PGL 22 - Provincial Grand Master's Address
Brethren, I start by thanking you all for your attendance today, it is so pleasing to see you all "in the flesh" as it were! Whilst our numbers are down slightly from our last "face to face" meeting in 2019, this was to be expected as the necessary change of date has meant a clash with other Provinces, some have gone on holiday for the first time in 3 years and of course some are still reluctant to attend large meetings. So, I thank you all for attending.
Let me once again congratulate all those Appointed and Invested today; please take pride in your Office and continue to support your Lodges and the Province.
I should also like to congratulate those Essex Brethren receiving a First Appointment to or Promotion in Grand Rank.
They are:-
Let me once again congratulate all those Appointed and Invested today; please take pride in your Office and continue to support your Lodges and the Province.
I should also like to congratulate those Essex Brethren receiving a First Appointment to or Promotion in Grand Rank.
They are:-
| Dan Heath | Re-Appointment Assistant Grand Secretary |
| Derek Mersh | Re-Appointment Assistant Grand Inspector of Works |
First appointments | |
| Michael Singleton | Past Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies |
| Paul Busby | Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies |
| Richard Stephens | Past Assistant Grand Sword Bearer |
| Norman Eastbrook | Past Grand Standard Bearer |
| David Hook | Past Assistant Grand Standard Bearer |
| Michael West | Grand Steward |
Promotions | |
| Charles Lowry | Past Deputy Grand Sword Bearer |
| Len Abrahams | Past Grand Junior Deacon |
| Len Millings | Past Grand Junior Overseer |
| Glen Remblance | Past Grand Junior Deacon |
I thank all the Active Officers of this past year for their wonderful support to me and to the Lodges we have visited. It has been a lot of fun and I hope you enjoyed your active role and will look back on it with pride.
It is at this point I would normally introduce you all to the "Grandfather" of the Province but 99 year old Dicky Caldwell is not in the best of health and was unable to be with us today, but I ask Members of his Lodge to take our best wishes back to him please.
The other pleasure I have at this time is to introduce to you all our newest Member, only this year we have two!
Both were Advanced one week ago and are here with us today. They are Bro. Vic Crowhurst of the Mark of True Friendship Lodge and Bro. Ian Allen of the Ilford St Mary Lodge. Brethren, on behalf of us all welcome to the Mark Degree and this, the Province of Essex, in particular. You are very welcome and we all hope you have a long and happy association with us.
The Provincial Grand Secretary will give you some drinks vouchers after the meeting to enjoy a drink on us!
Brethren, as they say, change is inevitable and during my term in office I have tried, where appropriate, to give others a chance to experience High Office in the Province and so today I have appointed a new Provincial Director of Ceremonies, W. Bro. Tony Goater, and Deputy D.C., W. Bro. Phil Richardson. As they learn their new duties they will need your help and assistance so when they visit your Lodge please be kind to them and support them where you can.
I want to thank W. Bro. Michael West for his support as an Active Officer over the past seven years, first as Deputy Secretary, then Deputy D.C. and finally Provincial D.C.; W. Bro. Mick has worked tirelessly behind the scenes for the Province on many initiatives and I thank him publicly for his support.
I also reappointed V.W.Bro. Mark Reeve earlier today as an A.P.G.M., however Mark has also served the Province as an Active Officer over many years, first as ADC in 2004, then Prov. Dep. D.C. for 4 years 2008 – 2012, Prov. D.C. from 2012 - 2017 before becoming A.P.G.M, an Office he has held since and so it is time for Mark to have a rest and he will be standing down in September this year.
Mark has been a stalwart for the Province and, in all his Offices, has fully committed himself. He also has been very involved in Provincial projects and initiatives behind the scenes. His sharp sense of humour and constant smile, even when he is trying to give me "advice", has made him a pleasure to work with and good company as well. So again, I would like to publicly thank Mark for all he has done.
So, Brethren, this leaves a vacancy for A.P.G.M., I suspect there have been the usual rumours and the odd bet here and there, so to put you out of your misery, I needed someone to take up the mantle from V.W.Bro. Mark with the same enthusiasm and dedication, someone who I could trust and who would be an asset to the Province and to represent me on Official Visits.
Brethren, I believe that W. Bro. John Stannard has all of those qualities and I will appoint and invest him at the Installed Master’s Meeting in September. I do hope as many of you as possible will attend the meeting to support him. Unfortunately, John can’t be with us today as his wife Sandy is undergoing chemotherapy and he needs to be with her.
Now, I am aware that V.W.Bro. Ray Clare is timing me, so I need to move swiftly on and talk to you briefly about charity.
The Brethren of Essex will be aware that our Craft Provincial MCF Festival has or is coming to a close and the Banquet will take place in a few weeks’ time. Whilst the Craft P.G.M. announced at his Provincial Meeting the wonderful sum of over £6m was raised by us as proud Essex Craft Masons. We as a Mark Province made what I believe was a substantial contribution to that total and it was my intention to round our previous donations up to a total of £50,000!
Provincial Grand Master, please accept from the Mark Province of Essex our final donation of £3,300.00 which, as I said, brings our total to £50,000. We thank you for your ongoing support of the Mark Degree and this final donation is our way of saying "thank you" for all you do and we know the money raised will be well spent by you to enhance the lives in some small way for those living in Essex.
Brethren continuing with the charity theme, as you all know we are well into our early fund-raising activities for our 2030 MBF Festival; thus I should like to thank W. Bro. Richard Goodwin, A.P.G.M., and his team, for the excellent work they have done to ensure we have a solid foundation for our fund-raising activities. I also thank those of you who have organised and or attended many of the functions that have been run over the past two years, including our intrepid Zipwire Challenge Team who raised the wonderful sum of over £6,700.00. I can also announce that, as of today, a new 2030 Festival website will be launched. This will include all the information you need to know about fund-raising activities, necessary forms and the Festival in general.
This can be found either by following the link from our main website or by going to www.mbffestivalessex2030.co.uk; and I thank W. Bro. Phil Hind for his hard work in developing the new site and its ongoing maintenance, Brethren please take a look to keep up to date.
I also want to thank the many of you who have already purchased a 2030 Festival Steward's Jewel, well over 200 have now been purchased. These are a great way to contribute to our fund. If you have not purchased one yet and would like to do so the necessary forms and payment options can be found on our website. Even if you think you may not be here in 2030, buying a Festival Jewel means your name will live on as it will be recorded in the Festival Booklet. Without labouring the point that the Craft Festival has finished, now is the time to take out or change your monthly covenants from the MCF to the MBF 2030 Festival! Again, by giving on a monthly basis really adds to our potential total.
Brethren, our web shop continues to go from strength to strength and I can tell you that since it was set up income has reached nearly £35,000 via this online facility, most of that goes directly to our Welfare Account for distribution to worthy causes. So, thank you, Steve Joslin; Dave Todd; Geoff Newman and the other members of the Media Team for the time you give to maintaining, contributing and selling on the site. The use of "Amazon Smile" has also raised for us around an extra £400.00 as well.
I can also inform you that next year a certain, rather foolish person, who is old enough to know better has agreed to undertake a "loop the loop" wing walk, more details to follow!
Moving on, you will have heard or seen documents, flyers, booklets etc. on the 3 R’s, Recruitment, Reinvigoration & Retention. Some of the activities around these 3 R’s have included Mark Awareness Events, two having been held recently, resulting in over 25 new members. Two other events of a similar nature are being also being planned.
Because of this activity and Lodges Advancing those who have patiently waited, I can give you a quick update on our Membership figures. As you will see in the Meeting Booklet as at 31st August, 2021 our Membership stood at 1,298. As of the beginning of May it had increased to 1,349 and counting, the context to this is, in 2016, our membership was 1,290 so, even after the losses due to the Pandemic, we have a higher Membership now than Pre-Pandemic so once again, "thank you" all for your continued hard work and recruitment endeavours.
One of the initiatives under the umbrella of Retention was the introduction of the Provincial Keystone Lecture. This has proved a success and entries were whittled down to three. Of those final three, the judging panel and I have chosen this, the inaugural year's winner as R.W. Bro. Brian Vickers who had submitted a lecture entitled “The History and Development of the Mark Degree”
The two runners up were W.Bro. Geoff Waddoups with a Lecture entitled “Formation of the Mark Province of Essex” and W. Bro Ray McKerron with a Lecture entitled “A Portion of Holy Writ”. Congratulations to them as well.
Two of those Lectures will be available to use in Lodges and will be posted on the website.
The other initiative I want to mention briefly is the introduction of the Provincial Lodge of Instruction, more detail will be published shortly but the main points are:
Brethren the Province is back up and running on all cylinders! Recruitment is going well and more Awareness Events are being planned. Please be part of it and make sure your Lodge participates.
Before I close, I would like to thank the Secretarial and Ceremonial Teams for their hard work to ensure today is a success, thank you guys wherever you are.
Lastly to all the Right Worshipful Brethren and the other guests for their support today
Brethren, thank you for listening and don’t forget to look out for Mauly on his travels.
It is at this point I would normally introduce you all to the "Grandfather" of the Province but 99 year old Dicky Caldwell is not in the best of health and was unable to be with us today, but I ask Members of his Lodge to take our best wishes back to him please.
The other pleasure I have at this time is to introduce to you all our newest Member, only this year we have two!
Both were Advanced one week ago and are here with us today. They are Bro. Vic Crowhurst of the Mark of True Friendship Lodge and Bro. Ian Allen of the Ilford St Mary Lodge. Brethren, on behalf of us all welcome to the Mark Degree and this, the Province of Essex, in particular. You are very welcome and we all hope you have a long and happy association with us.
The Provincial Grand Secretary will give you some drinks vouchers after the meeting to enjoy a drink on us!
Brethren, as they say, change is inevitable and during my term in office I have tried, where appropriate, to give others a chance to experience High Office in the Province and so today I have appointed a new Provincial Director of Ceremonies, W. Bro. Tony Goater, and Deputy D.C., W. Bro. Phil Richardson. As they learn their new duties they will need your help and assistance so when they visit your Lodge please be kind to them and support them where you can.
I want to thank W. Bro. Michael West for his support as an Active Officer over the past seven years, first as Deputy Secretary, then Deputy D.C. and finally Provincial D.C.; W. Bro. Mick has worked tirelessly behind the scenes for the Province on many initiatives and I thank him publicly for his support.
I also reappointed V.W.Bro. Mark Reeve earlier today as an A.P.G.M., however Mark has also served the Province as an Active Officer over many years, first as ADC in 2004, then Prov. Dep. D.C. for 4 years 2008 – 2012, Prov. D.C. from 2012 - 2017 before becoming A.P.G.M, an Office he has held since and so it is time for Mark to have a rest and he will be standing down in September this year.
Mark has been a stalwart for the Province and, in all his Offices, has fully committed himself. He also has been very involved in Provincial projects and initiatives behind the scenes. His sharp sense of humour and constant smile, even when he is trying to give me "advice", has made him a pleasure to work with and good company as well. So again, I would like to publicly thank Mark for all he has done.
So, Brethren, this leaves a vacancy for A.P.G.M., I suspect there have been the usual rumours and the odd bet here and there, so to put you out of your misery, I needed someone to take up the mantle from V.W.Bro. Mark with the same enthusiasm and dedication, someone who I could trust and who would be an asset to the Province and to represent me on Official Visits.
Brethren, I believe that W. Bro. John Stannard has all of those qualities and I will appoint and invest him at the Installed Master’s Meeting in September. I do hope as many of you as possible will attend the meeting to support him. Unfortunately, John can’t be with us today as his wife Sandy is undergoing chemotherapy and he needs to be with her.
Now, I am aware that V.W.Bro. Ray Clare is timing me, so I need to move swiftly on and talk to you briefly about charity.
The Brethren of Essex will be aware that our Craft Provincial MCF Festival has or is coming to a close and the Banquet will take place in a few weeks’ time. Whilst the Craft P.G.M. announced at his Provincial Meeting the wonderful sum of over £6m was raised by us as proud Essex Craft Masons. We as a Mark Province made what I believe was a substantial contribution to that total and it was my intention to round our previous donations up to a total of £50,000!
Provincial Grand Master, please accept from the Mark Province of Essex our final donation of £3,300.00 which, as I said, brings our total to £50,000. We thank you for your ongoing support of the Mark Degree and this final donation is our way of saying "thank you" for all you do and we know the money raised will be well spent by you to enhance the lives in some small way for those living in Essex.
Brethren continuing with the charity theme, as you all know we are well into our early fund-raising activities for our 2030 MBF Festival; thus I should like to thank W. Bro. Richard Goodwin, A.P.G.M., and his team, for the excellent work they have done to ensure we have a solid foundation for our fund-raising activities. I also thank those of you who have organised and or attended many of the functions that have been run over the past two years, including our intrepid Zipwire Challenge Team who raised the wonderful sum of over £6,700.00. I can also announce that, as of today, a new 2030 Festival website will be launched. This will include all the information you need to know about fund-raising activities, necessary forms and the Festival in general.
This can be found either by following the link from our main website or by going to www.mbffestivalessex2030.co.uk; and I thank W. Bro. Phil Hind for his hard work in developing the new site and its ongoing maintenance, Brethren please take a look to keep up to date.
I also want to thank the many of you who have already purchased a 2030 Festival Steward's Jewel, well over 200 have now been purchased. These are a great way to contribute to our fund. If you have not purchased one yet and would like to do so the necessary forms and payment options can be found on our website. Even if you think you may not be here in 2030, buying a Festival Jewel means your name will live on as it will be recorded in the Festival Booklet. Without labouring the point that the Craft Festival has finished, now is the time to take out or change your monthly covenants from the MCF to the MBF 2030 Festival! Again, by giving on a monthly basis really adds to our potential total.
Brethren, our web shop continues to go from strength to strength and I can tell you that since it was set up income has reached nearly £35,000 via this online facility, most of that goes directly to our Welfare Account for distribution to worthy causes. So, thank you, Steve Joslin; Dave Todd; Geoff Newman and the other members of the Media Team for the time you give to maintaining, contributing and selling on the site. The use of "Amazon Smile" has also raised for us around an extra £400.00 as well.
I can also inform you that next year a certain, rather foolish person, who is old enough to know better has agreed to undertake a "loop the loop" wing walk, more details to follow!
Moving on, you will have heard or seen documents, flyers, booklets etc. on the 3 R’s, Recruitment, Reinvigoration & Retention. Some of the activities around these 3 R’s have included Mark Awareness Events, two having been held recently, resulting in over 25 new members. Two other events of a similar nature are being also being planned.
Because of this activity and Lodges Advancing those who have patiently waited, I can give you a quick update on our Membership figures. As you will see in the Meeting Booklet as at 31st August, 2021 our Membership stood at 1,298. As of the beginning of May it had increased to 1,349 and counting, the context to this is, in 2016, our membership was 1,290 so, even after the losses due to the Pandemic, we have a higher Membership now than Pre-Pandemic so once again, "thank you" all for your continued hard work and recruitment endeavours.
One of the initiatives under the umbrella of Retention was the introduction of the Provincial Keystone Lecture. This has proved a success and entries were whittled down to three. Of those final three, the judging panel and I have chosen this, the inaugural year's winner as R.W. Bro. Brian Vickers who had submitted a lecture entitled “The History and Development of the Mark Degree”
The two runners up were W.Bro. Geoff Waddoups with a Lecture entitled “Formation of the Mark Province of Essex” and W. Bro Ray McKerron with a Lecture entitled “A Portion of Holy Writ”. Congratulations to them as well.
Two of those Lectures will be available to use in Lodges and will be posted on the website.
The other initiative I want to mention briefly is the introduction of the Provincial Lodge of Instruction, more detail will be published shortly but the main points are:
- A centralised Province led Lodge of Instruction
- After a near two year lay-off a Provincial LOI is needed more now than ever.
- Held 4 times a year on the 3rd Sunday in September, November, February and April.
- To be held at the Chelmsford Masonic Hall, Central to the Province.
- Start at 10.00am and finish at midday.
- £1.00 fee from each attendee to be asked for to cover hall costs.
- LOI will be run by the Provincial Grand Director of Ceremonies, Dep Prov GDC and a team of volunteer Preceptors.
Brethren the Province is back up and running on all cylinders! Recruitment is going well and more Awareness Events are being planned. Please be part of it and make sure your Lodge participates.
Before I close, I would like to thank the Secretarial and Ceremonial Teams for their hard work to ensure today is a success, thank you guys wherever you are.
Lastly to all the Right Worshipful Brethren and the other guests for their support today
Brethren, thank you for listening and don’t forget to look out for Mauly on his travels.
