either way, it’s greater exposure; and it’ll be a journey. Our path to broader engagement is not a light switch you can flick on: we’ve got to learn how to broaden our communications and engage with the media – you’ve almost certainly seen that we have become much more robust in our media engagement already. We must make ourselves accessible and contactable to men of all ages and backgrounds; and then how we engage with them after that first contact becomes critical. We’ve got a team of about 100 engaging with new members, led very ably by Ray Ride to whom we owe a huge debt. It’s not as simple as opening the doors of Freemasons’ Hall!”

“The second half of my job is to continue to engage with our existing members. Lodges and Chapters are, for the most part, self-sufficient. Our contribution must be to serve and support them, which principally happens through the Inspectorates: the Metropolitan Grand Inspectors, their Visiting Officers and of course their MetAGInsps. I hope you’ve seen that this is continuing to evolve. We are putting work into giving the 700-plus VOs the tools, skills and tried-and-tested approaches to engage better with individual Lodges and Chapters to help them succeed.”

“I also want to evolve and scale Met’s activities; for example the Welcome Project. They’re proving to be just the most uplifting, enjoyable experiences; and serve to give relatively new Masons the opportunity to see a ceremony they’ve just participated in again, and to meet other members in London who have just been through that same experience in other Lodges and Chapters. Every one I’ve attended has been so much fun, and it’s great to see relatively young members swapping contact details and arranging visits. This is what I mean by Met supporting Lodges: we don’t need to interfere, we need to provide additional experiences that build on individual Lodge’s identities and the work they do.”

Eight weeks into the job, Bro Duke is struck by the breadth of his role. It touches finance, HR, legal, planning, media and more. He says, “There’s lots of operational work to do inside of Metropolitan Grand Lodge, because we’re an organisation serving 27,000 members. I’m out every night this week on various Masonic purposes. But again, I need to be ready to communicate with 100 or so people who have been kind enough to give up their evening.”

And there’s plenty to talk about. Bro Duke says, “On our air ambulance appeal, we are getting towards the £3m mark now – we may even complete our goal by the end of this year. Of course, the charity offers the most amazing service, delivering critical healthcare in dire situations across our capital, so it is in itself a good cause to which to contribute. But in return, they’re going to add ‘donated by London Freemasons’ to their livery on both sides of both helicopters. I think that will be a source of so much pride for us, for many years to come. And I found myself anxious, not about whether we’ll raise the money, but whether everyone will have had the opportunity to donate, no matter how small the donation. I hope every Lodge and Chapter over the coming weeks gets the opportunity to donate if they haven’t already, because I want us all to be able to say: ‘We did that.’”

Warren Duke on Sir Michael Snyder

“As I look back on his tenure of some eight and a half years, I think we were tremendously lucky to have had Sir Michael as our Metropolitan Grand Master and Superintendent; for two reasons. First, he drew on so much experience from a distinguished professional and public life; and was most generous in bringing that knowledge to Met.

He brought it to bear on London Freemasonry in the way we’re organised and run; and that really has led to several steps forward in our organisation. 

But that is only half the story, because he also gave his time with so much enthusiasm and tireless energy for Freemasonry in London. I think that permeated throughout the whole organisation and injected a new energy and pace.

And on a personal note, I’m just delighted for Sir Michael to be Deputy Grand Master. I think that will be for all of us to our continued benefit.”

This article is part of the Arena Magazine, Issue 55 Summer 2024 edition.
Arena Magazine is the official magazine of the London Freemasons – Metropolitan Grand Lodge and Metropolitan Grand Chapter of London.

Read more articles in the Arena Issue 55 here.