A new team took the reins in Shropshire on 28th July 2018, with Roger Pemberton installed as the new Provincial Grand Master following the retirement of Peter Taylor

Two impressive ceremonies at Harper Adams University were separated by an equally impressive lunch. A full house of Shropshire Freemasons and most welcome guests saw Pro Grand Master Peter Lowndes install Roger Pemberton as Shropshire's newest Grand Superintendent and Provincial Grand Master.

The work of the London team was expertly guided by Grand Director of Ceremonies Oliver Lodge, while any small questions on etiquette or protocol were instantly and authoritatively answered by Deputy Grand Secretary Graham Redman. Guests also included the Provincial Grand Masters of Cumberland & Westmorland Norman Thompson and Isle of Man Keith Dalrymple.

The Deputy Grand Superintendent will continue to be Dave Kettle, Past Provincial Scribe E/Grand Secretary of the Province, while the new Deputy Provincial Grand Master is Jeremy Lund.

David Kenneth Williamson Lodge No. 9938 held its first meeting outside of London at Freemasons’ Hall, Leicester, to conduct a quintuple Passing ceremony on behalf of the three Universities Scheme Lodges in the Province of Leicestershire and Rutland

The lodge is the Installed Masters Lodge for the Universities Scheme and whilst consecrated in London in 2016, it was agreed that the lodge meet around the English constitution to undertake second and third degree ceremonies on behalf Universities Scheme lodges.

The meeting was held in the very decorative surroundings of the Holmes Lodge Room on 4th May 2018 and was opened in due form by the Master Oliver Lodge, Grand Director of Ceremonies, with 66 Brethren in attendance, including David Kenneth Williamson, Immediate Past Master, Sir David Wootton, Assistant Grand Master, David Hagger, Provincial Grand Master of Leicestershire and Rutland, David Pratt, Provincial Grand Master of Yorkshire, West Riding, Peter Kinder, Assistant Provincial Grand Master of Leicestershire and Rutland, and Derek Buswell, Past Provincial Grand Master of Leicestershire and Rutland.

The five candidates David Hames of Wyggeston Lodge No. 3448, Jonathan Haslam and David Veryan Jones of Castle of Leicester Lodge No. 7767, and Marat Guysin and Steven Brian Szukielowicz of Lodge of Science and Art No. 8429 were Passed to the degree of a Fellowcraft in a superbly conducted ceremony.

Sir David Wootton, President of the Universities Scheme, provided an update on the Scheme and made mention of a recent audit undertaken of all Scheme lodges to help identify those who may benefit from extra help and support. He also highlighted the four strategic aims the Scheme was pursuing, namely: 

• Providing support to lodges and producing ‘know how’ guides on topics such as lodge finance and ritual. Also suggesting to Lodge Almoners that they could focus on understanding their student members and when they have exams coming up, when they are graduating, and celebrating their successes. 
• Talent transfer - how to assist members to find a new masonic home after leaving university.
• The Royal Arch – the Scheme now has five Royal Arch Chapters and is looking at how best to develop this important part of the Scheme. 
• Overseas - students from districts graduation in England and helping Districts attract students in their home countries.

Also mentioned was the important work of the New and Young Masons Clubs (NYMC) and that the Scheme was increasing its engagement with NYMC both on a local and national level to ensure that with items, such as talent transfer, both groups can work together. He also referenced the links with the Association of Medical, University and Legal Lodges (AMULL). 

David Kenneth Williamson, Past Assistant Grand Master, concluded: 'It was a perfect demonstration of how a multiple ceremony can be done without detriment to the candidates, and brought much credit to the lodge.' 

The Brethren retired to the Holmes Lounge were they were welcomed with reception drinks before a four-course dinner.

After grace, Mo Afsa, of Old Mancunians’ with Mount Sinai Lodge No. 3140 in Manchester, presented the DKW Loving Cup to the lodge. Under the watchful eye of David Kenneth Williamson, whose initials the cup bears the name, as Founder President of the Universities Scheme, the Loving Cup circulated around the room. There being six members of Apollo University Lodge No. 357 present, Paul Grier rose to claim the Cup on behalf of that lodge and announced that the next meeting would be held on Saturday 2nd June 2018. 

Annual Investiture of Supreme Grand Chapter

26 April 2018 
An address by the ME Pro First Grand Principal Peter Lowndes

Companions, this meeting is always a very happy occasion and I do congratulate all those of you whom I have invested today. It both recognises your past endeavours but is also a clear indicator that we expect more from you in the future. Grand Rank in the Royal Arch is both a senior, and in many cases, a public position within the organisation, and I would hope that you all feel willing to communicate the pride you now feel to those you meet, and to act as ambassadors for the Royal Arch not only to those within your lodges and chapters, but also to the general public at large. However, I do appreciate that the general public would not understand the relevance of the Royal Arch, but it clearly demonstrates your seniority within Freemasonry as a whole.

I have heard it said that the Royal Arch might have been somewhat eclipsed by the Tercentenary celebrations this year in the Craft, but far from it. The Royal Arch completes the craft degrees and increased interest and membership for the Craft can only be to the good for our Order. A new injection of pride and confidence in Freemasonry – in what we do, and in our relevance to the wider community from which we herald can only result in a strong, confident and successful future.

We must be careful to maximise the momentum, energy and enthusiasm that surrounds Freemasonry at the moment and ensure that it is neither wasted nor neglected. We must make the effort, and spare the time to explain who we are and what we do, and also ask ourselves why some of those brethren in our lodges have not taken that extra step to become our companions. We must listen to, and think hard on the answers they give. I believe we are winning. If we turn the clock back 10 years we were experiencing a 30% conversion rate from Craft to Royal Arch, now there are very few Provinces or Districts where the ratio is under 40% and some are considerably higher.

May I take this opportunity to bid a fond farewell to Excellent Companion Willie Shackell, Grand Scribe Ezra, who has served in a number of senior appointments over the last 11 years. We all wish him well in his fourth, and what I am sure he hopes will be his final retirement.

Companions, events like this do not just happen and I would like, on your behalf, to congratulate the Grand Director of Ceremonies and his team for once again arranging such an impressive ceremony and the Grand Scribe Ezra and his team for ensuring all the other arrangements have gone so smoothly.

Companions, I look forward to hearing of, and reading about your exploits over the summer, and also to welcoming you back in the autumn.

Craft Annual Investiture

25 April 2018 
An address by the MW The Grand Master HRH The Duke of Kent, KG

Brethren, this meeting is always a very happy occasion and I do congratulate all those whom I have invested today. It is both a reward for past endeavours but also a clear indicator that we expect more from you in the future. An award of Grand Rank signifies UGLE’s pride in you, and recognises your efforts on our behalf. It denotes a senior, and in most cases, a public position within our brotherhood, and I would hope that you all feel willing to communicate the pride you now feel to those you meet, to those who might not understand us, and to those who know little of us.

Your Rulers, I know, have been very busy already this year promoting Freemasonry across the world and installing new Provincial and District Grand Masters. I welcome those recently appointed and am greatly heartened by this youthful enthusiasm, for this brethren is where our future lies. I welcome our new Grand Secretary – David Staples whilst at the same time bidding farewell to Willie Shackell who has served in a number of senior appointments for the last 11 years. We wish him well in retirement.

Many of those I have invested today will go on to be leaders in the Craft and I believe it is a very exciting time for Freemasonry in general. For 300 years men from all different backgrounds, faiths, ages and races have met as equals to make themselves ‘better men’. Such sentiments have never been more relevant, or more needed, than they are today. Be sure that we do not hide that light as we look forward to our next 300 years.

Brethren, events like this do not just happen and I would like, on your behalf, to congratulate the Grand Director of Ceremonies and his team for once again arranging such an impressive ceremony and the Grand Secretary and his team for ensuring all the other arrangements have gone so smoothly.

Enjoy the rest of our celebrations.

Pro First Grand Principal Peter Lowndes enjoyed a special visit to the Bahamas for the Consecration of Chapter of Unity No. 8760

Companions in Nassau petitioned to Supreme Grand Chapter to form a new Royal Arch Chapter to be attached to Lodge of Unity No. 8760 and were granted a Warrant in November 2017. The Consecration was scheduled to be part of the visit of the Pro Grand Master to the Bahamas for the Regional District Grand Masters’ Conference and the Installation of the new District Grand Master and Grand Superintendent for Bahamas & Turks.

Before the Chapter was opened, the Grand Director of Ceremonies, E Comp Oliver Lodge, announced to the Companions assembled that it was a special event that had not happened for almost 15 years. The Companions were also informed that this would be the first Royal Arch Consecration that ME Comp Peter Lowndes, Pro First Grand Principal, had performed as the Consecrating Officer.

The Consecrating Team included:

• ME Comp Peter Geoffrey Lowndes, Pro1stGPrincipal - Zerubbabel
• E Comp James R. Bain, BEM, JP, GSupt (Bahamas & Turks) - Haggai
• E Comp Walter H. Scott, QC, GSupt (Jamaica & Cayman Islands) - Joshua
• E Comp William E. Shackell, CBE, GSE - Grand Scribe Ezra
• E Comp Robert W. Rego, GInsp (Bermuda) - Grand Scribe Nehemiah
• E Comp Oliver A. W. Lodge, TD, PGSN, GDC - Grand Director of Ceremonies
• E Comp Sebastian C. E. A. Madden, PDepGDC - Deputy Grand Director of Ceremonies
• E Comp Peter D. Cole, PGSupt (Bahamas & Turks) - Grand Janitor

The Founding Principals are E Comp Carl W. Z. Bethel, QC, PGStB – MEZ; E Comp Duane H. E. Murray, PGStB, DistGDC – H, and E Comp Gerald A. Sawyer – J. This was also the last official function for E Comp James R. Bain before retiring as Grand Superintendent in and over Bahamas & Turks, as his successor, E Comp Robert C. Deal, was installed two days thereafter on 24 March 2018.

This was the third new Chapter consecrated during his term as Grand Superintendent – one each in Abaco, Providenciales and Nassau, thereby increasing the number to seven overall.

The Consecration and Festive Board were joyous, seeing over 100 Companions from England, Bahamas, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Guyana, Barbados, Anguilla, Canada and more – celebrating the consecration of a new Royal Arch Chapter.

E Comp Jim Boughton was installed as the 13th Grand Superintendent in the Royal Arch Province of Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire on 28th February 2018

The meeting was attended by companions from chapters across the province, as well as a number of Grand Superintendents from other provinces.

This installation was honoured by the presence of the Second Grand Principal, E Comp Russell Race, who conducted the installation ceremony, assisted by E Comp Peter Kinder, Grand Superintendent of Leicestershire and Rutland, and E Comp Colin Brown, Grand Superintendent of Worcestershire. Once he had been installed, the Grand Superintendent appointed E Comp Neil Handley as Second Provincial Grand Principal, and reappointed E Comp Mike Coleman as Deputy Grand Superintendent and E Comp Mark Constant as Third Provincial Grand Principal.

Deputy Grand Scribe Ezra, E Comp Graham Redman, read the Grand Superintendent’s Patent in his own inimitable way and the Grand Director of Ceremonies Oliver Lodge ensured that the ceremony ran without a hitch.

Once the installation was complete, the newly installed Grand Superintendent addressed the convocation, thanking all those who had come to this special meeting. He spoke of how honoured he is to be leading the province and reaffirmed how he is looking to build upon the tremendous work of his predecessor.

A very enjoyable Festive Board followed the meeting and the Grand Superintendent presented the Second Grand Principal with a bottle of Kingswell Gin, Marmalade and Chutney, with the whole of the Installation team receiving a commemorative glass and bottle of IPA from the resurrected 'Phipps' Brewery as a memento of his Installation Convocation.

Despite the inclement weather, it was a fine day and the beginning of a new chapter for the Royal Arch Province of Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire.

The Grand Master, HRH The Duke of Kent, waved the starting flag on the Classic 300 at a family fun day at Windsor Great Park

The Grand Director of Ceremonies Oliver Lodge then introduced the Grand Master to the Mayor of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Cllr Sayonara Luxton, the Provincial Grand Master for Berkshire Martin Peters, Past Deputy Provincial Grand Master for Berkshire Colin Hayes and Provincial Grand Masters from other provinces.

The event, organised by the Province of Berkshire, also included a teddy bears’ picnic in support of the Teddies for Loving Care appeal, which raises funds for the supply of cuddly toys to paediatric emergency departments.

The day also featured a challenge to get 300 people to walk a mile along the park’s famed tree-lined avenue, the Long Walk, to the Copper Horse statue at the top of Snow Hill – in the end more than 400 attendees took part.

A $50,000 (£17,566) contribution has come from the Masonic Charitable Foundation to help needy families in remote areas of Fiji in the South West Pacific area of lodges

UGLE Assistant Grand Master Sir David Wootton, on a Tercentenary visit to the island, made the announcement. He was accompanied by Grand Director of Ceremonies Oliver Lodge.

‘It is not the first donation we have made in this part of the world. Following Tropical Cyclone Winston in 2016, Freemasons gave $65,000 (£22,825), some of which came from Freemasons here, some from the charity foundation in London,’ said David.

South West Pacific Grand Inspector and Lodge of Fiji member Ross McDonald added, ‘Locally, we will identify where the need is and normally we give direct to that need, so we are certain that we are giving the best value for every dollar that goes in.’

Quarterly Communication

13 December 2017 
A presentation by VW Bro Graham Redman, Deputy Grand Secretary

At the Quarterly Communication of the Grand Lodge held in June 1945, the Grand Secretary read out a message from the Grand Master, MW Bro the Earl of Harewood:

It is my desire to have power to confer on Brethren who have rendered special service to Freemasonry a distinction to be known as The Grand Master’s Order of Service to Masonry, to rank immediately above the Grand Deacons, with the prefix Very Worshipful.

It is my wish that there shall be a limit to be determined from time to time by the Grand Master upon the number of holders of the Order. I propose that the present limit be 12.

The President of the Board of General Purposes at once moved amendments to the Book of Constitutions to give effect to the Grand Master’s wishes.

In the early years recipients were invested along with new Grand Officers, generally at the Annual Investiture, but occasionally when additional Grand Ranks were being conferred by way of celebration.

In December 1960, the then Grand Master, the Earl of Scarbrough, made a statement about the Order, 15 years after its institution, concluding that the Order of Service to Masonry would be more effective and be held still higher in the estimation of the Craft if it ceased to be one of the seventy-two ranks in our Masonic hierarchy of Grand Officers. I believe that Grand Lodge will agree with me that the Order of Service to Masonry should be set apart and that it should be possible to confer it upon any Brother without reference to his existing rank, or having any effect upon it.

The necessary amendments to the Book of Constitutions were duly passed, and in June 1961 two new appointments were made – of Brethren who were already Right Worshipful.

A year later, Lord Scarbrough announced in relation to the Order:

It has been in my mind all along that there are Brethren, not already Grand Officers or even perhaps members of Grand Lodge, whose work has nevertheless been of outstanding value to the Craft.

I have, I believe, found such a Brother, and I shall shortly ask the Grand Director of Ceremonies to introduce him into Grand Lodge.

He is Bro Reginald A. Easton, and he has been Secretary of the Whittington Lodge [in London] for 18 years. Largely by his efforts, the Whittington Lodge has built itself up a peculiar position with regard to Brethren of our own and other Constitutions overseas. The result is that the Whittington Lodge now has a world-wide reputation for its hospitality and the welcome it extends to visitors from abroad.

All this is, I believe, due to Bro Easton, who has, however, resisted all attempts to persuade him to accept other offices and reach the Chair, preferring to remain a Master Mason. Hitherto, he has debarred himself from any honour or preferment in Masonry by this attitude of self-denial, but the recent changes in the status of the Order of Service to Masonry enable me to do honour to one who has, I believe, in the truest sense done good service to Masonry.

Bro Easton was then escorted into Grand Lodge and invested.

Bro Easton remains the only Master Mason to be so honoured, but it can nevertheless be seen that the Order looks to a Brother’s service rather than to his rank. As a result, among the eighty recipients (as of today) there have been Brethren of widely varying seniority, but of whom each has made his own unique contribution to English Freemasonry.

The jewel itself, worn from a dark blue collarette, is of silver-gilt, being a double-circle with a pair of compasses extended on the segment of a circle, and the letters O S M; beneath it is the motto In Solo Deo Salus “In God alone is our safety”.

The limit of 12 members has never been increased and there are 12 jewels only in existence, each of which must be returned on the death of its latest recipient. The jewel allocated to each recipient is recorded in a small notebook, and it is the recent custom to give each recipient a list of the previous holders of the jewel with which he has been invested.

Regular Convocation of Supreme Grand Chapter

8 November 2017

An address by the ME First Grand Principal HRH The Duke of Kent

Thank you ME Pro First Grand Principal, for your exceedingly kind words and, companions, thank you all for your support which I do enormously appreciate.

I was delighted today to be able to appoint and promote so many of you to celebrate my 50 years as First Grand Principal. This, of course, is in recognition for all you have done for the Royal Arch, but it is also (you may not be surprised to hear) in expectation of further services.

Although smaller than the Craft, there is no doubt that the Royal Arch holds a very warm and special place in our affections. Over the last fifty years we have adapted our ritual to make it easier to understand, to remove some of the anomalies and to ensure a greater involvement from the companions, and I am very pleased to see the progress that has been made.

Whilst this year has been a great celebration for the Craft, I have no doubt that we too will benefit from the great success it has achieved, and I know that there are measures in hand which will ensure that Freemasonry has a prominent place in society for many years to come.

Companions, I am greatly encouraged by all I have seen this year and I thank you all for all your hard work – especially the Grand Scribe Ezra, the Grand Director of Ceremonies and their respective teams for their work in ensuring the success of this morning’s Investiture.