Who are the Oddfellows? Our history [Short version]

Many people ask us - who is the Oddfellows and where did you come from? And why are so many UK pubs called after us? We hope this extract from a film we produced to celebrate our bicentennial year in 2010 will answer some of your questions.
A transcript of the video is below. To find out more about the Oddfellows, what we do and how we care for our members as a friendship organisation today, visit www.oddfellows.co.uk.
TRANSCRIPT:
The History
Interviewee: Paul Eyre, District Secretary [Now retired]
Lots of people ask me, how we got the strange name ‘the Oddfellows’?
We don’t know for certain, because it’s lost in the mists of time. The generally accepted explanation is that it refers back to the medieval guilds, when there were guilds for individual trades like butchers, bakers and candlestick makers. And the Oddfellows accepted fellows or employees from all assorted trades.
Although from the earliest days, the Oddfellows themselves have regarded their shared values of supporting each other as being distinctive and they regard themselves as odd or out of the ordinary because they do support each other.
The Oddfellows ‘Three Links’
The Three Links - that’s the worldwide badge of the Oddfellows - known as the Recognition Badge. And the three links refer to the motto of the Society which is ‘Friendship, Love and Truth’.
Within our Society in the United Kingdom, if you attend one of the welcoming ceremonies to welcome you as a member [this is optional when becoming a member of the Society today] you will be presented with a badge at the conclusion of the ceremony.
As an historic Society, we have lots of traditions and the titles given to some of our Officers are part of that tradition, for eg the Chairman of the Society is referred to as the Grand Master and similarly at a District, local level, the Chairman would be referred to as Provincial Grand Master. They would wear a chain of office, rather like a mayor, to denote their rank within the Society. And there are various other Officers within Branches of the Society, people such as the Warden or the Guardian - each of whom has a role within the Branch.
Why do so many pubs have Oddfellows in their name?
In the early days we always held our Branch meetings in public houses and indeed there was a lot of competition amongst pubs to get our custom because typically we would hold a meeting once a week in the evening, often on pay day for people to come in and pay their contributions and of course, while they were in the pub, they would take something for the good of the house. So pubs were very keen to attract our custom - even to the extent that they would rename their pub the Oddfellows Arms - to show that we use them exclusively.
We have quite an extensive collection of various mugs and jugs and glasses engraved or printed with Oddfellows emblems that were used at meetings.
Interviewee Philip Howcroft, Chief Executive Officer [Jane Nelson was appointed CEO of the Oddfellows in 2012.]
The Oddfellows is an organisation that some members of the general public may feel is an organisation or society whose values and traditions are lost in the mists of time. However, we are a progressive organisation, with dynamism that should see us continue to be successful into the 21st Century.
There are a number of facets to the business. Firstly, we care for our members - so we have a wide variety of benefits and financial products to support and protect members. We’re a very socially-active organisation, so we were fun to be with - we’re fun to join. We’re heavily involved in charitable work, both at a local level and a national level. At a local level, each Chairman of a Branch supports his or her local charity, and then we group together to support more national projects such as the RNLI and medical research projects.
There are 100,000 members and policy holders in the United Kingdom [280,000 in 2015] with an equivalent number in North America, West Indies, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
The members group together into a Branch, that we call a Lodge. And a Lodge can be set up in any town, area of city or a village. Local Lodges group together into what we call Districts and then the Districts, the Lodges and the members are supported by an administrative hub in Manchester.
In 100 years’ time I would see the Society as a caring, sharing, family-based organisation that supports its members in times of need.
Ends.

[@jmsn36]

Very admirable that people help and support each other

[@oddfellows]

That's what we're all about! Find out more about what we do on our website: www.oddfellows.co.uk

[@charlesreid196]

Very informative

[@grabsplat]

Good interview Paul ;-)

[@kayjay9383]

Quite nice.

[@richardcopeland1246]

10/22/2020

[@SuperGreatSphinx]

Charity

[@oddfellows]

🥰