Provincial Grand Master's address to Provincial Grand Court ~ 28th April 2014
Brethren may I firstly thank you all for attending here today and to our guests who I have already welcomed, I trust you are enjoying your afternoon with us.
We live in exiting times, or we do as Court Master Masons, our Order is expanding throughout the country and in many areas of the world including USA. This Province in particular is experiencing a fantastic growth as Craft masons discover this wonderful order and the breath of fresh air it brings to a sometimes stale and staid institution. The enthusiasm I have seen over the last few years is expanding with requests for the establishment of two new Courts being actively considered. This last year we consecrated the Coronation Stone Court No 50 at Surbiton, what a wonderful day it was with our Grand Master in attendance and carrying out a great ceremony. My thanks must go to all the Founders in bringing this Court to birth in particular Mike Ellis and Roy Leavers, but I know many more were involved. This Court due to its geographic significance had always been a priority to the original founders of this Order, and I was delighted with all your help to deliver that dream.
I have today appointed a new team of Provincial Officers and at once must thank their predecessors for their support during this last year. In particular to Alan Froom who has been a superb Provincial Secretary for the last 4 years, thank you Alan.
To the newly appointed officers many congratulations and thank you for your hard work in the past and I trust continued hard work in your respective Courts.
The Province saw 24 new brethren instructed this year of which 9 were from the existing 6 courts the remainder from the consecration of The Coronation Stone Court. We now have a total membership of 165 a tremendous achievement in 7 years in these austere times. Again it shows the wonderful reception the Order is receiving.
At the Grand Court meeting held last October it was a complete surprise, yes even a Provincial Grand Master is kept in the dark, but a pleasant one when Glyn Goddard was appointed Grand Marshal. I know that V W Bro Glyn will prove to be an outstanding Grand Marshal. His experience as Grand Director of Ceremonies in the Holy Royal Arch Knight Templar Priests will be of great benefit to him in his new role as Grand Marshal. He has an excellent knowledge of Masonic protocols and this coupled with his wisdom and sound advice will be of great benefit to our Order. Already he has made changes to our ritual and rubric in particular the consecration ceremony. On being appointed Grand Marshal Glyn and I felt it was right that he stepped down as my Deputy. Glyn I thank you most sincerely for all your help, advice and especially friendship. In considering a successor I realised how much of the north and west of the Province was expanding and felt that the Deputy should have a good knowledge of that area, and importantly an enthusiasm to see the Order expand. In Roy Leavers I know I have that man, who I know will be a sound adviser and assist me in strengthening and expanding this Province.
I am also delighted that the Order is being acknowledged at other Orders annual meetings and perhaps we can encourage some other Heads of Orders to join. I am pleased to report that I have been invited to both the Surrey Craft & Royal Arch Annual meetings as Provincial Grand Master of this Order.
Today also sees two other events the launching of a brand new website and a Provincial tie. The website is fantastic, one of the best Masonic sites I have seen and it is to be found at www.athelstansussex.org.uk. Please note the new website address does not have a hyphen between Athelstan and Sussex. I thank our Webmaster Bob Tuthill and Roy Leavers for the creation of our new Website. Brethren please have a look when you get home. The tie will be available in the next two weeks and I trust you will like the design. We also have a Facebook page for those who use social media.
This year visits have been issued and I do hope that as many of my Provincial Officers will be able to accompany me in particular on the full team visits to The Coronation Stone Court No 50 on 2nd June 2014 and The Court of King Alfred the Great, No 79 on 15th August 2014. Brethren the full details of the Official Visits for the coming year are on the Website.
I look forward to meeting up with you all on these and other visits to your respective Courts.
The concepts of the Masonic Order of Athelstan have not really altered:
Remain in and support your Craft Lodges and RA Chapters
Research relevant subjects and prepare a paper (it does not have to be long but your thoughts may be of interest to others)
Keep your meetings fresh and concise
Be proactive in your ideas of how you wish your Court to be. To this end we will be establishing a small committee to look at ways of keeping the Order exiting, expanding the Order etc, more about this later,
In conclusion, I hope you agree that it is exciting times indeed.
Thank you again for attending today and a safe journey home.
R W Bro Brian J Prevett, KCSM
Provincial Grand Master