BOLTON Freemasons Hall was opened to the public for the first time yesterday in a bid to dispel the myths and rumours surrounding Freemasonry.

Visitors were able to tour the building and ask the questions they'd always longed to, although when the BEN Editor Andrew Smith requested authority to attend a meeting he was refused.

Press spokesman Norman Pickles was quick to dispel some of the mythology. "If you were to attend any of the lodge meetings held in this building I'd be very surprised if you'd see as much as a hint of a bared knee, let alone anything else," he said.

With 26 lodges in the Bolton area alone, each one with approximately 30 members, the Freemasons in Bolton have been a recognised body since 1732. This makes it the oldest existing lodge North of London. Once you pass into its previously closed doors, the regalia and paraphernalia of the movement is there for all to see from the simple white apron of the entered apprentice to the gilt and opulence of the Master mason.

"Yet overriding all this is the work we do for charity and our central objective is not, as people claim to get on and dress up but to encourage every aspect of moral and social virtue," said Norman.

Norman is also anxious to dispel the theory that members need to be from a certain social class and standing to be a Freemason. "Nothing could be further from the truth, every class, and standing is represented. It is the individual we are interested in, not what they do for a living," he said.

"We have never admitted women. That is just the way it is and the way it's always been, although I do believe there are female eqivalent Mason-type organisations."

Yesterday was Bolton's first public open day session and early indications were the event was a great success which could be repeated in the future.

, although he did confirm the Masons are an exclusively male organisation.

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