ROYAL AND SELECT MASTERS HISTORY MADE IN DEVON

History was made in the Royal and Select Masters District of Devon and Cornwall in September, when two new Councils were consecrated on two adjacent days, both held in the Ivybridge Masonic Hall, with the banquets afterwards in the Refectory.
    The first to be consecrated was the Dartmoor Valley Council, No 250 , whose founding Master is Keith Jackson, and the following day the Elm Tree Council No 251, whose founding Master is R.F. Day, was consecrated at the same venue. There were more than 50 Companions present at each Consecration, both of which were conducted by the Grand Master of the Order, Col. Keith Hind. Because of the size of the District, many Companions travelled 200 miles each day to be present.
    In his Oration at the Consecration of the Dartmoor Valley Council, Rev. Raymond Wood said 'Our four Cryptic degrees sit chronologically between the Mark and the Holy Royal Arch degrees. They are the perfection of any full understanding of the recovery of the Lost Word, but they also have much to teach us in their own right.' He continued 'When Solomon built his Temple he acknowledged that this was not a building to contain God but "a house to the Name of the Lord my God", a place where Man may meet his God.' The Solomonic tradition may be regarded as the cornerstone of this degree, and many moral and spiritual lessons flow from it.
    The Elm Tree Council is named after the Great Elm Tree of Holsworthy, which stood in the town near what is known as Bank House. Traditionally, the Town Crier's Proclamation has to be made from that spot. In his Oration at the Consecration, Acting Grand Chaplain Roy Webber said 'We are taught that the body is the Temple of the Spirit. We constantly lock up our secrets in the safe and sacred repository of our hearts. But these secrets are those that guard the latter-day treasures of our spiritual Temples. They comprise the ritual dramas and legends from which we derive so many moral truths.'

ALLIED MASONIC DEGREES ANNUAL GRAND COUNCIL

Some 240 Brethren attended the Annual Meeting of the Grand Council of the Allied Masonic Degrees at Mark Masons' Hall London in October. The meeting was presided over by the Grand Master, Michael Herbert, assisted by his Deputy, Arthur Craddock, Grand Secretary Tim Lewis, Grand Director of Ceremonies Graham Herbert and many other Brethren, both English and those from other countries. After the main reports had been approved, tribute was paid to a number of recently deceased Brethren, but in particular to Richard Mordant, Past Divisional Grand Prefect, who had served the important office of President of the Executive Committee, who died in 2003.
    In common with Craft Masonry, Mark Masonry and the Order of Royal and Select Masters, the Order is composed of five Solomonic degrees, namely those of St. Lawrence the Martyr, Knight of Constantinople, Grand Tilers of Solomon, Red Cross of Babylon and Grand High Priest. In order to join, a candidate must be a Mark Master and a Royal Arch Mason. The first degree, that of St Lawrence, is the starting point, although the Order is not Christian. There is a total of 156 Councils worldwide, and the growth of the Order is such that of those 156, an astonishing 62 have been consecrated in the past 20 years, making it one of the fastest-growing Orders in Freemasonry.

A MARK OF GENEROSITY

Alan Doherty, Consultant Urologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, can now buy state of the art equipment for the surgical treatment of patients with prostate cancer which will allow him and his fellow surgeons at the hospital to undertake three-dimensional surgery for the first time thanks to the generosity of Mark Masons.
    The Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons in 2004 set aside the sum of £2 million for the treatment of prostate cancer in hospitals across the country. The Royal College of Surgeons sought bids from consultants and Urology Departments for funds from this grant, assessed the bids and made recommendations to the Mark Grand Lodge.
    The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham was successful with their bid for the purchase of 3D camera equipment. David Hooker, the Provincial Grand Master for the Mark Masons of Warwickshire recently handed Alan Doherty a cheque for £83,659 to enable the purchase to go forward.
    It was not the first time that the hospital’s Urology Department had benefited from the generosity of Freemasons. In the year 2000 the Craft and Mark Provinces of Warwickshire joined forces and Stanley Lates and Robert Russell, the then respective Provincial Grand Masters, presented Michael Wallace, a consultant in the department, with the sum of £58,000. This allowed the hospital to acquire an ultrasound machine with a probe and other essential equipment to aid in the detection of prostate cancer.
    Prostate cancer is now the most common cancer to affect men in the UK. 27,000 cases are diagnosed each year and the disease kills 10,000 men a year. By the age of 65 many men will have some cancer cells in the prostate, but most can live out their natural span without the disease ever causing them any ill effects.

NEW ROYAL AND SELECT MASTERS CONSECRATION

Birmingham was the venue in September for the Consecration of the St Martins Council No 252 at the Masonic Hall in Severn Street. The Grand Master Col. Robert Keith Hind conducted the Consecration, assisted by the Grand Principal Conductor of the Work, Alan Wright. The new Master of the Council is Richard Wallis, the Grand Superintendent of the Royal Arch.
    The new Council is named after St Martin, who according to legend cut his cloak in half in freezing weather to keep a naked beggar warm. He then, as a reluctant soldier, chose to stand between two armies to extol the virtues of peace and negotiation, as opposed to the horrors of war and bloody victory. St Martin’s day, 11 November, was deliberately chosen as Armistice Day for that reason.
    In his speech to the Grand Master, the new Master of the Council said how fitting it was that the new Council should have been consecrated in Severn Street, the heart of the great city of Birmingham which had, in its time, been the centre of masonic life in Warwickshire. ‘Masons have been using this building as a meeting place for 150 years,’ he continued, ‘and it has seen consecrations without number.’ But today’s ceremony had been the first consecration for 71 years, and the first Cryptic Degrees consecration ever in that building.
    The city first rose to prominence in the 15thC and 16thC. The original Birmingham was built on high ground, where St Martin’s Church was erected, near what is now the Bull Ring. Because the Jews at that time could have no place in the town, they built their synagogue on high ground to the north, which is now Severn Street, and the old synagogue is now the Masonic Hall.

MARK MASONS’ HALL CELEBRATES 25 YEARS St James’s Street, London, celebrated twenty-five years in its present location. It was decided to move from the previous Mark Masons’ Hall in Upper Brook Street when the lease came to an end. By 1977, the activities of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons, and the other Orders which shared their premises, had in any case increased to the point where more spacious accommodation was required. In conversation one evening in 1978 Bill Leake, the then Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons, mentioned in passing to Mortimer Silverman that he was looking for suitable premises. Mortimer, who was Chairman of the House Committee of the Constitutional Club, remarked that they were about to merge with another club and that their premises at 86 St James’s Street would be available. It is said that contracts were exchanged only a few days after that conversation.
    The freehold of the premises belongs to the Crown, and the Mark Grand Lodge purchased a lease running from 1978 to 2077.
    A building appeal was launched. A lodge room was to be named after the lodge contributing the highest amount, and the Johann Gutenberg Lodge No. 976 won the contest, hence the name of the lodge room in the lower-ground floor. The work necessary to convert the building to premises suitable for its present purposes was carried out over a period of just over 12 months, and Mark Grand Lodge held their first meeting on 1 September 1979.
    Today, the building is home to five Orders besides the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons.

RED CROSS OF CONSTANTINE NEW INTENDANT GENERAL FOR NORTH AND EAST YORKSHIRE

Eboracum Conclave No. 137 of the Order of the Red Cross of Constantine was host to an especially festive occasion in York in the autumn, when the Grand Sovereign of the Order, Cdr. Ronald Champion, installed and invested David George Fox as the new Intendant General for the Division of North and East Yorkshire. The ceremony was conducted in Castlegate House, York.
    Before proceeding with the ceremony of installation, the Grand Sovereign ascertained if the Intendant General Designate enjoyed the support of all the Conclaves. As the name of each Conclave was read out, the Standard Bearer of each Conclave raised the Conclave banner in acknowledgment. After his installation, David Fox paid fulsome tribute to all those in the Division who had worked hard to make the ceremony a success, and those who continued to work for Red Cross Masonry in the Division. In particular, he mentioned the office of Divisional Almoner. ‘The Almoner in the Conclaves,’ he said, ‘is a most important office. The welfare of the Knights is a high priority, and it requires a caring person to take on such a role ... in this Christian Order we are all Almoners, and care and concern for our fellow Knights is very much a part of the teachings of Red Cross Masonry.’ He was very honoured and privileged, he said, to be in his new office. But the Division of North and East Yorkshire was not his, it belonged to all the Knights. ‘You Worthy Knights are the Division, and only with your enthusiasm, care and support will it go forward.’