Brethren, may I start by thanking you all for attending today. I really do appreciate it, and I know those who have received honours today will also have valued your support. To have such a significant number of brethren all participating and singing together is, in my view, a truly rousing and emotional thing.
Whilst I have already formally welcomed our guests; many of whom have travelled a long distance to be with us today; I say, one more, “thank you again for your attendance”. Your presence always adds such a lot to these meetings and highlights the fraternal friendship of this wonderful order.
It is only right that I now congratulate all those I have just invested with Provincial Grand Rank, especially those receiving first appointments. Brethren, thank you for your continued support; I hope you enjoy the rest of your day. Please remember, though, that with Provincial Rank comes great responsibility. Your continued support at Provincial and Lodge level is crucial to ensure that we, as a Mark Province, continue to thrive and adapt in an ever changing environment. Your support, guidance and mentoring of others will help to create and maintain happy Lodges and, in turn, a truly vibrant Province.
I would also like to put on record my thanks to my Deputy Provincial Grand Master, W.Bro. Richard Bowyer, and to both of my Assistant Provincial Grand Masters, W. Bros. Roger Wacey and John Emmerick, for their continued wise counsel and advice throughout the year and their invaluable assistance in helping this Province accomplish the changes implemented this past year.
Brethren, I am now pleased to inform you that at the annual investiture meeting of Grand Lodge, to be held on the 7th June, The Most Worshipful Grand Master will make appointments to and promotions within Grand Lodge to the following Essex brethren:
W.Bro. Derek Mannister: appointed Past Grand Sword Bearer.
W.Bro. Jeffrey Conway: appointed Past Asst. Grand Director of Ceremonies.
W. Bro. Peter Lindell: appointed Past Asst. Grand Sword Bearer.
W. Bro. David Mathews: appointed Past Grand Standard Bearer
W. Bro. John Waters: appointed Past Asst. Grand Standard Bearer
To be appointed as Grand Steward is W. Bro. Charles White who, as you know, has served the Province extremely well as Deputy Provincial Grand Director of Ceremonies, to him I say, thank you and well done, Charles.
To be promoted are:
W.Bro. David Embling and W. Bro. David Garston to Past Grand Junior Overseer; entitling them to the honorific of Very Worshipful.
W. Bro. Jeff Bennett to Past Grand Senior Deacon.
W. Bro. John Emmerick and W. Bro. Charles Lowry to Past Grand Junior Deacon.
I also congratulate those brethren whom The Most Worshipful Grand Master appointed to Royal Ark Mariner Grand Rank last December together with those brethren I had the pleasure of investing with Provincial Royal Ark Mariner Grand Rank at the meeting of the Essex Enthroned Commanders Lodge in March.
I am sure, brethren, that you join me in wishing them our heartiest congratulations on their promotions and forthcoming preferment.
Brethren, this last year has gone so quickly and we have seen many of the initiatives I announced at last year’s meeting come to fruition. The first North Essex cluster meeting took place in October at Clacton on Sea and was hosted by Aurelius Lodge where over 70 brethren attended a wonderful and very successful meeting. Because of this success and the apparent continued appetite for such a meeting, I can confirm that the next cluster meeting will take place on Wednesday 5th October 2016 at the Tollesbury Masonic Centre and will be hosted by Saxon Shore Lodge, who will also be celebrating their 50th year anniversary . Places will be restricted so please, book early.
The new Ritual Volunteer Team is now in place and many of its members have been called upon to assist lodges perform ceremonies. Please remember this team if you have a meeting, especially one with a candidate, and may be struggling to fill all the offices. Team members are very happy to assist you where they can and do so at their own expense to help ensure candidates get the best possible ceremony.
The Active Provincial Officers have accompanied me on all my official visits and we have been generously welcomed by all the Lodges we have visited. I really do believe the presence of the Active Officers adds to the occasion of those visits for the hosting lodge. When I announced this initiative last year it would be fair to say there was the odd doubting Thomas or two! Brethren, the support I received was overwhelming, with 20 or more officers accompanying me on every visit; even on a cold bleak winters January evening to Harwich! Although I have said this many times throughout the year, I would like to place on record my sincere thanks for the magnificent support that I; the Lodges and the Province has received from them all. I say to the active officers I have just invested that the bar has been set very high, although I have every confidence you will equal it and I look forward to your company on my future visits.
Brethren, most of you will be aware that the DPGM has run a number of Awareness Evenings across our Province. As the direct result of his efforts and those who helped him I can report we have now either Advanced, or will be Advancing, around an additional 40 candidates; many to Lodges that may have been struggling. Richard, I and the Province as a whole, are indebted to you, thank you! I have decided we will run these evenings again this next year to try and meet members of Lodges missed last time around. I then envisage this becoming a bi annual event.
It is also true to say we still have a few struggling lodges, one such lodge has now become the Combined Stewards Lodge which is going from strength to strength. With already over 40 members, The Lodge will be carrying out a Double Advancement in a few weeks with more candidates to follow. Unfortunately, however, Fillebrook Lodge will be surrendering their warrant next month as the members felt they were unable to sustain the Lodge with so few active members. I have therefore asked APGM, Roger Wacey to look into the feasibility of using this warrant to turn the Lodge into a “Fine Dining Lodge”; which will meet twice a year at a location or locations to be determined. We will, of course, keep you updated on progress.
Brethren, before I move on to charitable issues, I should like to congratulate the Chelmer Lodge on having their new banner dedicated a few months ago, it was a splendid occasion enjoyed by all present. In relation to charity, it is my intention to continue to support the Hope for Tomorrow charity and, as many of you will already know, Colchester NHS is to become the latest recipient of one of the mobile chemotherapy units and support vehicle. I was hoping the vehicle was going to be here today for you to see but, unfortunately, it is not available as it is still being commissioned. I am also conscious of the saying that charity begins at home and we will of course continue to support our brothers in need and other requests from local organizations and charities. I have thought for some time how important it is to support local charities and I know many of you do so via your lodges; long may that continue.
I am also of the view that we as a large Province could also support a local charity on a longer, more formal, basis to help provide some stability to that charity and its volunteers. On your seats, therefore, you will have found an information sheet relating to one such charity, SHAPE. This is a small charity that provides support throughout our Province to children suffering from Asperger Syndrome. Relatively small amounts of money can do so much to help. I have, therefore, asked the trustees to consider supporting this charity on a year by year basis dependent upon need and I will report back to you throughout the year on how we can or have provided assistance. I trust you agree this is a worthwhile charity which deserves our support.
Whilst on the subject of charity you will, of course, be aware of our Craft Tercentenary appeal and will, no doubt, have made donations through your Craft and Royal Arch Lodges and Chapters and on an individual basis.
I believe, however, that it is only right that this Mark Province should also show our support to the Craft whenever we can, I should, therefore, like to make a presentation on your behalf to our Craft PGM, R.W. Bro. Rodney Bass; on that basis, Brother Provincial Director of Ceremonies would you please escort R.W. Bro. Bass to me. (A presentation of a cheque in the sum of £2000 was then made, for which the Craft PGM thanked the Mark Province)
Whilst still on the subject of charity, I am able to announce our website regalia sales has now received in excess of £600 in the 12 months it has been running. So please remember we are always eager to receive unwanted regalia to sell; and remember that not only Mark regalia, but that for many other Orders is available. Please look on the website if you are receiving a promotion (and consider donating your current regalia) or joining another order and also remind new candidates to look as well. Proceeds are all donated to the Essex Mark Welfare Fund.
Brethren, meetings of this Provincial Grand Lodge take a tremendous amount of planning and I therefore express my profound thanks to both the Provincial Secretariat and Ceremonial teams for the enormous amount of time and effort they have given to ensuring that our meeting today has run so smoothly. I also thank the furniture removal team for giving up their time to ensure all the lodge furniture arrived and was put in place and to the other brethren who arrived early this afternoon in order to direct us to our car-parking spaces. Thank you all.
I hope you have, or will have, taken the time to visit the displays set up for you today. I thank W.Bro. Pierre Waddoups for organising and setting up the historical records of the Province; also all the Heads of other Orders for their support in providing displays and information. I trust, brethren, you find them both interesting and informative and that one or two of you may have taken away application forms. This is your day, Brethren, it is an occasion to celebrate appointments and promotions and also an occasion to celebrate our Order in general and to promote the fraternal friendship we all enjoy. To my mind the co-operation we have received from the other orders truly highlights the full extent of that fraternal friendship.
We in Essex are very privileged to have a vibrant and active membership of all ages and today, Brethren, is no exception. I would like to introduce to you one of our members without, I trust, causing him any embarrassment. I therefore introduce you to W. Bro. Walter Stevens, and I hope he doesn’t mind me telling you this but Walter is the oldest member of the province at 96 years young, Walter joined the Tudor Mark Lodge in 1952 and is still an active office holder and attendee at his lodge. It’s a real pleasure to see you here today Walter and thank you for making the effort.
At the other end of the scale I was going to introduce to you Bro. Billy-Joe Nash who, at 29 years, is the youngest member. Unfortunately he had to drop out last night as his wife is in hospital. The point I make, is that with a membership of this range and quality I am confident our Mark Degree will continue to remain strong in an ever changing world and something we should be proud of and emphasise whenever we can to those “ordinary” brethren yet to join the Mark Degree.
Before I finish I should like to take this opportunity to give you a couple of “parish notices”.
Firstly, our annual golf day takes place on the 17th of this month at the Stock Brook Manor, whilst all the golfing positions have been filled; there is still room for anyone who wants to come to the evening meal and entertainment. If you are interested please see the organiser, W.Bro Richard Goodwin or refer to the provincial website where you will find full details and a booking form. Whilst I am very pleased to say we have the support again this year from other provinces, will the golfers among you please promise me that they will not allow Kent to win so many prizes again this year!
Secondly,the Provincial Officer’s Mess will be held at Saxon Hall on Friday the 25th November and presided over by our newly invested Provincial Grand Junior Warden, W. Bro. Bill Dyer so please put the date in your dairies and come and support him and the Province.
Thirdly, it is my intention to dedicate a new Provincial Bible at the Essex Installed Mark Masters meeting on the 8th September at Saxon Hall. All will be welcome and more details will be made available nearer the time.
Fourth, and last, Brethren, as always please remember to continue to support the Craft and encourage new initiates where you can. I don’t need to tell you that the Craft remains the foundation of Freemasonry. By working closely with each other, together we can help recruit new members and, just as important, we can also help retain them as well.
Brethren, thank you for listening to me and for your continued support; I look forward to being with you during my visits throughout the year
Thank you.
Whilst I have already formally welcomed our guests; many of whom have travelled a long distance to be with us today; I say, one more, “thank you again for your attendance”. Your presence always adds such a lot to these meetings and highlights the fraternal friendship of this wonderful order.
It is only right that I now congratulate all those I have just invested with Provincial Grand Rank, especially those receiving first appointments. Brethren, thank you for your continued support; I hope you enjoy the rest of your day. Please remember, though, that with Provincial Rank comes great responsibility. Your continued support at Provincial and Lodge level is crucial to ensure that we, as a Mark Province, continue to thrive and adapt in an ever changing environment. Your support, guidance and mentoring of others will help to create and maintain happy Lodges and, in turn, a truly vibrant Province.
I would also like to put on record my thanks to my Deputy Provincial Grand Master, W.Bro. Richard Bowyer, and to both of my Assistant Provincial Grand Masters, W. Bros. Roger Wacey and John Emmerick, for their continued wise counsel and advice throughout the year and their invaluable assistance in helping this Province accomplish the changes implemented this past year.
Brethren, I am now pleased to inform you that at the annual investiture meeting of Grand Lodge, to be held on the 7th June, The Most Worshipful Grand Master will make appointments to and promotions within Grand Lodge to the following Essex brethren:
W.Bro. Derek Mannister: appointed Past Grand Sword Bearer.
W.Bro. Jeffrey Conway: appointed Past Asst. Grand Director of Ceremonies.
W. Bro. Peter Lindell: appointed Past Asst. Grand Sword Bearer.
W. Bro. David Mathews: appointed Past Grand Standard Bearer
W. Bro. John Waters: appointed Past Asst. Grand Standard Bearer
To be appointed as Grand Steward is W. Bro. Charles White who, as you know, has served the Province extremely well as Deputy Provincial Grand Director of Ceremonies, to him I say, thank you and well done, Charles.
To be promoted are:
W.Bro. David Embling and W. Bro. David Garston to Past Grand Junior Overseer; entitling them to the honorific of Very Worshipful.
W. Bro. Jeff Bennett to Past Grand Senior Deacon.
W. Bro. John Emmerick and W. Bro. Charles Lowry to Past Grand Junior Deacon.
I also congratulate those brethren whom The Most Worshipful Grand Master appointed to Royal Ark Mariner Grand Rank last December together with those brethren I had the pleasure of investing with Provincial Royal Ark Mariner Grand Rank at the meeting of the Essex Enthroned Commanders Lodge in March.
I am sure, brethren, that you join me in wishing them our heartiest congratulations on their promotions and forthcoming preferment.
Brethren, this last year has gone so quickly and we have seen many of the initiatives I announced at last year’s meeting come to fruition. The first North Essex cluster meeting took place in October at Clacton on Sea and was hosted by Aurelius Lodge where over 70 brethren attended a wonderful and very successful meeting. Because of this success and the apparent continued appetite for such a meeting, I can confirm that the next cluster meeting will take place on Wednesday 5th October 2016 at the Tollesbury Masonic Centre and will be hosted by Saxon Shore Lodge, who will also be celebrating their 50th year anniversary . Places will be restricted so please, book early.
The new Ritual Volunteer Team is now in place and many of its members have been called upon to assist lodges perform ceremonies. Please remember this team if you have a meeting, especially one with a candidate, and may be struggling to fill all the offices. Team members are very happy to assist you where they can and do so at their own expense to help ensure candidates get the best possible ceremony.
The Active Provincial Officers have accompanied me on all my official visits and we have been generously welcomed by all the Lodges we have visited. I really do believe the presence of the Active Officers adds to the occasion of those visits for the hosting lodge. When I announced this initiative last year it would be fair to say there was the odd doubting Thomas or two! Brethren, the support I received was overwhelming, with 20 or more officers accompanying me on every visit; even on a cold bleak winters January evening to Harwich! Although I have said this many times throughout the year, I would like to place on record my sincere thanks for the magnificent support that I; the Lodges and the Province has received from them all. I say to the active officers I have just invested that the bar has been set very high, although I have every confidence you will equal it and I look forward to your company on my future visits.
Brethren, most of you will be aware that the DPGM has run a number of Awareness Evenings across our Province. As the direct result of his efforts and those who helped him I can report we have now either Advanced, or will be Advancing, around an additional 40 candidates; many to Lodges that may have been struggling. Richard, I and the Province as a whole, are indebted to you, thank you! I have decided we will run these evenings again this next year to try and meet members of Lodges missed last time around. I then envisage this becoming a bi annual event.
It is also true to say we still have a few struggling lodges, one such lodge has now become the Combined Stewards Lodge which is going from strength to strength. With already over 40 members, The Lodge will be carrying out a Double Advancement in a few weeks with more candidates to follow. Unfortunately, however, Fillebrook Lodge will be surrendering their warrant next month as the members felt they were unable to sustain the Lodge with so few active members. I have therefore asked APGM, Roger Wacey to look into the feasibility of using this warrant to turn the Lodge into a “Fine Dining Lodge”; which will meet twice a year at a location or locations to be determined. We will, of course, keep you updated on progress.
Brethren, before I move on to charitable issues, I should like to congratulate the Chelmer Lodge on having their new banner dedicated a few months ago, it was a splendid occasion enjoyed by all present. In relation to charity, it is my intention to continue to support the Hope for Tomorrow charity and, as many of you will already know, Colchester NHS is to become the latest recipient of one of the mobile chemotherapy units and support vehicle. I was hoping the vehicle was going to be here today for you to see but, unfortunately, it is not available as it is still being commissioned. I am also conscious of the saying that charity begins at home and we will of course continue to support our brothers in need and other requests from local organizations and charities. I have thought for some time how important it is to support local charities and I know many of you do so via your lodges; long may that continue.
I am also of the view that we as a large Province could also support a local charity on a longer, more formal, basis to help provide some stability to that charity and its volunteers. On your seats, therefore, you will have found an information sheet relating to one such charity, SHAPE. This is a small charity that provides support throughout our Province to children suffering from Asperger Syndrome. Relatively small amounts of money can do so much to help. I have, therefore, asked the trustees to consider supporting this charity on a year by year basis dependent upon need and I will report back to you throughout the year on how we can or have provided assistance. I trust you agree this is a worthwhile charity which deserves our support.
Whilst on the subject of charity you will, of course, be aware of our Craft Tercentenary appeal and will, no doubt, have made donations through your Craft and Royal Arch Lodges and Chapters and on an individual basis.
I believe, however, that it is only right that this Mark Province should also show our support to the Craft whenever we can, I should, therefore, like to make a presentation on your behalf to our Craft PGM, R.W. Bro. Rodney Bass; on that basis, Brother Provincial Director of Ceremonies would you please escort R.W. Bro. Bass to me. (A presentation of a cheque in the sum of £2000 was then made, for which the Craft PGM thanked the Mark Province)
Whilst still on the subject of charity, I am able to announce our website regalia sales has now received in excess of £600 in the 12 months it has been running. So please remember we are always eager to receive unwanted regalia to sell; and remember that not only Mark regalia, but that for many other Orders is available. Please look on the website if you are receiving a promotion (and consider donating your current regalia) or joining another order and also remind new candidates to look as well. Proceeds are all donated to the Essex Mark Welfare Fund.
Brethren, meetings of this Provincial Grand Lodge take a tremendous amount of planning and I therefore express my profound thanks to both the Provincial Secretariat and Ceremonial teams for the enormous amount of time and effort they have given to ensuring that our meeting today has run so smoothly. I also thank the furniture removal team for giving up their time to ensure all the lodge furniture arrived and was put in place and to the other brethren who arrived early this afternoon in order to direct us to our car-parking spaces. Thank you all.
I hope you have, or will have, taken the time to visit the displays set up for you today. I thank W.Bro. Pierre Waddoups for organising and setting up the historical records of the Province; also all the Heads of other Orders for their support in providing displays and information. I trust, brethren, you find them both interesting and informative and that one or two of you may have taken away application forms. This is your day, Brethren, it is an occasion to celebrate appointments and promotions and also an occasion to celebrate our Order in general and to promote the fraternal friendship we all enjoy. To my mind the co-operation we have received from the other orders truly highlights the full extent of that fraternal friendship.
We in Essex are very privileged to have a vibrant and active membership of all ages and today, Brethren, is no exception. I would like to introduce to you one of our members without, I trust, causing him any embarrassment. I therefore introduce you to W. Bro. Walter Stevens, and I hope he doesn’t mind me telling you this but Walter is the oldest member of the province at 96 years young, Walter joined the Tudor Mark Lodge in 1952 and is still an active office holder and attendee at his lodge. It’s a real pleasure to see you here today Walter and thank you for making the effort.
At the other end of the scale I was going to introduce to you Bro. Billy-Joe Nash who, at 29 years, is the youngest member. Unfortunately he had to drop out last night as his wife is in hospital. The point I make, is that with a membership of this range and quality I am confident our Mark Degree will continue to remain strong in an ever changing world and something we should be proud of and emphasise whenever we can to those “ordinary” brethren yet to join the Mark Degree.
Before I finish I should like to take this opportunity to give you a couple of “parish notices”.
Firstly, our annual golf day takes place on the 17th of this month at the Stock Brook Manor, whilst all the golfing positions have been filled; there is still room for anyone who wants to come to the evening meal and entertainment. If you are interested please see the organiser, W.Bro Richard Goodwin or refer to the provincial website where you will find full details and a booking form. Whilst I am very pleased to say we have the support again this year from other provinces, will the golfers among you please promise me that they will not allow Kent to win so many prizes again this year!
Secondly,the Provincial Officer’s Mess will be held at Saxon Hall on Friday the 25th November and presided over by our newly invested Provincial Grand Junior Warden, W. Bro. Bill Dyer so please put the date in your dairies and come and support him and the Province.
Thirdly, it is my intention to dedicate a new Provincial Bible at the Essex Installed Mark Masters meeting on the 8th September at Saxon Hall. All will be welcome and more details will be made available nearer the time.
Fourth, and last, Brethren, as always please remember to continue to support the Craft and encourage new initiates where you can. I don’t need to tell you that the Craft remains the foundation of Freemasonry. By working closely with each other, together we can help recruit new members and, just as important, we can also help retain them as well.
Brethren, thank you for listening to me and for your continued support; I look forward to being with you during my visits throughout the year
Thank you.
