We were unable to hold our 2021 Annual Meeting in April this year due to the continued suspension of Masonic activities. Our Provincial Grand Master didn’t want to hold a Virtual Business Meeting for a second consecutive year and therefore decided to hold a Provincial Get Together on Saturday the 10th April using the Zoom video conferencing tool.
Right Worshipful Brother Lionel Broadbent Mee, KCAG, Provincial Grand Master, opened the Get Together and welcomed everyone saying how good it was to see 50 Brethren representing all the Courts in Sussex.
He especially welcomed Right Worshipful Brother Roy Leavers, Past Deputy Grand Master and Right Worshipful Brother Charles Aspinell, Assistant Grand Master to our Get Together.
The next item was to honour the names of those Brethren called to Higher Service since our last meeting. W & Em.Bro. Eric Trodd, read the names of those Brethren, followed by a few moments of reflection to remember them.
W.Bro. John Hickman, Provincial Grand Treasurer, gave his report.
The next item was to confirm the appointment of Provincial Grand Officers for the current year. Our Provincial Grand Master was pleased to re-appoint W.Bro. Mark Donovan as his Deputy Provincial Grand Master.
The Provincial Grand Secretary read out the appointments for 2021. The Active Provincial Grand Officers appointed last year were all given the opportunity to continue in office. The Provincial Grand Master briefly addressed the meeting. He said that he was delighted to see 50 members of the Province at our Get Together, the same number as usually attend our Annual Assemblies. This has been a strange year with our only contact by telephone, email or Zoom. Once meetings are resumed it is the intention that either our Provincial Grand Master or his Deputy will visit each Court in the Province and all Provincial Grand Officers will be invited to join them.
He expressed thanks to W.Bro. Chris Eley for all he has done to keep the web site updated. Also to the Mark Province of Surrey for allowing us to use their Zoom account, with especial thanks to Tim Ford, Provincial Grand Secretary of the Mark Province of Surrey for setting up and running the meeting so well.
Our Provincial Grand Master asked the Provincial Grand Secretary if there were any updates. W.Bro. John Richie said that W.Bro. Duncan Maguire wished to say a few words.
W.Bro. Duncan said that every time we had an Official Visit he and the Provincial Grand Marshal had to go looking for a banner stand in the Masonic Centres to put up our Provincial Banner. To save doing this in the future he made up his mind to provide a banner pole and stand for use at Executive visits.
W.Bro. Duncan then virtually presented the new banner stand to RW.Bro. Lionel saying that the official presentation of the banner stand would be made when we can all meet up again.
RW.Bro. Lionel said how delighted he was to accept the stand and thanked W.Bro. Duncan Maguire for all his hard work.
The next item was to allocate a donation to charity. Our Provincial Grand Master said that he would like to donate the sum of £250 towards the Surrey Mark 2022 MBF Festival. W.Bro. Ian Clark, Provincial Grand Master of the Mark Province of Surrey, thanked RW.Bro. Lionel Mee and the members of the Provincial Grand Court of Sussex for their kind donation.
There followed a question and answer session after which our Provincial Grand Master thanked everyone for attending and declared the meeting closed.
Article and photos by Chris Eley
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Right Worshipful Brother Lionel Broadbent Mee, KCAG, Provincial Grand Master, opened the Get Together and welcomed everyone saying how good it was to see 50 Brethren representing all the Courts in Sussex.
He especially welcomed Right Worshipful Brother Roy Leavers, Past Deputy Grand Master and Right Worshipful Brother Charles Aspinell, Assistant Grand Master to our Get Together.
The next item was to honour the names of those Brethren called to Higher Service since our last meeting. W & Em.Bro. Eric Trodd, read the names of those Brethren, followed by a few moments of reflection to remember them.
W.Bro. John Hickman, Provincial Grand Treasurer, gave his report.
The next item was to confirm the appointment of Provincial Grand Officers for the current year. Our Provincial Grand Master was pleased to re-appoint W.Bro. Mark Donovan as his Deputy Provincial Grand Master.
The Provincial Grand Secretary read out the appointments for 2021. The Active Provincial Grand Officers appointed last year were all given the opportunity to continue in office. The Provincial Grand Master briefly addressed the meeting. He said that he was delighted to see 50 members of the Province at our Get Together, the same number as usually attend our Annual Assemblies. This has been a strange year with our only contact by telephone, email or Zoom. Once meetings are resumed it is the intention that either our Provincial Grand Master or his Deputy will visit each Court in the Province and all Provincial Grand Officers will be invited to join them.
He expressed thanks to W.Bro. Chris Eley for all he has done to keep the web site updated. Also to the Mark Province of Surrey for allowing us to use their Zoom account, with especial thanks to Tim Ford, Provincial Grand Secretary of the Mark Province of Surrey for setting up and running the meeting so well.
Our Provincial Grand Master asked the Provincial Grand Secretary if there were any updates. W.Bro. John Richie said that W.Bro. Duncan Maguire wished to say a few words.
W.Bro. Duncan said that every time we had an Official Visit he and the Provincial Grand Marshal had to go looking for a banner stand in the Masonic Centres to put up our Provincial Banner. To save doing this in the future he made up his mind to provide a banner pole and stand for use at Executive visits.
W.Bro. Duncan then virtually presented the new banner stand to RW.Bro. Lionel saying that the official presentation of the banner stand would be made when we can all meet up again.
RW.Bro. Lionel said how delighted he was to accept the stand and thanked W.Bro. Duncan Maguire for all his hard work.
The next item was to allocate a donation to charity. Our Provincial Grand Master said that he would like to donate the sum of £250 towards the Surrey Mark 2022 MBF Festival. W.Bro. Ian Clark, Provincial Grand Master of the Mark Province of Surrey, thanked RW.Bro. Lionel Mee and the members of the Provincial Grand Court of Sussex for their kind donation.
There followed a question and answer session after which our Provincial Grand Master thanked everyone for attending and declared the meeting closed.
Article and photos by Chris Eley
< return to News Index
