Very Dear Brethren.
Firstly, I would like to reiterate what I said at the beginning of the
morning, how good it is to see you all here today.
To our distinguished guests another warm welcome
& I thank you all for taking time to visit us in Salford, to the Members of the Province of East Lancashire thank you
for your continued encouragement & support.
I hope you all enjoy the remainder of the day with us.
Brethren at the
commencement of this meeting I asked everyone to smile.
To me that is the foundation of this Order.
The Brotherhood of David & Jonathan is a friendship that brings pleasure & happiness to us all & when we are
happy we should smile.
It is very beneficial that we take time out to relax, even for a couple of hours & today
you have chosen to take time out to be here in Salford at the Provincial Grand Conclave of East Lancashire.
So it only right
that we ensure that you relax, forget for a couple of hours outside pressures enjoy each others company & when our day
together is over I hope that you like me will think “yes it was well worth making that effort to visit Salford today”..
I would like now to congratulate those Brethren who have been appointed to a Provincial
Office today & I thank you all for taking these appointments.
I look forward to working with you in the next twelve months & ask you to remember that each & every one
of you is an important, integral part of the family of the Order of the Secret Monitor in East Lancashire & I need you
all within our family.
To those who
have stepped down this year I acknowledge the part you each have played in making your time in office a successful one, for
which I thank you & hope that you will continue to assist & support me & our Province.
Congratulations to the Brethren who will receive Grand Conclave Honours in November
this year if it be First Appointments of which we have six or Promotions which we have two .
The criteria
for Grand Honours are becoming more difficult & actual appointments ratio increasing with more & more Brethren becoming
eligible for Grand Honours. But we will keep trying.
Congratulations go to:- First appointment in acting Rank:-
Grand Steward - WyBro William L Fishwick, Roses of Concord Conclave No 185 the Past Provincial Grand Guide.
Grand Guarder,
WyBro Gerard T Hodson, Freeman Conclave No 57 our Provincial Director of Ceremonies.
First appointment in Past Rank:-
PAGDC,
WyBro Peter Chapman, John Walter Chitty Conclave No 215
PGStB WyBro
Anthony H Nuttall, Dr. James Edward Glover Conclave No 409
PGBB WyBro John Ratcliffe, Roses in Concord Conclave No 185
WyBro Robert Beardsworth, Champion Conclave No 26 Promotion PAGDC
WyBro Kevin Nuttall, Roche Valley Conclave No 252
I am pleased to announce,
to celebrate the appointment of the new Grand Supreme Ruler my Deputy WyBro Stephen Jackson has been promoted
to PGV & thereby attains the rank of a Very Worthy Brother.
All these Ranks have been thoroughly earned & well done to you all & I look forward to seeing these Promotions
& First Appointments at Edgbaston on 12th.
This
year has been one of consolidation in the Province. Following our 6% increase in members last year we have remained static
with regretfully five deaths & four resignations balancing our eight inductees, we remain with 360 members in
the Province.
We have now fifteen Conclaves in
East Lancashire the latest being the Scarlet Cord Conclave of East Lancashire, No 542 which was consecrated
on Thursday, 27th August & we congratulate WyBro Chris Givvons for his outstanding efforts
in bringing this meeting to its final fruition.
A sterling job Chris it all went unbelievably well
when we were beginning to think it was impossible in such a short period of time.
I know that we have a number
of members who are still interested in this new Order & all the information is available on our website.
We intend to
hold our first meeting in January but on the past example do not need any preparation work until one week prior to the meeting!!!
Our Provincial Team has made four visits to Conclaves within the Province.
Forest of Pendle Conclave in March.
Freeman Conclave in September.
Roses in Concord Conclave in May, when we dedicated
their new weapons. This occasion coincided with a visit from the Grand Visitor. VWyBro Thomas Henry Wise accompanied by a
marauding set of invading Brethren from West Yorkshire.
I spoke last year of our joint meetings with our friends over the border.
In June the
team visited Dr James Edward Glover Conclave in Rochdale which was our joint meeting with the Brethren
of West Yorkshire.
To reciprocate, on the 28th
July we took a team from East Lancashire to Westwood Conclave in Howarth & had another exceptional evening.
RWyBro. Stewart may I say on behalf of us all in East Lancashire how much we enjoy
your visits to us & you reciprocal hospitality on our return to West Yorkshire. They are one of the most pleasurable Masonic
experiences. Thank you most sincerely for allowing this bond of friendship to continue & we look forward to welcoming
you to Shaw in the New Year. (Date to be announced.)
We
held our second Gala Dinner 20th June, at Bury, when again members with wives, partners & guests attended.
This proved another resounding success. Everyone
agreed that the food was of an exceptional standard & who ever chose that menu needs congratulating. If fact she will
get a kiss when I get home!!!
The Provincial Grand
Guide, WyBro William L Fishwick, again organised this event & should receive all the plaudits.
Many thanks for all the work you put into making this successful, Bill.
I paid tribute
last year to the work of our Provincial Recorder WyBro Frank Smith,
who takes a great deal of pressure off me handling day-to-day matters & I pay tribute again this year.
To assist Frank with his workload
we last year, appointed an Assistant Recorder, WyBro Nigel Love, who was already our Webmaster & who
using his computer skills has created the Provincial Database & all kinds of useful hand outs & promotional aids.
In fact he is responsible for a large proportion of this meetings arrangement.
To you both my personal thanks
once again.
I have already mentioned my Deputy Stephen & I now formally
thank you for assisting me in the running of the Province.
Stephen you are great asset to this Province I
know how much the Order means to you.
But as the saying goes “you only get out what you are prepared to
put in “ & Stephen that certainly applies to you.
Thank you again.
One person I always forget to thank
& is one we all take for granted, our Provincial Director of Ceremonies.
It’s always an after thought
but not this year.
Thank you Gerry for all your hard work with seating, processions, setting
up & of course taking down again.
Your Grand Honour has certainly been deserved.
Finally my thank
also go to VWyBro William English & WyBro Ian Ronson who have stepped in to fill offices
today.
Last year I stated that
it was my wish, if any Conclave felt that they would like to contribute from their Charity account to the Provincial Charity,
that we would donate I had hoped £1,000 to the fight for a cure to Prostate Cancer.
I am pleased to announce that we will be making a donation of £2,000 augmented
by a £1,000.00 from the OSM Benevolent Fund to the Manchester Millennium Appeal.
This Charity has been set
up to purchase special medical equipment for research into the cause & a possible cure for Prostate cancer at Hope Hospital.
As you all known the Most Worthy Grand Supreme Ruler will retire in November after
serving the Order for many, many years we wish him good health to enjoy his retirement & thank him for all he has done
for this order in the past.
We were delighted when
the new the Most Worthy Grand Supreme Ruler designate was announced as RWyBro Michael William Guest.
For you who are to attend Grand Conclave on 12th November you will witness a piece of history as it is
most rare to see the installation of a new Most Worthy Grand Supreme Ruler.
I now would like to wish every one of you a good health to enable you to enjoy the
next Masonic year in all the Orders & Degrees of Freemasonry, in which you may be involved.
But above all enjoy this, our Order of the Secret Monitor, enjoy the Conclave, enjoy
the Social Board, enjoy the fellowship, spread the word to all about this wonderful Order of the Secret Monitor.
But most of all Don’t forget to smile.
Brethren may the Friend of all Friends the Founder of Faithful Friendships be with you all.
