West Lancashire Mark Master Masons

R.W.Provincial Grand Master and Brethren,

I commence this, my first Report as Provincial Grand Secretary, by expressing my deepest appreciation to my predecessor, V.W.Bro. Frank Starkey, for all of the help and advice he has given to me during my inaugural year.

I have only had to pick up the telephone to him and he has been only too happy to give me any support that I have asked for, and I am more than pleased to take this opportunity to publically thank him.

I move on now, R.W.Provincial Grand Master , to a summary of the administrative matters of your Province for the year ending 31st August 2007. (Grand Lodge’s Year End), - with some slight updates.

We started that year with 62 Mark Lodges and 23 Royal Ark Mariner Lodges, and indeed at the year end still had the same numbers. However, on 18th January this year we held the Amalgamation Ceremony at Urmston of Flixton and Shepherd Eastwood Lodges. We therefore have effectively lost one Mark Lodge, but we hope that this new amalgamated Lodge, appropriately named Flixton Shepherd Eastwood will go from strength to strength.

At previous Provincial Meetings my predecessor had warned of the danger of losing another Lodge, Perseverance Lodge No.1062, who it cannot be denied were struggling. As he reported last year, a number of Liverpool Brethren were keen to form a Liverpool University Mark Lodge and it was decided for those to join Perseverance and subsequently have it renamed. After all the formalities had been complied with, with Grand Lodge, the re-naming Ceremony took place at a very successful meeting at the Liverpool Adelphi last September.

Since then they have had 4 Joining Members, and only last Monday at a meeting which I was privileged to attend, Advanced their first Candidate under their new Banner. This was the first Candidate for a very long time indeed in 1062 and we wish them every success for the future too.

Turning now to overall numbers in the Province.

R.W.Provincial Grand Master, I have completed a very detailed analysis of the figures and I do intend to reproduce it in the Minutes of this Meeting. I don’t however intend to regale you with streams of figures now, - only a summary, - but in due time I would ask that all those in receipt of the Minutes take the time to study their own Lodge details in depth, and perhaps see where their strengths or weaknesses lie, and address them accordingly.

To summarise the main points, I would inform you that excluding dual memberships we had 1839 Members as at 1st September 2006. Sadly that number had decreased to 1793 as at 1st September 2007. A net loss of 46. This equates to about 2% of our Membership. For the purpose of this analysis I have left out Adoniram, the Grand & Provincials’ Lodge, Philadelphia, the Installed Masters’ Lodge and in their first year, University Lodge, which I have just mentioned, as I believe they would have distorted the true picture.

For those interested in the figures if they are included, the respective totals would be 2240 at 1st Sept. ‘06, down to 2208 at 1st Sept. ‘.07. A net loss of 1%.

Unfortunately during the year in question exactly one third of our Lodges failed to have a single Advancement.

However, all is not doom and gloom. I am delighted to report that against the total of 68 Advancements during the whole year under discussion we already have had 79 Advancements since last September. This, together with the plans which I understand that you, Sir, will be mentioning later, leads to the hope that our numbers will soon be back in the plus ranges.

I move on now to record the Grand Honours conferred by the M.W.Grand Master.

Last December saw the following Brethren receive Royal Ark Mariner Grand Rank:-
W.Bro. Eric Drinkwater of St.Austin’s R.A.M. No.479
W.Bro. David H. Kirkham of Preston R.A.M. No,143
W.Bro. John C.R. Venus of Edmund Taylor R.A.M. No.296
W.Bro. Derek Wood of Leigh R.A.M. No.1322
W.Bro. W. Peter Wilson of Ormskirk Priory R.A.M. No.1019
& W.Bro. David R. Withey of St.George Lodge No.553

The following Brethren will receive Appointment to or Promotion in Grand Mark Rank on 10th June 2008:-
To Acting Rank:-
W.Bro. Brian Molyneux of Freshfield Mark No.1007 to Grand Senior Deacon.
W.Bro. Ross Garnett Kinder of Preston Mark No.143 to Grand Steward.
W.Bro. Michael Robert Walker of Leyland Mark No.1002 to Grand Steward.
Promotions:-
W.Bro. Kevan Kim William Beardmore of Fylde Mark No.296 to Past Grand Junior Overseer.
W.Bro. Frederick Ernest Hargreaves of George Harradon Mark No.956 to Past Grand Junior Overseer.
W.Bro. James Anthony Harrison, Dep.Prov.G.M. of Morecambe Mark No.716 to Past Grand Junior Overseer.
W.Bro. Brian Davey of Furness Mark No.36 to Past Grand Senior Deacon.
W.Bro. David Charles Watkin Fairclough of Prescot Mark No.903 to Past Grand Junior Deacon.
W.Bro. John Edward Ogden of Semper Fidelis Mark No.880 to Past Grand Junior Deacon.
W.Bro. James Victor Pearson of Morecambe Mark No.716 to Past Grand Junior Deacon.
First Appointments:-
W.Bro. Revd. Stanley Cohen of Garston Mark No.942 to Past Assistant Grand Chaplain.
W.Bro. John Alan Powell of Bispham-with-Norbreck Mark No.866 to Past Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies.
W.Bro. Ernest William Waites of Allen Pooley Mark No.992 to Past Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies.
W.Bro. Colin Booth Ingham of Flixton Shepherd Eastwood Mark No.1173 to Past Assistant Grand Sword Bearer.
W.Bro. Geoffrey Thomas Watkinson of Freshfield Mark No.1007 to Past Grand Standard Bearer.
W.Bro. Bryan William Humphries of Temperance Mark No.774 to Past Assistant Grand Standard Bearer.
& W.Bro. Douglas Little of Leyland Mark No.1002 to Past Assistant Grand Standard Bearer.

We look forward to seeing these Brethren receive their Honours in London and we wish them all well.

Turning back to Provincial matters now, we have enjoyed 7 very successful Team Visits with one final one of the Season to take place at Ridgmont on Friday of next week. They have all proven very successful and many friendships have been created through them. So much so that the current Team are planning to get-together with their wives at a Sunday Luncheon during the Summer.

We have also celebrated the Golden Jubilee in Mark Masonry of 4 very distinguished members of the Province: Bro. T.M. Skinner of Cleveleys Mark No.1176; W.Bro. R.Y. McGown of Fylde Mark No.296; W.Bro. A.C. Sharp of Murray Mark No.490 and V.W.Bro. J.G. Forsyth of St.Austin’s Mark No.490.
There are also 2 still to complete before the season ends:- V.W.Bro. Frank Cowburn, who sadly hasn’t been up to celebrating just yet, and W.Bro. D.F. Walsh whose celebration will take place on 29th May.

We send the congratulations of all of the Province to these very worthy Brethren on achieving this milestone.

In conclusion R.W.Provincial Grand Master I would like to place on record my sincere thanks to my Deputy, W.Bro. Arthur Robinson, who has taken on much of the day to day administrative record keeping and in doing so has built up a regular correspondence with our Lodges. His work is invaluable to me and the Province. I would also like to thank the Assistant Secretary,V.W.Bro. Stanley Simm for all of his quiet work in the background, which is also most appreciated.

I save my final thanks to all of the Lodge Secretaries. Their cooperation and attention to my requirements has been absolutely superb during this my first year in this Office.

I have introduced a number of changes which they have accepted without question and I sincerely want to record my gratitude here for that and for all of the work they do in their Lodges, without which the Province could grind to a halt.

R.W.Provincial Grand Master and Brethren, I submit my report.