Newsletter
Spring 2007
From: W Bro Philip Hoy Provincial Information Officer
New Mark Provincial Grand Stewards Lodge No. 1880 Consecrated
On Friday 20th October 2006 at Halsey Masonic Hall, Cheshunt the consecration took place of the newest Mark Lodge in Hertfordshire with the Provincial Grand Master R.W Bro Keith Emmerson as the Consecrating Officer.
For some time the Mark executive have considered the possibility of having a working Lodge to help with the various duties and functions through the year. As with the Craft and the Royal Arch, it was decided to make use of a Provincial Grand Stewards and thus the need for a separate lodge was born.
The founders were made up of existing Mark Provincial Grand Stewards and Mark Masosn who were Stewards in either the Craft or the Royal Arch.
The Brethren were assembled in the Lodge Room and at 4.00 p.m precisely the R W Provincial Grand Master, Bro H Keith Emmerson, accompanied by the Deputy Provincial Grand Master W Bro John Oakley-Smith, and the rest of the Assisting Officers entered the Lodge under the direction of the Deputy Provincial Grand Director of Ceremonies W Bro Peter Hughes.
The R W Provincial Grand Master then Consecrated the Provincial Grand Stewards Lodge of Mark Master Masons No.1880 before handing the chair over to W Bro John Oakley-Smith, Deputy Provincial Grand Master and Installing Officer.
The Master Designate, V W Bro Brian Gerald Tierney was Installed into the chair of Adoniram by the Installing Officer in due and ancient form.
Members of the Lodge
W Bro Michael Roff was invested as Immediate Past Master and the Master appointed and invested the remainder of his Officers.
The R W Provincial Grand Master then performed the first act within the new Lodge by investing W Bro Murray Rose as Provincial Grand Junior Warden and W Bro James Innes as Provincial Grand Almoner as these Brethren had been absent from the Annual Provincial Meeting.
Also present as guests of the Province and the Lodge were R W Bro Harry Arnold PGM (Bedfordshire), .W.Bro Colin Harris PAGDC (PGM Hertfordshire Craft) as guests of the Province, W Bro Andrew Yellowlees and W Bro Chris Lewis WM and Secretary of Prince Michael of Kent Lodge No.1720 (Middlesex),W Bro John Knox W Bro Frank Powell WM and Secretary of London Mark Provincial Grand Stewards Lodge No.1870 as guests of the Lodge. There were 51 further guests making a total of 105 present.
All in all a splendid day and a milestone for the Mark Province of Hertfordshire.
Mark Masons of Hertfordshire Scholarships.
Once again the Mark in Hertfordshire leads the way in what could be considered one of the biggest outreach programmes we have yet undertaken.
As announced at last years Provincial Grand Lodge meeting, the province had arranged for 2 scholarships to be offered to Mature students at the University of Hertfordshire. The basis for the award was that the university would themselves select the students to receive the award which would consist of £1,000 each per year for the three years of the course.
The two recipients of the award have now been selected and they have kindly given their permission to be identified. They are Jennifer Polley who is taking a BSc in Palliative Care and Natalie Sawyer who is taking a BEd in Primary Education.
L-R John Oakley-Smith, Keith Emmerson, Natalie Sawyer, Jennifer Polley, Colin Hellyer and Chris Radmore
Jennifer is a trained Nurse and currently works as a volunteer at Grove House Hospice. She thanks us for helping her to complete her studies and hopes to move into palliative care at the end of them.
Natalie is described as an excellent Student and she too is thrilled to have been selected for this award.
The Provincial Grand Master is delighted with the standard of candidates selected and will watch their progress with keen interest.
We are hoping the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Tim Wilson, will be our guest of honour at dinner at the Annual meeting of PGL. The PGM have invited him and hopes he will give us a short presentation of the benefits we are providing by our Scholarship donation.
Celebrating Success
Note: this article was written by the University of Hertfordshire and dated 16th APril 2007.
As supporters of two scholarships at the University of Hertfordshire, last month the Hertfordshire Mark Masons were invited to ‘Celebrating Success’ – the university’s annual ‘donor thank you’ event – which was held in their new Health Research Building on College Lane campus.
Provincial Grand Secretary Chris Radmore, John Oakley-Smith, Keith Emmerson and Colin Hellyer, attended the event, where they chatted to the high-achieving students the Mark Masons are currently supporting; Natalie Sawyer and Jenny Polley.
With over one hundred guests in attendance the event was a huge success, and featured presentations from donors, students, and the Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Tim Wilson. Those invited were shown around the facilities in the state of the art Medical Simulation Centre, and exhibits from some of the key faculties in which the University of Hertfordshire is really excelling; robotic and Formula 1 engineering, film special effects modelling, and demonstrations from Herts Sports Village and a nominee for BBC Radio 2’s ‘Young Folk Musician of the Year’.
The evening was a chance for sponsoring organisations and individuals to meet with the students in receipt of their scholarship awards, giving them the opportunity to chat about how their course is going, and how else they may be able to help them to prepare for the future. For the students themselves, it was a chance to say thank you in person, and really acknowledge the contribution donors like the Herts Mark Masons are making to their studies.
The University of Hertfordshire has over one hundred scholarships currently being supported across a host of disciplines and courses, and the programme really does offer the most promising individuals a further step up to a successful career.
If you would like to find out more about the University’s Scholarship Programme, please call the UH Development Officer, Joanne Wearne on 01707 281273, or email j.r.wearne@herts.ac.uk.
Charity News
The current Mark initiative of supporting local charities with possible support from the Provincial Mark Benevolent Fund continues apace.
The Provincial Grand Charity Steward, W.BroWarren Vinecor is delighted to report that the idea of supporting a local deserving Charity is being supported by the brethren. He gives as examples:
William Hamilton Underhill Lodge No.926. A donation of £300 to the Greenside School Stevenage. With a PMBF contribution of £300 Total £600
Stevenage Lodge No.1404 A donation of £98 to the Lonsdale School Stevenage. With a PMBF contribution of £102.Total £200
Watford Lodge No.241 a donation of £250 to Watford Mencap. With a PMBF contribution of £250 Total £500
The Province has also given a direct donation of £1000 to the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice in Barnet.
50 Years in the RAM
On the 4th March 1957. W Bro A John Holmes, BEM, ProvRAMGR a Past Commander of Halsey No 1489, was elevated into the RAM degree
Members of the Provincial Executive and members of Halsey RAM Lodge No 1489.travelled to Devon to honour John as he celebrated the 50th anniversary of his elevation into the RAM
Because John (now aged 91) finds travelling difficult, the Province made the presentation of a silver salver to John in a meeting of the True Love and Unity RAM Lodge No 1159 meeting at Brixham, Devon. This is the nearest RAM Lodge to John, who lives in Paignton.
This meeting was also attended by RW Bro Peter Hawken, PGM of Devonshire, W Bro David Lee, Deputy PGM of Devonshire, RW Bro David Owen, Past PGM of Devonshire and W Bro Ken Keast, Provincial Grand Secretary of Devonshire.
Last Years 150th Anniversary of the Mark Degree
Enough has been said about the Anniversary and what a splendid occasion it was however, I felt that this photo was worthy of publication.
The picture of a cheque for £3,000,000 being presented to the National Osteoporos Society speaks for itself and is an answer to anyone who asks what good do we actually do. This is something all Mark Mason can be proud of.
No News is No News
To me as Provincial Information Officer, the biggest mystery in Freemasonry is how do you get anybody to keep you informed of what is going on. I know Lodge Secretaries and members of the executive must be fed up with me going on about lack of news from the Lodges.
I put this point to our PGM recently and he has suggested that in order to ease the burden on overworked secretaries, Lodges might consider appointing a Lodge Information Officer whose sole responsibility would be to keep the Provincial Information Officer informed about anything interesting happening in the Lodge, which could be considered for publication.
I would ask all of you to discuss this suggestion with your Master and the brethren of your Lodge as soon as possible please.
These pages are for you to find out what is happening across the Province, not just from the Provincial Office. Any news from Mark Lodges and RAM Lodges, whether Masonic or not, will be considered for publication. As always my contact detail are on this page.
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Items of news should be sent to Philip Hoy at info@hertsmark.org or by fax to 01279 817793.
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