Provincial Grand Master's Address, 2019
Brethren as I come to the end of my fourth year as Provincial Grand Master for this wonderful Order and our Essex Mark Province, I should like to take the opportunity to thank you all for the support, warmth of welcome and hospitality I have received from you on my visits to your various Lodges. It is truly an honour and privilege to be your PGM and for your support I am most grateful.
I thank our many guests once again for their attendance today; the presence of our official guests and those other visitors adds a lot to this meeting. It highlights the fraternal friendship of our Order and adds weight and significance to our meeting for those appointed and promoted today.
I do, sincerely, congratulate those I have appointed and promoted this afternoon. Whilst these appointments and promotions are for past services, your presence and contributions in the future are crucial to maintain, not only our vibrant Province, but also your own Lodges. Please take on this additional responsibility with honour and integrity.
If you are an active officer, I look forward to your company on my official visits around the Province. I am confident that you will enjoy the warmth of welcome and the hospitality from those Lodges we visit.
I also thank those active Provincial Officers who have stood down today for their marvelous and generous support over the past year. I have enjoyed your company over the last year and I do, publicly, thank you once again.
I am pleased to inform you that at the two investiture meetings of Grand Lodge this year the Most Worshipful Grand Master will make appointments to and promotions within Grand Lodge to Essex Brethren as follows:
First appointments to Active Ranks:
Fred Sander, Mark of True Friendship No.1480, to Assistant Grand Standard Bearer
Glenn Remblance, Wyven No. 1333, to Grand Steward
First appointments to Past Rank:
John McCann, Essex Jubilee No. 1123, to Past Assistant Grand Sword Bearer
Pierre Waddoups, Love & Remembrance, No. 1718, to Past Asst. Grand Director of Ceremonies
Tony Goater, Love & Remembrance, No.1718, to Past Grand Standard Bearer
Promotions for:
Roger Wacey, Easterford No. 1781, to Past Grand Junior Overseer (now Very Worshipful)
Terry Morgan, Constantine No. 145, Past Grand Junior Deacon
Bob Todd, Upminster No.1195, Past Grand Junior Deacon
Charles White, Wyven No.1333, to Past Grand Junior Deacon.
And, although they are appointed via Grand Lodge they are all one of ours:
Dan Heath, White Stone No.864, re appointed as Assistant Grand Secretary
Len Millings, Khalsa Royal Oak Tree No. 1244, re appointed as Grand Tyler
Derek Mersh, Mark of Industry No.1413, a first appointment as Asst. Grand Inspector of Works
Brethren, I am sure that you will want to join with me in wishing all those brethren our heartiest congratulations.
I should now like to update you on other Provincial Matters. I am pleased to announce that this year’s Northern Cluster meeting will take place under the auspices of the St. Nicholas Lodge, No.413 at the Masonic Centre in Harwich on Thursday the 19th September 2019. For those of you who have not been to that particular Masonic Centre, Harwich is a fascinating building and well worth a visit although it has its own unique aroma; further details will follow nearer the time.
Likewise, and as the result of your feedback to move the officers mess around the Province, I can report that this year’s mess will be held on Friday the 22nd of November at the Kirby Cross Masonic Centre, the home of the Naze Tower Lodge.
Our annual golf day takes place on Friday 26th of July, again at the Stockbrook Manor. Should you would like to join us for golf, or just the evening events, please see the organiser W.Bro. Richard Goodwin or refer to the provincial website for full details.
Our provincial bonus ball scheme, introduced last year, continues to be successful and through your generosity has raised over £2,000 for the Essex Mark Welfare Fund allowing us to support local causes and needs.
Likewise, the preloved regalia sales have raised in excess of £1,200 this year with monies again supporting the Essex Mark Welfare Fund; so don’t forget you can buy good quality regalia for most orders straight from our website paying via paypal or credit/debit card.
Some of you may remember that last year W.Bro. Glen Remblance presented me with a most unexpected cheque for £2,000 raised by selling his masonic coasters. Well brethren, Glen has done it again this year in raising an even larger amount of £3,500! I thank you sincerely, Glen, raising £5,500 in two years is a truly amazing contribution. This will, however, be Glen’s last year for selling coasters as he feels they have run their course. So if you are interested in buying some please be quick as once they are gone, they are gone!
Your generosity allows us not only to continue supporting our local charities and brethren, but also enables me to make a further donation to the Craft 2022 Festival.
"Bro. Provincial Grand Director of Ceremonies please conduct W. Bro. Rodney Bass to me."
Provincial Grand Master, some weeks ago, I had the honour and privilege to be present at a meeting of the Crowstone Lodge to help them celebrate 40 years in Mark Masonry for that well-known Brother, V.W.Bro. Ray Fretten. At that meeting, the Lodge presented me with a cheque for £2,500, which they specifically asked it be earmarked for your Craft 2022 Festival.
We have also added a further £1,000 from the Essex Installed Mark Master’s Lodge and a further £9,500 from our Provincial Funds. This allows me to make a donation to you today of a further £13,000.
This is, as you know, our third donation towards your Craft 2022 Festival and brings our total to date to £25,000.
The Mark Province is grateful for your support and that of the other senior members of the Craft Province so it is only right we reciprocate that support not only to the Craft in general, but also to the 2022 festival. (W.Bro. Bass O.B.E., responded appropriately).
Brethren, as the result of the forthcoming changes recently announced by the Craft Provincial Grand Master and Grand Superintendent, Essex Mark will be privileged to have 9 of the 10 Craft Executive and all of the Executive Members of the Royal Arch as members of this Order. This is real support for the Fourth Regular Step in Freemasonry so, if you ever hear a brother say Mark Masonry is not real Masonry, you may like to point this out to them.
Our plans for further Lodges are progressing well and we anticipate Consecrating two Mark Lodges later this year. A Saturday morning “breakfast” Lodge, which will meet at three different locations in the North of the Province, if you would like further details please contact W.Bro. John Stannard. Also a “Military” Lodge which will meet twice a year, if you have served in the armed forces and would be interested in joining then please contact W.Bro. Bill Dyer or Ray McKerron. Again, details are also available on our website.
Work is also under way to reinvigorate an existing unused warrant for a “DC’s Lodge” any existing DC’s; ADC’s or those who aspire to one of those offices and/or improving their ritual skills and who may be interested in joining or attending please see either W.Bro. John Finlay, ProvGDC, or W.Bro. Michael West, ProvDepGDC.
Now, Brethren, last year I had the pleasure to introduce to you the “father” of our Province, the then 97yr old W.Bro. Wally Stevens; sadly, Brethren, you heard earlier that Wally passed away this year. So, today we have the new “father” of the Province, the oldest member is now a very young 96 yr. old W.Bro. Dick Caldwell, and “welcome”, Dick, thank you for attending.
Brethren, as well as having the father of the Province here today, we also have our most recent member, Bro. Tony Hicks who was Advanced into Beriffe Lodge just 2 weeks ago. Tony, we all welcome you into Mark, I thank you for your attendance today and we all wish you many happy years amongst us.
As always, I should now like to give you a quick update on our membership numbers as, by definition, the data in the meeting booklet is nearly a year out of date.
I can report that our Royal Ark Mariner Province remains the third largest Province in the English Constitution having increased our membership and member numbers further to a new record. There has been a gross increase of 4.3% to our membership and a 3.8% increase in our members since the end of year date published in the booklet.
This means our Royal Ark Mariner Membership and Member numbers in ratio to the Mark is now over 75%, which is an excellent achievement.
Our Mark also continues to grow and we have a 4.3% gross increase in our membership and a 7.9% gross increase in our members since the same end of year date. This is excellent news and I thank you all for your continued efforts.
Brethren, earlier, it was my pleasure to re appoint my Deputy and the two Assistant Provincial Grand Masters who continue to work tirelessly behind the scenes on your behalf.
Having confirmed my intention to reappointment them, V.W.Bro. Anthony Latham, the gent that he is, suggested I should start looking for a younger member to take his place. He felt that at 78 years of age he deserved a rest! So, after some long consideration, I have decided to let Tony retire!
As you know, it has been the custom in this Province to invest, appoint and install new Deputy and Assistant Provincial Grand Masters at our Installed Masters Lodge Meeting; this lodge is a significant Lodge in the Province with over 270 members.
By taking this approach it also frees up time at this meeting and adds additional weight and purpose to the Installed Masters Meeting. I can, therefore, announce it is my intention to Invest, Appoint and Install W.Bro. John Finlay as an Assistant Provincial Grand Master at the September meeting of the Essex Installed Mark Masters Lodge, No. 1044.
This meeting is open to all members of the Province to attend and is not restricted to Past Masters only. I do hope and expect every Lodge to be represented. Further details will be issued nearer the time about that meeting and further changes I intend to make.
Also, W.Bro. Derek Manister stands down today as Provincial Grand Treasurer after serving four years in that office. He says he wants to spend more time playing golf! During Derek’s term in office he has helped me put into place new processes to monitor Lodge, Provincial and Charity accounts. He leaves them all in excellent shape ready for our new Provincial Treasurer. Derek, I thank you for your support, assistance and expertise over the past four years.
W.Bro. Bob Todd also stands down today as Provincial Grand Tyler. He also works hard behind the scene and I should like to publicly thank him for his support over the past four years; thank you, Bob.
Now, some of you may have noticed two QR codes printed in the proceedings booklet; one black and the other red. These codes, when scanned by your mobile phone (but not now!), take you directly to either the Provincial Website or the Provincial Facebook page. By having these codes readily available I hope it helps you make more use of both these facilities. The Provincial Grand Secretary will be forwarding these codes to all Lodge Scribes and Secretaries and I ask you consider including these on your relevant Summonses; my thanks go to W.Bro Paul Thurgood for the idea.
Finally, Provincial Grand Lodge takes a tremendous amount of planning and I should therefore like to express my sincere thanks to the Provincial Secretariat and the Ceremonial Teams for the enormous amount of time and effort they have given to ensuring that our meeting today has run so smoothly. I should also like to thank the Combined Stewards Lodge and other helpers for giving up their time to ensure all the lodge furniture arrived; parking was organized; the Temple and the Festive Board were made ready et cetera. I do, sincerely, thank you all for your efforts.
I also thank those Lodges who provided their Lodge Banners; they make a perfect backdrop for our meeting.
I hope you have, or will take, the time to visit the displays set up for you today and would like to thank the Heads of the other Orders for supporting me in providing the displays and information for you to view.
W.Bro. Peter Nason has once again set up his photo studio down the corridor and will be available to take group or individual photos for you. He will print these out and send them to you for the small price of £5, this covers printing and posting costs with any excess being donated to the welfare fund.
This is your day, Brethren, it’s 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; 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 All and Mark Well!
I thank our many guests once again for their attendance today; the presence of our official guests and those other visitors adds a lot to this meeting. It highlights the fraternal friendship of our Order and adds weight and significance to our meeting for those appointed and promoted today.
I do, sincerely, congratulate those I have appointed and promoted this afternoon. Whilst these appointments and promotions are for past services, your presence and contributions in the future are crucial to maintain, not only our vibrant Province, but also your own Lodges. Please take on this additional responsibility with honour and integrity.
If you are an active officer, I look forward to your company on my official visits around the Province. I am confident that you will enjoy the warmth of welcome and the hospitality from those Lodges we visit.
I also thank those active Provincial Officers who have stood down today for their marvelous and generous support over the past year. I have enjoyed your company over the last year and I do, publicly, thank you once again.
I am pleased to inform you that at the two investiture meetings of Grand Lodge this year the Most Worshipful Grand Master will make appointments to and promotions within Grand Lodge to Essex Brethren as follows:
First appointments to Active Ranks:
Fred Sander, Mark of True Friendship No.1480, to Assistant Grand Standard Bearer
Glenn Remblance, Wyven No. 1333, to Grand Steward
First appointments to Past Rank:
John McCann, Essex Jubilee No. 1123, to Past Assistant Grand Sword Bearer
Pierre Waddoups, Love & Remembrance, No. 1718, to Past Asst. Grand Director of Ceremonies
Tony Goater, Love & Remembrance, No.1718, to Past Grand Standard Bearer
Promotions for:
Roger Wacey, Easterford No. 1781, to Past Grand Junior Overseer (now Very Worshipful)
Terry Morgan, Constantine No. 145, Past Grand Junior Deacon
Bob Todd, Upminster No.1195, Past Grand Junior Deacon
Charles White, Wyven No.1333, to Past Grand Junior Deacon.
And, although they are appointed via Grand Lodge they are all one of ours:
Dan Heath, White Stone No.864, re appointed as Assistant Grand Secretary
Len Millings, Khalsa Royal Oak Tree No. 1244, re appointed as Grand Tyler
Derek Mersh, Mark of Industry No.1413, a first appointment as Asst. Grand Inspector of Works
Brethren, I am sure that you will want to join with me in wishing all those brethren our heartiest congratulations.
I should now like to update you on other Provincial Matters. I am pleased to announce that this year’s Northern Cluster meeting will take place under the auspices of the St. Nicholas Lodge, No.413 at the Masonic Centre in Harwich on Thursday the 19th September 2019. For those of you who have not been to that particular Masonic Centre, Harwich is a fascinating building and well worth a visit although it has its own unique aroma; further details will follow nearer the time.
Likewise, and as the result of your feedback to move the officers mess around the Province, I can report that this year’s mess will be held on Friday the 22nd of November at the Kirby Cross Masonic Centre, the home of the Naze Tower Lodge.
Our annual golf day takes place on Friday 26th of July, again at the Stockbrook Manor. Should you would like to join us for golf, or just the evening events, please see the organiser W.Bro. Richard Goodwin or refer to the provincial website for full details.
Our provincial bonus ball scheme, introduced last year, continues to be successful and through your generosity has raised over £2,000 for the Essex Mark Welfare Fund allowing us to support local causes and needs.
Likewise, the preloved regalia sales have raised in excess of £1,200 this year with monies again supporting the Essex Mark Welfare Fund; so don’t forget you can buy good quality regalia for most orders straight from our website paying via paypal or credit/debit card.
Some of you may remember that last year W.Bro. Glen Remblance presented me with a most unexpected cheque for £2,000 raised by selling his masonic coasters. Well brethren, Glen has done it again this year in raising an even larger amount of £3,500! I thank you sincerely, Glen, raising £5,500 in two years is a truly amazing contribution. This will, however, be Glen’s last year for selling coasters as he feels they have run their course. So if you are interested in buying some please be quick as once they are gone, they are gone!
Your generosity allows us not only to continue supporting our local charities and brethren, but also enables me to make a further donation to the Craft 2022 Festival.
"Bro. Provincial Grand Director of Ceremonies please conduct W. Bro. Rodney Bass to me."
Provincial Grand Master, some weeks ago, I had the honour and privilege to be present at a meeting of the Crowstone Lodge to help them celebrate 40 years in Mark Masonry for that well-known Brother, V.W.Bro. Ray Fretten. At that meeting, the Lodge presented me with a cheque for £2,500, which they specifically asked it be earmarked for your Craft 2022 Festival.
We have also added a further £1,000 from the Essex Installed Mark Master’s Lodge and a further £9,500 from our Provincial Funds. This allows me to make a donation to you today of a further £13,000.
This is, as you know, our third donation towards your Craft 2022 Festival and brings our total to date to £25,000.
The Mark Province is grateful for your support and that of the other senior members of the Craft Province so it is only right we reciprocate that support not only to the Craft in general, but also to the 2022 festival. (W.Bro. Bass O.B.E., responded appropriately).
Brethren, as the result of the forthcoming changes recently announced by the Craft Provincial Grand Master and Grand Superintendent, Essex Mark will be privileged to have 9 of the 10 Craft Executive and all of the Executive Members of the Royal Arch as members of this Order. This is real support for the Fourth Regular Step in Freemasonry so, if you ever hear a brother say Mark Masonry is not real Masonry, you may like to point this out to them.
Our plans for further Lodges are progressing well and we anticipate Consecrating two Mark Lodges later this year. A Saturday morning “breakfast” Lodge, which will meet at three different locations in the North of the Province, if you would like further details please contact W.Bro. John Stannard. Also a “Military” Lodge which will meet twice a year, if you have served in the armed forces and would be interested in joining then please contact W.Bro. Bill Dyer or Ray McKerron. Again, details are also available on our website.
Work is also under way to reinvigorate an existing unused warrant for a “DC’s Lodge” any existing DC’s; ADC’s or those who aspire to one of those offices and/or improving their ritual skills and who may be interested in joining or attending please see either W.Bro. John Finlay, ProvGDC, or W.Bro. Michael West, ProvDepGDC.
Now, Brethren, last year I had the pleasure to introduce to you the “father” of our Province, the then 97yr old W.Bro. Wally Stevens; sadly, Brethren, you heard earlier that Wally passed away this year. So, today we have the new “father” of the Province, the oldest member is now a very young 96 yr. old W.Bro. Dick Caldwell, and “welcome”, Dick, thank you for attending.
Brethren, as well as having the father of the Province here today, we also have our most recent member, Bro. Tony Hicks who was Advanced into Beriffe Lodge just 2 weeks ago. Tony, we all welcome you into Mark, I thank you for your attendance today and we all wish you many happy years amongst us.
As always, I should now like to give you a quick update on our membership numbers as, by definition, the data in the meeting booklet is nearly a year out of date.
I can report that our Royal Ark Mariner Province remains the third largest Province in the English Constitution having increased our membership and member numbers further to a new record. There has been a gross increase of 4.3% to our membership and a 3.8% increase in our members since the end of year date published in the booklet.
This means our Royal Ark Mariner Membership and Member numbers in ratio to the Mark is now over 75%, which is an excellent achievement.
Our Mark also continues to grow and we have a 4.3% gross increase in our membership and a 7.9% gross increase in our members since the same end of year date. This is excellent news and I thank you all for your continued efforts.
Brethren, earlier, it was my pleasure to re appoint my Deputy and the two Assistant Provincial Grand Masters who continue to work tirelessly behind the scenes on your behalf.
Having confirmed my intention to reappointment them, V.W.Bro. Anthony Latham, the gent that he is, suggested I should start looking for a younger member to take his place. He felt that at 78 years of age he deserved a rest! So, after some long consideration, I have decided to let Tony retire!
As you know, it has been the custom in this Province to invest, appoint and install new Deputy and Assistant Provincial Grand Masters at our Installed Masters Lodge Meeting; this lodge is a significant Lodge in the Province with over 270 members.
By taking this approach it also frees up time at this meeting and adds additional weight and purpose to the Installed Masters Meeting. I can, therefore, announce it is my intention to Invest, Appoint and Install W.Bro. John Finlay as an Assistant Provincial Grand Master at the September meeting of the Essex Installed Mark Masters Lodge, No. 1044.
This meeting is open to all members of the Province to attend and is not restricted to Past Masters only. I do hope and expect every Lodge to be represented. Further details will be issued nearer the time about that meeting and further changes I intend to make.
Also, W.Bro. Derek Manister stands down today as Provincial Grand Treasurer after serving four years in that office. He says he wants to spend more time playing golf! During Derek’s term in office he has helped me put into place new processes to monitor Lodge, Provincial and Charity accounts. He leaves them all in excellent shape ready for our new Provincial Treasurer. Derek, I thank you for your support, assistance and expertise over the past four years.
W.Bro. Bob Todd also stands down today as Provincial Grand Tyler. He also works hard behind the scene and I should like to publicly thank him for his support over the past four years; thank you, Bob.
Now, some of you may have noticed two QR codes printed in the proceedings booklet; one black and the other red. These codes, when scanned by your mobile phone (but not now!), take you directly to either the Provincial Website or the Provincial Facebook page. By having these codes readily available I hope it helps you make more use of both these facilities. The Provincial Grand Secretary will be forwarding these codes to all Lodge Scribes and Secretaries and I ask you consider including these on your relevant Summonses; my thanks go to W.Bro Paul Thurgood for the idea.
Finally, Provincial Grand Lodge takes a tremendous amount of planning and I should therefore like to express my sincere thanks to the Provincial Secretariat and the Ceremonial Teams for the enormous amount of time and effort they have given to ensuring that our meeting today has run so smoothly. I should also like to thank the Combined Stewards Lodge and other helpers for giving up their time to ensure all the lodge furniture arrived; parking was organized; the Temple and the Festive Board were made ready et cetera. I do, sincerely, thank you all for your efforts.
I also thank those Lodges who provided their Lodge Banners; they make a perfect backdrop for our meeting.
I hope you have, or will take, the time to visit the displays set up for you today and would like to thank the Heads of the other Orders for supporting me in providing the displays and information for you to view.
W.Bro. Peter Nason has once again set up his photo studio down the corridor and will be available to take group or individual photos for you. He will print these out and send them to you for the small price of £5, this covers printing and posting costs with any excess being donated to the welfare fund.
This is your day, Brethren, it’s 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; 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 All and Mark Well!
