Yes. Our Constitutions (rule book) are freely available for anyone to purchase and read, our meeting places are well advertised and often used by other community groups, our headquarters is open to the public and has free tours on a daily basis, we have web sites for the curious, and you can even ring us up.

If anyone thinks we are not open, they clearly haven't been looking very hard! We are, however, subject to the same data protection rules as other clubs and societies and so cannot publish membership lists.

We enact rituals based loosely on the historical ceremonies of stonemasons' guilds. These are effectively short thought-provoking 'morality plays' that use allegory and symbolism associated with the stonemason's craft to illustrate moral and charitable lessons, and everyone has a part to play.

At other meetings there may be a short talk on Masonic history, symbolism or some other aspect of interest. After our meetings, the members usually have a meal together.

Freemasonry supports it. It teaches a moral code, which is acceptable to all right-thinking people: to be law-abiding, support the broader community, help those less fortunate than oneself, and discharge one's public and family duties faithfully.

Absolutely not. We do not even allow discussion of religion at our meetings, as that could be divisive. We do require members to believe in a Supreme Being, however, as our ceremonies would make no sense to non-believers. Masonic meetings begin with a non-denominational prayer – as do meetings of Parliament, a local Scout troop and Remembrance Day services.

Yes, gladly, and there are many of them – and indeed many other sorts of Christian as well as Jews, Muslims, Sikhs and others. The Catholic Church in England has no problem with Freemasonry though, unlike other religions, it does not allow its ordained priests to join us.

There is no conflict of interest, as a man's duty to his religion would always take precedence over Freemasonry. Some organisations abroad which call themselves 'Freemasons' hold anti-clerical and even anti-Catholic views. We do not recognise them in any way and forbid our members from associating with them.

Masons don't conceal their membership, but equally don't want to be wrongly accused of seeking to gain advantage from it. Also, despite excellent progress on equality in recent years, people still occasionally try to discriminate against us.

Some employers until recently used to ask whether staff were Freemasons (but of course would not dream of asking if they were gay, Jewish, left-handed or from an ethnic minority,). Fortunately commonsense and the European Convention on Human Rights are making this sort of illegal discrimination increasingly rare.

None. Individual Freemasons have political opinions, of course, but Freemasonry as an institution does not. Discussion of politics is forbidden at our meetings, as it could lead to disagreements among friends. But it is fair to assume that our members' political views encompass all major parties and many of the smaller ones.

Not at all. Part of the joy of Freemasonry is that it brings together people from all sorts of backgrounds. Our members include rich, poor, manual workers, office workers, professionals, the unemployed and the retired. Whatever their different backgrounds, they meet in Lodges as equals in a friendly and supportive atmosphere.

No. Some of those organisations have superficial similarities with Masonry in that their members wear regalia, have similar sounding offices and in some cases enact ceremonies, but they have no links to Freemasonry.

They can! Freemasonry began as a male-only movement, in keeping with the social conditions of centuries ago. But in the early 20th century women established Masonic organisations for themselves. We do not visit each other's Lodges but they sometimes use our meeting-places. Some women Masons are even married to our members. There are also masonic groups that accept both men and women.

It varies considerably. There is an annual subscription, typically around £100, plus a one-off joining fee, and perhaps a £30-40 initial outlay for regalia. In addition, there is the cost of dining, which can vary a lot depending on how lavish or economical the individual Lodge chooses to be. There is also a strong expectation that members will make a regular contribution to charity, though not at the expense of their other commitments – for example their family.