Essex Mark Provincial Grand Lodge
Felsted
1 June 2022
The very first Essex Mark Provincial Grand Lodge meeting was held in May of 1900, under the banner of the Brentwood Mark Lodge No. 377, at the White Hart Hotel in Brentwood and celebrated not only the first 12 months of the Province of Essex but the addition of the Dunmow Mark Lodge No. 527, which had been Consecrated a few days before the Provincial meeting, on the 23rd May.
Each successive meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge was held under the banner of the local Lodge, who were to organise the venue and festive board until 1962 when it became the responsibility of the Provincial Grand Secretary to organise the annual Provincial Meeting. In 1963, the Essex Mark Provincial Grand Lodge met at the Lion and Lamb Hotel in Chelmsford where it remained for the next 20 years, moving in 1983 to the Marconi Athletic and Social Club.
With two more moves of venue in 2003, Provincial Grand Lodge moved to Felsted School, near Dunmow, where it remains to this day and is approaching the record of 20 years held by the Lion and Lamb. It has been 2 years since Provincial Grand Lodge has met in its physical form, with the suspension of Masonic meetings due to the Pandemic, replaced instead by the Virtual Business Meetings of 2020 and 2021.
On Wednesday, 1st June 2022, the Essex Mark Provincial Grand Lodge met again at Felsted and on a bright and sunny day, following many days of rain. There were some 270 Mark Masons in attendance to enjoy the full flavour of the annual meeting which, once again, included the support of other Masonic Orders and their displays; not only drawing those interested Masons to extend their journeys but, also, affording them an opportunity to speak to members of the Orders and in many cases to meet the Head of those Orders.
With all of the Ceremonial and Secretarial practice sessions completed, the Temple was filled with those eager Masons, ready to receive the procession of the Acting Provincial Officers. With the Provincial officers in place, Heads of Masonic Orders in Essex were received before visiting Right Worshipful Brethren were also processed in. Finally, the Right Worshipful Provincial Grand Master Terence Douglas Sheern was escorted into the Lodge with his Senior Officers by his Director of Ceremonies, W. Bro. Michael West.
The current DC team, l to r, Jack Saunders and Steve Chandler (ADCs), Phil Richardson (DepDC) Mike West (DC) and Geoff Waddoups (ADC)
The Provincial Grand Master then welcomed all of those present and opened Provincial Grand Lodge at precisely 2 pm. The Prov.G.M. welcomed the nearly 40 guests from the other Mark Provinces and the Heads of the other Masonic Orders in Essex.
The business of Provincial Grand Lodge was undertaken and the Deputy P.G.M., W. Bro. John Finlay, read out the names of those Brethren that had passed to the Grand Lodge above, in order to honour their memory.
All of the 50 Mark Lodges of the Essex Province were represented and were able to witness the appointment and investiture of the Acting Officers for 2022 and those Brethren receiving First Appointments to Past Rank and Promotions. There was also the news of the retirement of V.W. Bro. Mark Reeve as Assistant Provincial Grand Master, after many years in support of the Province as an Acting Officer. He was the Provincial Grand Director of Ceremonies from 2012 until his appointment as Asst. Prov.G.M. in 2017, serving the Province in these important roles many years.
V.W.Bro. Mark Reeve, APGM (l) and W.Bro. Paul Busby, ProvSec (r)
,There can be no replacement for V.W.Bro. Mark but to add some "northern flair" to the Executive, the Prov.G.M announced that W.Bro. John Stannard would be appointed as Asst. Prov.G.M at the September meeting of the Essex Installed Mark Masters Lodge.
The winner of the first Keystone Lecture series was also announced by the Prov.G.M.
The Keystone Lecture will be an annual event, entries running from 1st October through to the following March, with the intention of providing talks of interest on Mark Masonry and related subjects that would be given by the author and other selected Brethren in a number of Lodges around the Province. Topics can include Biographies, Mark History, Ritual or general knowledge or the other Orders connected to Mark Masonry.
The winner of the first Keystone Lecture is R.W.Bro. Brian Vickers, P.G.J.W., on his paper entitled the ‘History of the Mark Degree’ one of many pieces of Masonic research that he has pursued in his illustrious Masonic journey.
There were two runners up, W.Bro. Geoff Waddoups, with his entry entitled ‘The Formation of the Mark Province of Essex’ and W.Bro. Ray Mckerron entitled “ A Portion of Holy Writ’.
With the meeting closed, the Brethren retired to the festive board to enjoy a 5 course meal and a dessert (that was so good it had to be eaten twice) in the form of the famous rum cake baked by V.W.Bro. Jerry Gangadeen, served with the coffee to all those present.
Jerry also donated a full cake to be auctioned off in the form of a game of "Heads and Tails", which the President of the Mark Benevolent Fund, R.W.Bro. David Ashbolt, organised with the help of the Stewards and raised the sum of £400, which was duly handed over to our Provincial Grand Master for our Festival 2030.
Once again the staff at Felsted provided great food and great service to end what was a great meeting amongst friends.
Jerry also donated a full cake to be auctioned off in the form of a game of "Heads and Tails", which the President of the Mark Benevolent Fund, R.W.Bro. David Ashbolt, organised with the help of the Stewards and raised the sum of £400, which was duly handed over to our Provincial Grand Master for our Festival 2030.
Once again the staff at Felsted provided great food and great service to end what was a great meeting amongst friends.
Posted 6 June 22
