The RE Grand Superintendent's Address to Provincial Grand Chapter, 16 Sept 2023

Companions,

Let me start by thanking you all for attending in such large numbers today, a day which marks a return to a dedicated celebration for the Royal Arch. From comments received since the return to two Provincial meetings was mooted, I think the numbers here today, and the fact that we have over 95% of those receiving honours in attendance, points to it being a popular choice.

In the context of two meetings let me be quite clear. The work of the Province Craft and Chapter is and will continue to be inseparable and have equal status. On a celebratory day like today, however, we need room to breathe, take time to meet with Companions and, not be compressing too much into a few hours so that we leave feeling that we have completed an obstacle course.

It is also the case of course that you don’t have to endure two addresses in one day! So, if you have brought a flask and pack up to see you through my address please start because I have no intention of repeating all I said back in May. It has recently been published verbatim in the Yorkshire Mason. There have been no changes in stance since May so if you were there you have heard it, if you weren’t there you will have read it in Yorkshire Mason and if you have done neither, and I won’t ask for a show of hands, take the time to open your copy of the Yorkshire Mason and read it at your leisure.

There are certain things which do need to be said and done, however, one of which is to thank all our invited guests and heads of other orders for giving up their day to be with us.

As is our custom they were all introduced as they entered the Chapter so I will not introduce them individually again but merely thank them collectively for their support. Thank you all for attending today.

Earlier we acknowledge the Grand Officers of the year, but I would now invite all Grand Officers of the Province to stand and be recognised. Thank you for your attendance today.

Finally in terms of welcome can I please invite all First Principals in the Province to rise and be similarly recognised. Thank you all for your attendance and of course the leadership of your respective Chapters.
You will be used to my mantra of “change being the order of the day” but there are certain things which in my view warrant being heard more than once so here goes for the stereo message.

As in the Craft, Chapter will adopt the same approach of looking to the future and engaging with all members of the Province. Change is very evident in the lineup you are looking at. A wholly new Chapter Executive brimming with new ideas, new ways of working, which will enhance our experience of Freemasonry.

Whilst they are all known to you, to ensure that there was no delay in forming the new Executive, they were all invested at Londesborough Chapter in May. Can I now therefore formally introduce Richard Smedley 2nd Provincial Grand Principal, Mark Iveson Third Provincial Grand Principal and Trevor Collinson the Assistant to the Provincial Grand Principals.

I thank them all for taking on their respective roles, whether as a Principal or in a senior office. They are all members of the Provincial Executive, emphasising that we operate as Craft and Chapter together. They have a responsibility for looking after and managing an aspect of the Province, not just the Royal Arch but across the Province, once again emphasising Craft and Chapter together.

Whilst they clearly hold office in Provincial Grand Chapter, using the analogy of a stick of rock, if you snap them in half you would see “Freemasonry” rather than “Royal Arch” writ large, because all are committed to a joint endeavour. If they weren’t, then let me assure you they would not be holding the office that they do!

Let me stress that whilst members of the Executive have Provincial wide responsibilities, we have an army of Brethren and Companions who work tirelessly in the Provincial Management Groups to ensure that we can all enjoy our Freemasonry. The range of functions they undertake are legion and you will soon be able to see how many there are and the roles they fulfil when we publish their names, roles, and contact details on the Provincial website. This is being constructed now and will be available over the next week or so.

Look at the list and If you have skills that can enhance the way Province works, then make yourself known and we will ensure your enthusiasm is translated into involvement. Brethren there are 82, yes 82 Brethren and Companions, who are all working on our behalf, why not join them.

Another individual who is beavering away behind the scenes and who is well known to you, but perhaps not in the context of his current role, is Martin Eggermont. One major thing on the horizon is the launch of our 2024 – 2029 Festival in support of MCF. Today is the start of our “build up” to a formal launch in May 2024. I say build up because Martin has already put together a formidable team, the members of which are working on a range of initiatives so that when the starting bell rings, we hit the deck running.

You have seen aspects of this today by having the opportunity to start your contribution to the Festival by signing up to a monthly sum so that we can make our contribution in 2029 something of which we are proud. Over the next few months, you will receive full details of plans and preparations, which will showcase details of some of those who have benefitted from our support in the past. I trust these will leave you in no doubt that our contributions to MCF result in a premium to us for causes we support and importantly our Brethren, Companions, and their families.

Companions just reflect on what support for the MCF actually means. At the conclusion of our last Festival in 2018 we contributed some £1.8 million to MCF but from 2018 to 2023 the Province has benefitted to the extent of £2.15 million so, let us do ourselves and the MCF proud in 2029.

Companions I used the QR Code this morning to sign up and if I can use it anyone can. If, however, keyboards, QR Readers and the like leave you cold don’t despair, just fill in the form left on your seat it will mean the same thing, namely you are signed up and underway!

I also want to thank Chris Ansell for his work on behalf of the Province in the context of communications, which of course spans Craft and Chapter. His responsibilities are considerable and as a Province we need to step up to the mark and support him in his role. Just look at the last few editions of Freemasonry Today. We have appeared in them all and that is due to his making sure that what we do is known by the editorial team. What we now need is to help Chris by identifying and appointing a Press Officer, so wait for the invitation to throw your hat in the ring if that is your forte. We want a “master of the media” in terms of contacts, willingness to research and write articles and get them to the right outlets to ensure that people know we are here.

And while I am on with matters of communication. The frequently heard comment is “I didn’t know”. We have a very well-maintained website which is as near real time as we can get, which is another way of saying it is what is happening now. You may be surprised to know that despite the resources put into the website we, out of 3000 plus members, have 345 registered users, of which 116 are Secretaries or Scribes. Hardly a statistic to be proud of. The number of Secretaries and Scribes is encouraging until we find that 17 of them have not visited the site since 2022! Contrast this with the fact that in the last three months the Province has received 24,000 emails! What would happen do you think if instead of getting a reply giving you an answer to the question you pose you got one that said look at the website because all the information is there! It would probably result in a lot more website usage and a reduction in the number of emails seeking answers to purely factual questions.

Just a few other matters.

Turning to Membership of the Royal Arch. Companions you are all ambassadors for Chapter, if it wasn’t in your DNA then I suspect that you wouldn’t be here, so please ensure that you make your enthusiasm for Chapter apparent to Brethren who are yet to take the plunge.

Those of you who have been appointed, invested, and promoted today, I hope you all took note of the concluding section of the form you completed as part of the honours process. You have all pledged to support the Grand Superintendent, that’s me, in my task. This means helping to ensure that we grow our membership, enjoy our Chapter Masonry and that, as an organisation, we continue to be well received and respected within our communities. I therefore congratulate all of you who have received honours today and charge you to go out into the Province and your communities and use your new or enhanced role to swell our numbers.

It is no longer sufficient to rely on the fact that Chapter is a colourful order, so what, or it’s very friendly! Well, it would be wouldn’t it. If it wasn’t friendly, then we have managed to dupe close to 50% of the Province who are members. So, what is the come on? Well in essence it is that you have 25% of the way to go in understanding what it’s all about so don’t exist in ignorance, go for it, and complete the story.

We need new approaches to engage with Brethren, such as that about to take place in Ridings Tabler’s Lodge and Chapter. On the 30th of this month Ridings Tabler’s Lodge will meet as a Lodge followed by meeting as a Chapter to exalt a member of the Lodge. Those Brethren who are not Chapter Masons will go off for a presentation to help them understand where the Royal Arch fits into the whole scheme of things. All will then come back together for the Festive Board. What better way to show the link between Craft and Chapter. We need more such initiatives to spread the word!

So, if that’s the now, what of the future.

I think it right that you know what we are looking at as a Province and I make no apology for reiterating this from May.

I believe we need to include our families more than we do and one aspect of this is to try to bring to fruition my hope that we can award honours to Brethren and Companions in front of their families.  This will need a careful look at venues and likely numbers. Do we stick with Saturdays and day times? Do we have two conventional Provincial meetings at which active officers and first appointments are invested (with their families) and have a joint Craft and Chapter Honours evening (with families) when promotions are made, and perhaps other awards presented?

A lot of work needs to be done between now and May 2024, if we are to make changes by then, but we are working on it. Sounding out people whenever possible appears to show support for the idea but it is radical and may or may not work for everyone. If we don’t explore changes, however, then we won’t evolve, and I would like my tour of duty to conclude with the comment that “well at least he tried to do things even if they didn’t all work”.

And for the present.

Many thanks for all those who have worked to make today happen. Having been on the “preparation end”, rather than just coming along on the day and swanning around, I know how frustrating it is with the angst rising as things get closer and still people don’t respond! So, thank you to Bill Glanville and his team, to Mark Green, Ian Bailey and Peter Robson for arrangements with the venue, to Jimmy Kerr and his team for his first Provincial meeting. I know he will want me to add to his thanks to Mark Hall his predecessor for help leading up to and for today. Companions on behalf of us all I thank them for their hard work in making today happen.

Finally, Companions a thought. I am well aware that our honours system goes so far but perhaps not far enough. There are things that can be changed and those that can’t. For example, there are those who counsel me to make an individual a Grand Officer. Each year I get a maximum of 2 new appointments in Craft but not always, and possibly the same in Chapter, so the maths is against me.

In terms of Provincial ranks, the system has evolved over decades. It is right there is a system in place to ensure proper consideration of submissions. The outcome won’t always please everyone, but I am sure that none of us joined Freemasonry with an ambition to seek preferment and, in any event, we all sign up to “not envying the preferment of others”.

All that said, I was at a Provincial meeting in Surrey recently, my original Masonic home, and saw the PGM present Certificates of Merit to young, indeed some very young Masons. Young in terms of time in the Craft and some young in years. The certificate was based on a recommendation by their Lodge, it could equally have been Chapter, of work which went beyond what might be expected. Who better to make that recommendation than those who see it repeatedly and regularly.

I am convinced that whilst honours are awarded after a painstaking evaluation that there are those who fall between the stools. The individual who spends a Masonic lifetime serving his Lodge or Chapter behind the scenes or the individual showing great involvement beyond what might be expected given their time in the Craft, deserve recognition. Such awards will not become available in large numbers but only by a Lodge or Chapter making a very, repeat very, strong case. The important thing is they will derive from the Lodge or Chapter so a recipient will fully appreciate the esteem in which they are held. Watch this space!

Companions enough is enough. Congratulations to all those honoured today, final thanks to those that have made it happen and thanks to you for enduring my comments, which I hope at least illustrate that as an Executive we do actually do something and with an eye to the future.

I am one year in and I think managing to stay at or above the water line. On a good day enjoying the experience and on a not so good day determined to ensure the next is back on track, so thanks for your continued support. Please keep it up and help the Province to thrive.