Province
Well, Brother Knights, another year has flown by and it is my pleasure to welcome you all to this Chapter of Provincial Priory once again.
This year has been a year of change, with changes at the head of our Order and here in the Province. At Great Priory in May, we had the M E & S Kt Leslie Felgate Dring stepping down as G.M. and installing M E & S Kt Timothy John Lewis GCT as his successor.
In the Province we have suffered two major losses, each sad but in very different ways. As we heard earlier in the requiem, our first loss was the death of our Provincial Sub Prior E.Kt Brian White who was called to higher service on 16 March, after a hard fought battle against cancer.
Our second loss was the resignation of our Provincial Prelate Kt Jonathan Baker, who felt it necessary to retire from masonry to assume his new post as the Bishop of Ebbsfleet, without distractions. He did manage to conduct our Provincial Church Service at Abingdon before he stood down and gave us a wonderful service to remember. Although we will miss him, we wish him every success in his new office.
Also at Great Priory a number of the knights of this Province were honoured by the Grand Master with Great Priory appointments or promotion.
Promoted to V E Kt; Roy Eaborn becomes PGtRegistrar,
Appointed to Past Great Priory ranks were:
E Kt Guy Barlow to PGtAdeC;
E Kt Roger Brockington was also appointed PGtAdeC via his Somerset links,
E Kt Reg Allen to PGtWarden of Regalia;
E Kt David Tremaine to PGtChamberlain
and E Kt David Lambton to PGtCapt of Guards.
My congratulations to them all on these well deserved honours.
In our Province my congratulations to all the Provincial Officers I have just invested. All of these knights have shown their enthusiasm for our Order in their own Preceptories and are justly being rewarded with Provincial Honours.
I will however, have plenty for them to do in their new ranks during the coming year starting with our Malta meeting in November. Most importantly I would like to welcome my new Provincial Sub Prior, E Kt Alasdair Milne, Past Great Aide de Camp, of the Outremer Preceptory no 474, must be known to many of you. He tells me that he is looking forward to the coming year and getting to meet you, Bro Knights. He will be out and about in the Province visiting Preceptories and, of course, will be conducting the proceedings at our Malta meeting.
My thanks also to the Provincial Officers who have just left office. There have been some very active Officers this year, who were visiting throughout the Province. I was well supported on the three Provincial Team visits by both the Provincial Officers and my Bodyguard.
There was also a splendid turnout of Knights and their families, for our biennial Church Service at Abingdon. It was only slightly spoilt by the rain, apart from the Provincial Sword Bearer who was paranoid about getting the Provincial Sword wet.
A special thanks to the Provincial Marshal, E Kt Rod Bancroft for his efforts throughout the year, at all these events and plus his work organising the ceremonial today. Another group that have my thanks are all those knights who helped him setup the Chapter today.
As I mentioned earlier we had three very successful Provincial Team visits this year starting with Beaumont No 323 at Oxford, then Cygnet No 464 at Beaconsfield and finally Wellesley No 204 here at Sindlesham. The spread of these visits reflects my thinking that it is good to have a visit in each of three Counties in our Province every year.
I have also had the pleasant duty of travelling around the Province visiting individual Preceptories and I have visited nearly every Preceptory of the Province at least once. I have found that our Preceptories are in good order and working enthusiastically, with most of them installing new Knights.
My only concern for our Preceptories is the absence of officers who are due to be installed by a new Eminent Preceptor. If you have accepted an office in your Preceptory, Bro Knights, you should be there to be invested. It shows a lack of regard for your Eminent Preceptor who has invited you to take that office, if you do not make the effort to attend.
Although we have installed nineteen new knights, over the year our numbers have dropped slightly, partly due to age and distance, but also it seems due to the family and financial pressures. Some however of these knights were giving up dual memberships, so the actual numbers of members has remained the same.
On the wider scene I am pleased to report that I have managed to attend many of the other Chapters of Provincial Priory in England, as well as various Provincial Craft and Chapter meetings of our associated Provinces. Everywhere I was well received and well looked after so I delighted to see our visitors here so we can return that courtesy.
After my remarks last year about the need to look at our ceremonial, there has been an good improvement in ritual and sword drill in some Preceptories, but sadly not all.
I know our Provincial Marshal agrees with me, and Sword Drill being a subject near to his heart, E.Kt Rod Bancroft conceived the need for some written guidance for knights, which will also encourage this improvement. He has prepared an Illustrated Guide to Sword Drill which will give Knights a reference booklet to consult and learn from. He has worked extremely hard on this guide and the first edition is now available, with a copy going to each Preceptory. Individual knights will be able to purchase their own copy from our Marshal, via their Registrar. If you would like a signed copy, you will have to see the Marshal when he visits your Preceptory.
Alongside the production of this guide we are setting up a Provincial Preceptory of Improvement to help Knights put into practice what they learn in the ritual book. To teach what is correct before we slip into bad practises. To quote Benjamin Franklin “It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them”. The present idea is to have meetings at two or three centres around the Province commencing before the end of the year. So that we can find an appropriate location to start off, I would ask any knight who is interested to give his contact details to our Provincial Registrar, E Kt Guy Barlow.
You will be glad to know that the Anabta appeal launched in 2009 passed its target and was concluded with a very successful trip to the Holy Land.
We hope to continue our support the St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital with our Provincial donation backed up by each Preceptory making individual annual donations.
As you heard earlier the Province is making donations not only to the Eye Hosp, Prostate Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Nurses as usual, but this year we are also making a donation to Help for Heroes. These donations are mainly funded by the alms collection today, so make sure your contribution counts.
Now we draw near to the conclusion of my address, Brother Knights, and all that remains is for me to look to the year ahead. We must continue to work together in promoting this splendid Order and may each of us make an effort this year, to find a suitable Candidate, for installation so we may ensure a sound future for all our Preceptories.
May you all enjoy the year ahead with the friendship and warmth that our Order brings. As Thomas Aquinas said ‘There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.’
Thank you, Bro knights and until we meet again may God hold you in the palm of his hand.
R E Kt Raymond E. Cochrane
Sindlesham, 15th September 2011