Not a mason yet?

mY LATe father spent much of his working life as a police officer, steadily climbing the ladder. After some years, he received notification that he’d been shortlisted to fill a vacant post in force management at Police hQ.

At the interview, he was asked whether he was a freemason. When he said he wasn’t, he was told it was a condition of being promoted to the vacant post that he must become a member of the local lodge.

dad was appalled and told the board he was withdrawing his application and would resign from the force at the end of the month.

he later told me the officer eventually appointed was already a freemason but, in dad’s opinion, was totally unsuitable for the post.

After my education, I enlisted in the Armed Forces and, at the end of my service, was accepted as a civilian employee in the Forces’ training service. In the years that followed, I became unofficial deputy to the head of department. When he was absent, I was expected to carry out his duties.

When my boss retired, a promotion board was held and I applied for the post. history then repeated itself: I was told I’d be promoted if I became a member of the local lodge.

Unlike dad, I was too young to retire and so, without telling my current department, I applied for a similar vacancy in an alternative establishment nearby. I was the only applicant and was duly appointed.

however, it wasn’t long before I became aware of unjustified hostility and, at my first annual appraisal, voiced my disapproval.

The reaction was: ‘You know what’s required to improve matters. We suggest you do it.’

I refused to comply and soldiered on, head held high, until I retired.

Name and address supplied.