Provincial Grand Lodge of East Lancashire><br /> <h1 class=The Past Grand Superintendent

ADDRESS OF THE ME GRAND SUPERINTENDENT
TO THE PROVINCIAL GRAND CHAPTER - 13 MAY 2008

Two years ago I commenced my address to you with the words “ time passes so quickly” and it is difficult for me to grasp that in 8 weeks time I will have led this Province of ours for a whole year.

Last year I commenced with the words “ Companions 18 Months in office – doesn't time pass so quickly”, and, Companions here I am just 3 years after accepting the Office, speaking to you for the last time as your Grand Superintendent and Provincial Grand Master.

Companions I do so with a heavy heart but in the knowledge that for Marlene and my family it is the right decision.

So, as this is the last time that I speak at such a gathering I hope you will permit me to divide my address into two parts, the first part dedicated to the Royal Arch and then the second a reflection on the 3 years I have had the enormous pleasure and privilege to serve this Province as its leader.

Our relationship with the Craft continues to be so very important and I trust will always be a very high priority. I believe that the co-operation between Lodges and Chapters and, the processes we have put in place to ensure this happens, has been a major factor in achieving 100 Exaltations in the last year, an increase of 3 on 2006 and the first time for many years to show an upward trend. The number of Registrations for 2008 is, at this stage of the year, very encouraging and we may have turned the corner. Well done to all of you.

This success story in the number of Exaltations has been replicated by the retention of current members. The achievement of various initiatives, including the excellent pamphlet on the Royal Arch, together with the local initiatives undertaken by many Chapters and Royal Arch teams, have been a major reason behind this turnaround.

Companions the hard facts are that we lost 265 members in 2006 but only 115 in 2007. We appear to be turning the corner and we must concentrate more with the aim of moving a net loss in to a positive gain and, as you hear, the signs are encouraging.

Perhaps the most important of these initiatives is the meaningful role of the Mentor , or, what I refer to in Craft as, 21 st century mentoring. More about that later but once we have it established and developed within the Craft we are looking very much towards the Craft training and experience in the Royal Arch.

The importance of being able to explain the Royal Arch to potential Exaltees, as well as to existing members of the Chapter, and to give the ritual real modern day meaning will be an essential tool for the Mentor.

May I now extend to all the 140 Companions who are to receive an Honour today, my congratulations and the congratulations of all your friends who are with you today?

As each of you know, the rank to which you have been appointed or promoted reflects what you have achieved, the dedication you have shown, both to your own Chapter, the Province in general, and the work you do in your Districts. And also, when considering these Provincial Honours, I have been so pleased to see again the information concerning those Companions who are demonstrating strong links with the community. We are re-engaging with the general public and I believe this is so important for the future of Freemasonry in this country.

Companions, as you are aware, at the beginning of this month I attended the 2008 Investiture of both the Craft and the Royal Arch. We all had a wonderful time. Instead of joining the High Rulers for dinner at the Guildhall, we had a Dinner Party just for East Lancashire at the Carlton Club. In that way we were all able to be together, Appointees, those Promoted and, also, all their guests. It was a great evening and after dinner we joined West Lancashire for after dinner drinks and good fellowship. Companions, there were some very very pale looking Freemasons at breakfast the following morning!

First Appointments to the Rank of Past Grand Standard Bearer

Norman Cope
Brian Horne
Geoffrey Lee
Roger Norris
Donald Simpson

Promotions to the Rank of Past Assistant Grand Sojourner

Nigel Bramley-Haworth
Keith Roberts
Aubrey Rothburn
Harold Woodward

Congratulations to them all.

As you know Companions, events such as today do not just happen. We have relied on many people to bring it together, in particular the Provincial Grand Scribe E and the Provincial Grand Director of Ceremonies and their teams. My very grateful thanks are extended to all of you who have been involved in any way.

I am looking forward I'm sure as we all are to having the company of Susan O'Neill and Julie Ward again at the banquet following this meeting. What great supporters they are; again this next Sunday, they are running the Manchester 10k in aid of Masonic Charities and Action Duchenne.

And so Companions and Brethren, if I may use that word in this room will you please permit me a reflection on what together we have achieved over the last 3 years.

At my Installation Ceremony in May 2005, I tried to set out the main strategies on which we would concentrate – and, if I remember, was then criticised by the Deputy Grand Master for banging on a bit.

The restructuring of our Province has continued and we will soon be down to below 300 Lodges and 120 Chapters and moving towards a membership that sensibly reflects the number of Brethren and Companions in our Province.

We have a real-time website which is continually updated and is beginning to reflect a modern Province. Anyone of our members can now log on to the website and update himself on what is happening.

We have a communication team in place, which is beginning to relate to local media, is continuously updating the website and is making the Deacon a more interesting Provincial newspaper. In fact, so important do we view communication that we have appointed a new Director of Communications and I wish Companion Chad Northcott every success and I know he will do well.

Our East Lancashire Masonic Charity is now once again central to our Province and at the AGM tomorrow we will be able to announce a number of advances.

Contributions from the Brethren and Companions, Lodges and Chapters up 16%. Contributions from the Grand Charity to our beneficiaries up no less than 58%. Membership of the ELMC up from 700 at the beginning of 2007 to 1047 today and over £100k awarded to projects by the Community Fund.

We now have a whole range of excellent projects around the Province where Brethren and Companions are engaging with their local communities and bringing Freemasonry back into the villages, the towns and the city life of East Lancashire . In addition to that, local areas have arranged a number of very successful giving evenings where Freemasons, their partners, representatives of the Charities and local Dignitaries are coming together to celebrate the generosity of our Order.

On 14 March in Ashton £41k was given to 55 Charities who were all present.

In Bolton and Bury over the last two weeks over £41k was given and interestingly the local radio station contacted us to ask why they had not been invited. £39k was given at another Charity giving night in Blackburn and Accrington and just last Friday, over £50k was donated by City Masons at Salford .

Other areas are acting similarly and Companions this is all in addition to what you are giving to the East Lancashire Masonic Charity. You have responded brilliantly to this challenge of re-igniting the principle of Charity both in financial terms and the giving of oneself and taking that into your communities.

I do thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that good work.

Lastly at Provincial Grand Lodge in November, I announced our new Mentoring scheme. Mentoring which was started in my predecessor's time governed the Masonic care of Initiates and new members. 21 st Century Mentoring involves everyone in the Lodge and Chapter, young and old, as each walks his path of discovery through learning and daily advancement in Masonic knowledge.

Companions

Brotherly Love – there are many organisations that offer fellowship friendly interaction between its members.

Relief – there are many organisations that are charitable and have Charity at the centre of what they do.

Truth – what do we mean by this and is it this that makes us quite different to other societies of men. Companions I believe that to be the case and I wonder whether this element has been pushed behind the others in recent years. The general public perceive us as just a charitable organisation but I would argue that we are much much more than that.

In my own mind, I define truth as those principles that we have been given in our various Masonic rituals and how each one of us translates those moral teachings into the way we lead our daily lives. So the Craft teaches us about our relationship with our fellow men and the Holy Royal Arch teaches us about our relationship with our God. So the truth, Companions, is about us, you and me and how each one of us, by exposure and understanding of our ritual, tries to become a better man, to be respectable in life, useful to mankind and an ornament to the society of which you have this day become a member and if I can pick just one further passage as an example from our ritual it would be from the address to the Brethren in the Craft “ I therefore trust we shall have all but one aim in view, to please each other and unite in that grand design of being happy and communicating happiness”. What a wonderful truth that is!

If I could pick a legacy as my time as your leader it would be this.

I have received so many letters from you about my retirement, in fact more than when I was appointed. They are all wonderful and I do thank you but one touched me to the core. He wrote in his last paragraph the following “ for a number of years now I have felt that Freemasonry had little to offer. You have changed that by your actions as our Provincial Grand Master / Grand Superintendent and you have my eternal thanks for that.”

Companions he got just one part of that wrong. I have not changed things on my own, we have all done it together and I believe that if together we have made Freemasonry more fulfilling for that one Brother then it has all been so worthwhile.

Let me wish my successor, Jack Price, every possible success when he takes over the Leadership of this Province on June 18. He has a wealth of experience of this Province, perhaps more than any other of our number and is close to the pulse of the Province of East Lancashire . During my time as both Deputy Provincial Grand Master and then as Provincial Grand Master and Grand Superintendent, his would be the first opinion I would seek before decisions had to be made. He will bring a calm and experienced rudder to this ship and I wish him and his teams well.

So thank you for allowing me to serve as your Grand Superintendent and Provincial Grand Master.

Thank you for the wonderful support for both Marlene and I over the last 2 difficult years.

Continue to immerse yourselves in this wonderful Order of Pure and Ancient Freemasonry and continue to support and love each other through good times and bad.

And please always remember that you all made this humble Brother and Companion immensely proud of his Province of East Lancashire .

EComp Paul JE Rink, OBE
ME Grand Superintendent
13 May 2008