PROVINCIAL ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2010
The Provincial Grand Masters Address
1. Brethren it now falls to me to Address you for the first time at our Annual Provincial meeting; and for the second time today. It has been a long and tiring day for many of our brethren but the real joy of the day, as with any Provincial meeting, is the Investiture of those brethren of the Province who have been honoured with a Provincial appointment or promotion. Each brother has demonstrated that he has the ability to serve the Province in his new capacity and will be aware of the additional responsibility which goes with the rank. There is no reward here for past services, simply recognition of the ability to serve the Province in the future. I know that they will do so, and I congratulate each of them and I thank them for accepting this additional responsibility.
2. Masonry is a progressive science and those brethren invested with Provincial Rank have the opportunity to demonstrate that they have the necessary ability to be of further service to the Province in the coming years. They may work to that end – there is nothing wrong with being ambitious but it is important that our brethren keep matters in perspective. If further honours are offered, they will inevitably carry a heavier responsibility and brethren must recognise this and ensure that they keep their natural enthusiasm in check. This is not in any way to dampen ambition still less enthusiasm, but in all cases, our Masonry must be without detriment, to our families, our businesses or work, and ourselves. Membership of course carries the responsibility of commitment, but such must not override the commitment to our loved ones.
3. Within the Province we now have a new team; which looks suspiciously like the old team. And so it should, as we build on the success which we have enjoyed during my predecessors tenure. Following my investiture this morning, I had the enormous pleasure of appointing and Investing Graham Williams as my Deputy. Graham has served the Province over many years in senior positions and I have no doubt that he will carry out his responsibilities to the very high standard that this Province has come to expect. It goes without saying that I was delighted to re-appoint the remaining 4 APGMs each of whom has served the Province so well over the years; and of course to appoint and invest Geoff Tuck and Les Hipwell as new APGMs. I welcome these brethren to the team and look forward to working with them in the coming years.
4. Sadly, we have had to say farewell to David Flemming who has served the Province with great distinction, particularly over the past 6 years as APGM. I thank David again for his support and the enormous contribution which he has made to the Province over the years. I have however warned David that I have a number of duties which I would want him to perform in the future, should he wish and be able to do so. Retiring APGMs can walk off into the sunset if they wish, but equally if they wish to remain involved in the Craft Province at the highest level, I will ensure that they are able to do so. The same applies to those APGMs who have retired in the recent past, and of course to my predecessor. I will welcome the opportunity to continue to benefit from the knowledge and experience of such senior brethren.
5. This morning I paid tribute to my predecessor and I do so again at our Annual meeting this afternoon. This morning I mentioned our Mentoring Policy. Orations was another initiative embraced by Brian and of course we not only have a Provincial Orator, but also 12 Group Orators available to give Orations across the Province. And due in no small part to Brian’s enthusiasm, we also have 3 Lodges approved within the Universities Scheme and I propose developing this initiative further by identifying suitable Receptor Lodges within the Province so that brethren initiated through the Universities Scheme in another Province will have an immediate Masonic home within this Province should they wish to take advantage of the facility. In short brethren, Brian’s leadership over the past 7 years has been outstanding. It was my privilege to serve as his Deputy.
6. I propose taking positive steps to ensure that Freemasonry is better understood by the local community. The importance of this is obvious and I believe its success is vital to our future. Public perception of the Craft focuses on our charitable side and indeed many members of the public regard the Craft as a charity. Worthy though this may be, it is a basic misconception which I believe we should address so that the public become aware of the fact that our primary objective is to instill in our members a moral and ethical approach to life focussing on the first of the three Grand Principals on which our Order is founded – Brotherly Love – which is not inward looking but encompasses the whole of society. It teaches kindness, caring, courtesy, honesty, and fairness in all that we do. Effectively, the public need to understand that the Craft is concerned with “making men.” Men joining the Craft will improve in character whilst enjoying the comradeship and fellowship of likeminded men – philanthropy necessarily follows but is not the primary objective. It is important that we get this message across to the public at large – self improvement through self understanding is something which should appeal to men of all ages. With the intention of assisting our objective to better inform the local community of the aims and objects of the Craft, we have purchased an Exhibition Unit for display at Local Shows and this will be on display at the Family Fun Day organised by the Provincial Grand Stewards Lodge in Liphook this coming Saturday. The Family Fun Day is of course a Masonic event but it gives our brethren who will be manning the Unit the opportunity for a dry run amongst friends. I hope as many of you as possible will make your way to Hollycombe on Saturday to have a look at the Unit. The first major outing for the Unit will be at the New Forest County Show on the 27th to the 29th July at Brockenhurst. I have no doubt many of you will be attending the New Forest Show with your families and will be interested to see the Exhibition Unit. All I would ask is that you bear in mind that this initiative is for the public to get a better understanding of our order and it would be a pity if the public were excluded because the Unit was overrun with Freemasons! The public therefore take priority. I have no doubt that this initiative, and others which I have in mind, will be highly beneficial to the Craft in the Province and I hope that we may be able to make the Unit (and perhaps a team) available to our sister Provinces and what better time to mention this than now with some 20 Provinces represented behind me. On your behalf brethren, I thank the team from the Provincial Grand Stewards Lodge for picking up the baton and running with this initiative from when it was simply an idea in the then DPGM’s head. The team has been involved in an enormous amount of work sourcing the Unit, acquiring it and fitting it out and of course dealing with all ancillary matters relating to transport and storage. As to manning the Unit, the team’s request, through the Provincial information Service, for volunteers produced over 70 responses from brethren keen to assist and so unfortunately in May this year there had to be a selection process similar to that carried out by Fabio Capello at around the same time. Hopefully our team will produce the necessary results!
7. I have great hopes for this initiative but in parallel we need to ensure that our Freemasonry is attractive to 21st century man. The concept of the Craft, which I have already touched on, is brilliant. The execution is a different matter. Many of our Lodges have developed and progressed with the changing times. Attending such Lodges is an uplifting experience. They have clearly adapted to the changing times both in what they do and how they do it. They are able to attract and retain quality candidates. Many have attracted young men into their ranks who have introduced other young men. One gets an enormous amount of fulfilment attending such Lodges where the atmosphere is exactly right and the brethren are clearly enjoying themselves both in the Lodge room and at dinner. Some Lodges have had difficulty moving with the times and in consequence might be regarded as being in decline. There can be many reasons for this and it may be that those directly involved are not best placed to analyse the reasons for the Lodges decline. Although we have an established Policy for Lodges Experiencing Difficulty, this is not available to Lodges until they are in difficulty – and often that is beyond the point of no return. I intend to introduce a mechanism to assist Lodges which are in decline before they are “In Difficulty.” I believe such Lodges would benefit from an objective assessment of their position coupled with guidance which may involve interaction with other Lodges. This can be dealt with under the Retention Banner, which will also encompass Mentoring. As to Lodges in Difficulty, we have recently revised Provincial Policy to permit Amalgamations of Lodges in certain circumstances. I propose to extend this and positively encourage amalgamations if the brethren of both Lodges agree.
8. Earlier this afternoon we launched our Festival Appeal for the RMTGB. I do not propose to repeat the presentation which you heard from the President of the Trust but none of you can have failed to be impressed by the work of the Charity and its need for funding in these difficult times. There has been criticism of the Festival system; but there is no doubt that the real benefit of having an Appeal running over a period of time is that it gives those brethren who may be feeling the effects of the downturn in the economy, an opportunity to spread the cost forward so that they can still make a meaningful contribution to the Appeal. I would urge all our brethren to take advantage of the Appeal period by pledging a regular monthly amount by Gift Aid now, at the very start of the Appeal. Now is the time to start. I urge you to read the RMTGB booklet, and share it with your loved ones so that they too will want to support you in whatever you do for the benefit of the Appeal.
9. I acknowledge that a number of Lodges will wish to continue a measure of support for non-masonic charities and commendable though this is, I would just ask the brethren of those Lodges to pause, and reflect, and perhaps read again the RMTGB booklet, before making a decision. The Province has an established charity to support non-masonic causes – The H & IOW Masonic Grand Charity (or Tom Langton Fund) has donated in excess of £500,000 since it was founded and I would urge those Lodges wishing to support a non-masonic charity during the period of the appeal to consider applying to the Tom Langton Fund.
10. Brethren, may I thank all those brethren who have worked so hard to make today a success. Our new ProvGDC W Bro Ian Preece, ably supported by his predecessor and team of deputies, Colin Upton and his team at the Provincial Office, and the members of the Provincial Grand Stewards Lodge many of whom have been working throughout the day, commencing at 7 o’clock this morning. I should also thank those brethren too numerous to mention, who give so freely of their time in support of the Province throughout the year – those brethren who are involved in our charity committees including of course the Teddies Keepers, training and education, the web master and his team, the editor of News and Views and Group Reporters, Masonic centres advisory committee, Social Clubs for our widows, Group Almoners, and Group Orators.
11. Finally Brethren, I embark on my term of office as your Provincial Grand Master with considerable optimism. We live in troubled times and very few of us will have been untouched by events in the wider world. Within the Craft we can see the benefits which a stronger Craft will bring to our communities. If only the wider world had the same vision. We need to work to give them the opportunity to share that vision. If we succeed, the Craft, and the wider community, will be the beneficiaries.
12. Brethren, thank you for your attention. I wish you all a safe journey home.
R.W Bro. Michael J. Wilks
Provincial Grand Master
