Further to your article about Freemasonry, I write in support of the organisation of which I am not a member but have every reason to be grateful for.

Having lost my father in the Second World War my ailing mother was left with two young sons and a small Naval pension with which to raise them.

Fortunately my father had been a member of the Freemason’s Orpheus Lodge which entitled my brother and I to be educated, all found, by the Freemasons at the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys in Hertfordshire.

We both attended the school from the age of seven. The Masons have been helping with clothing and educating the sons and daughters of needy Freemasons since 1798 with the school in Hertfordshire being built in 1903 and closed in 1977 following a decline in pupil numbers.

The Royal Masonic School for Girls is still very much in business and accepts the children of both masons and non-masons.

So, on behalf of myself, my brother and the very many thousands of needy youngsters who have been supported by the Freemasons during the past 220 years, heartfelt thanks.

PAUL WHITTLE
Wyke Regis, Weymouth