R W Provincial Grand Master's Address
to
Provincial Grand Lodge
2009
Brethren, a warm welcome to you all and especially to our visitors; I have already welcomed our distinguished visitors from other Provinces and from other Orders within Hertfordshire, and I am delighted to welcome all our other visitors to “Happy Hertfordshire,” I hope you will enjoy your time with us today.
I congratulate all those brethren whom I have had the privilege of investing with Provincial Grand rank this afternoon. You have all earned your new ranks by the hard work and enthusiasm you have shown for Mark Masonry in your respective Lodges and throughout the Province, but your work does not stop here. We look to you to continue promoting the Degree and giving help, support and encouragement to the other members of your Lodges.
Brethren, Provincial honours are not awarded automatically and they are not given out lightly. Considerable thought and discussion goes into preparing the list of recipients for honours and every brother has earned his appointment. No brother has an automatic right to receive an honour.
I also congratulate those brethren who were invested with Grand Rank at the Annual investiture in June. It is a pleasure to see them wearing the insignia of their new rank.
We have very warm and friendly relations with all the Masonic orders in Hertfordshire and I am glad to see most of them represented today. However we are totally dependent on the success of the Craft, for without a steady stream of new members being initiated, we are doomed to fade away. Brethren, talk about your Masonry to your family, friends and work colleagues and encourage those you think might be suitable candidates to consider initiation.
An occasion such as this does not just happen and I thank the Provincial Grand Secretary and his team most warmly, for all the effort he has put into the planning and organisation of this meeting. It is a very successful culmination to his first year in office. I also give my grateful thanks to the Provincial Grand Director of Ceremonies and his team for all their efforts in planning and executing a very competent and smooth ceremonial performance today. The Provincial GDC came to office in very difficult circumstances and he has had an excellent first year.
W Bro David Trumble retires today after six successful years in office as Provincial Grand Registrar. He is not present today as he is recovering at home from a recent operation. I thank him for all his efforts and we wish him well for a speedy recovery
W Bro David Sawyer also retires today as Provincial Grand Chaplain having taken up an appointment as Inspector General for Buckinghamshire in the Ancient & Accepted Rite. He has looked after our spiritual health with great care and we wish him well in his new appointment.
Thanks are also due to all the members of the Provincial Stewards Lodge and the brethren who have run the Bar; they have all made a major contribution to the success of today’s meeting.
In conjunction with the Executive, I have been promoting our charitable initiatives strongly. You will all be aware of our support for SERV, the volunteer motor bikers who transport blood and blood products from the National Transfusion Centre to hospitals in our Province to cover emergencies during the night when the NHS service does not operate. You will all be aware of the Christmas cards, which are on sale today in support of the Provincial Mark Benevolent Fund, but our most significant charitable innovation has been our support for two students at the University of Hertfordshire over the past three years and our fundraising efforts during the last two years to finance a permanent Hertfordshire Mark Masons scholarship at the University.
Today you have voted the £24,000 needed to add to the £1,000 donated at the beginning of the appeal and in a moment I will call off Provincial Grand Lodge so that the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof Tim Wilson, can be presented with the cheque. He will be accompanied by Mrs Jenny Polley one of the students you have been supporting so generously over the past three years.
Brethren, thank you for attending in such large numbers today and I hope you have all had a thoroughly enjoyable day.
God bless you all.
[Given at Rickmansworth on Tuesday 14th July 2009]
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