The Provincial Grand Chapter of Durham held a special convocation on Friday 18th November at the Masonic Hall, Alexandra Road, Gateshead. For this meeting 12 companions from The Provincial Grand Chapter of Bristol including their Grand Superintendent EComp Alan Vaughan travelled to Durham where they were accommodated overnight at a local hotel.

Having set off at 6.30am they arrived in Gateshead at 1pm where they immediately proceeded to 'ransack' the Chapter Room which had been carefully set up in the Durham format, before practicing their ceremonial making a few adjustments to fit into the Gateshead building. All Lodges and Chapters in the Province of Bristol meet in one city centre Masonic Hall.

It was only earlier this year when Supreme Grand Chapter authorised the demonstration of the unique Bristol ceremony and this was the first time in over 200 years it was performed outside of the Province of Bristol. Much of the equipment including a series of coloured "veils" had been specially constructed by the Bristol Companions for the occasion. Durham's Past Deputy GSupt Derek Warneford was the lead Durham organiser of the occasion and he evidenced skills akin to ‘Blue Peter’ in constructing a pair of white pillars made from MDF, carpet inner rolls, 2 footballs and copious amounts of mastic and emulsion paint!

By 6pm when the Provincial Grand Chapter of Durham Officers of the year and Officers of Supreme Grand Chapter had processed to their places the main Lodge room at Gateshead was full for this ‘sell out’ occasion. After a short historic introduction by their Grand Superintendent the Bristol Demonstration Team entered and gave an excellent demonstration of ‘The Passing of the Veils and a Bristol Exaltation Ceremony’ with a Chapter of Industry No. 48 Companion, Ian Knighting acting as the candidate. This was a challenging role as the exaltee had questions to answer on the Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft and Master Mason degrees as he passed through a series of veils towards the Chapter room and exaltation ceremony. It was a further challenge as Knighting is clearly an uncommon name in the South West and Ian answered questions without hesitation no matter what name he was given!

The 120+ Durham Companions present were then entertained by an extremely well delivered exaltation ceremony. They noticed significant differences between the Durham and Bristol ceremonies, perhaps the most significant was the absence of any lectures. In Bristol most of the information in our lectures is delivered within the main body of their exaltation ceremonial.

The Provincial Convocation was followed by a 4 course meal and in fitting with the convivial nature of the evening the toasts were announced by EComp Stephen White, ProvGDC of Bristol leaving our own ProvGDC EComp John Watts only to introduce the Grand Superintendent of Bristol when he responded to the visitors toast. During his response EComp Vaughan presented a set of Bristol Cufflinks to the Grand Superintendent, Provincial Principals, Director of Ceremonies and the representative candidate EComp Ian Knighting for their assistance in making the evening such a success.

The centenary of Venables Chapter, No. 611, Province of Shropshire, was held at The Clive Pavilion at Ludlow Racecourse and attended by more than 100 members including Grand Superintendent Peter Taylor.

The chapter was founded and named after Rowland George Venables, who became the first Grand Superintendent for Shropshire when the Royal Arch Province was formed in 1913. The day was marked by the exaltation of Kevin Gwilliam, bringing chapter membership to 50.

First Principal David Griffin presented inscribed centenary whisky tumblers to those gathered, while a raffle raised funds for The Royal Arch Masons Bicentenary Appeal 2013 for the Royal College of Surgeons, adding to money already raised from the alms donations for the same cause.

The calling notices for the Investiture meeting on Thursday 20th October were termed 'Special' and how right that proved to be. Many attending would be used to the pomp and ceremony of the annual Provincial Craft and Royal Arch Festivals, but few would have experienced the spectacle served up in the Winter Gardens at Margate that day under the ecellent direction of RWBro Jonathan Spence, Deputy Grand Master, and the careful control of VWBro Oliver Lodge, Grand Director of Ceremonies, and his team. Such a treat has not been served up since 2004 when Michael Robin Bailey was invested, and another is unlikely to be witnessed this decade.

The comment 'that's another one done' was pronounced by one of the distinguished guests on retiring to the East Room after the morning ceremony. He hadn't appreciated that he was passing a secondary staircase which was open to the Kings Hall and his remark was clearly audible to all those assembled within, to their combined amusement. It wasn't just 'another one done' as far as the members of the Province were concerned, it was their Geoffrey Gordon Dearing who had just been invested as Grand Superintendent in and over the Province of East Kent that morning and later after the lunch interval, Provincial Grand Master of East Kent.

The day was very much a Kent affair, as Jonathan Spence reminded the companions and brethren that East Kent is his home Province, he being a member of Pentangle Chapter No. 1174 and Sir Joseph Williamson Lodge No. 4605, both meeting at Gundolph Square, Rochester.

In his addresses Geoffrey Dearing gave tribute to those who had worked to make the day such a success. He acknowledged that he was not yet well known in every Centre in the Province and intended to put that right, but not all at once, so requested all to exercise patience. He remarked that he would never have believed how rapidly one could advance in Freemasonry in just six months!

With a quiet dignity and impish sense of humour, Reverend Canon Richard Tydeman, MA, OSM, PSGW, came into Freemasonry in 1937. John Hamill celebrates his considerable achievements

Richard Tydeman, who died aged 94, had a great love of the English language and its proper usage. A highly regarded preacher and after-dinner speaker, he also compiled crosswords for the Church Times, produced verse and plays, and wrote a column for Freemasonry Today under the heading Reflection.

A Suffolk man through-and-through, Tydeman was born in Stowmarket and educated at Woodbridge School, before attending St John’s College Oxford (BA in 1939, MA in 1943). He trained for the priesthood at Ripon Hall, Oxford, and was ordained in 1943. After a brief curacy in Staffordshire he returned to Suffolk first as a curate and then as a priest in charge of Ipswich and Woodbridge. He was an Honorary Canon of St Edmundsbury Cathedral from 1959 to 1963.

In 1963, Tydeman moved to London as Rector of St Sepulchre-Without-Newgate and a Deputy Minor Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral. He was preacher of Lincoln’s Inn from 1973 until his London retirement in 1981. He then returned to Suffolk before moving to Cornwallis Court in Bury St Edmunds.

Tydeman’s long life was supported by three pillars: family, faith and Freemasonry. He was proud that his daughters – Reverend Rose Williams and Deaconess Sue Pierson – followed this path. He also protested as elements of the Church attacked the Craft. When the General Synod in 1986 announced it was to investigate the compatibility of Freemasonry and Christianity, he wrote to the Church Times asking what right the Synod had to speak for Christianity.

He came into Freemasonry in 1937 in the Phoenix Lodge No. 516, at Stowmarket. He was Provincial Grand Chaplain for Suffolk in 1957 and Grand Chaplain in 1966 and 1967. He was later promoted to Past Junior Grand Warden in 1989 and Past Senior Grand Warden in 2004 of the Grand Lodge. In 1988, he was appointed a member of the Grand Master’s Order of Service to Masonry. 

In 1941, Tydeman came into the Royal Arch in the Lewisham Chapter No. 2582, at Warley in Staffordshire. He later joined two chapters in Suffolk, was Grand Scribe N in 1971 and from 1980 to 1987 was Grand Superintendent in and over the area. In a debate in Grand Chapter on changes to the Royal Arch ritual in the late 1980s, he announced that he was privileged to be Grand Superintendent in a small province of 17 chapters that worked 18 rituals.

Tydeman’s three addresses – ‘A New Approach to Mystical Hebrew’ (the ‘bumble bee’ lecture) of November 1979; ‘The Words on the Triangle – An Alternative View’ of November 1985; and ‘History, Mystery and Geometry’ of November 1987 – added to the revision of the Royal Arch in the 1980s.

His contribution to Masonic thought was acknowledged in 1971 when he was appointed Prestonian Lecturer, his subject being ‘Masters and Master Masons’, while his explanation of how the Grand Stewards gained their red apron – given as the response to the Visitor’s Toast at the 1978 Installation Banquet of the Grand Stewards Lodge – has become part of Grand Stewards folklore.

He also held high office in many of the additional degrees, including the highest in two of them: from 1980 to 1996 he was Grand Sovereign of the Red Cross of Constantine, and from 1994 to 2002 he was Sovereign Grand Commander of the Ancient and Accepted Rite of Freemasonry. In both of those capacities, he travelled extensively, impressing many of the members with his dignity and impish humour.

Even in these days of increasing longevity, 94 years of life, 74 years of Freemasonry and 70 years as a priest are achievements worthy of celebration. Those of us who were privileged to know him will mourn his loss but raise a glass to many happy memories.