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It has become increasingly clear that this Royal It is now perfectly clear to me and to the Royal Arch Arch Newsletter has been widely welcomed Cabinet that Martin was the perfect choice and his across the Province. success in that Office is already clear for all to see. I believe that the positive response to this initiative At the forthcoming Annual Meeting of the has come as a result of its wide circulation amongst Provincial Grand Chapter in March this year we Royal Arch Companions and Brethren in the Craft. will see the retirement of two stalwarts whose I also believe that it has become a successful commitment to this Province has been marketing medium to encourage those Craft Masons an inspiration to us all. who are not yet Companions to consider joining a EComp the Reverend David Halford will retire Chapter to pursue their journey in Freemasonry. as Third Provincial Grand Principal and he will be I still harbour my often-stated ambition that we should succeeded by EComp Colin Whitaker. seek to achieve an even higher percentage of those EComp David Dunn will retire as an Assistant Masons who are members of the Holy Royal Arch. to the Provincial Grand Principals and he will be Some 40% of Craft Masons in this Province are already succeeded by EComp Aubrey Oldham. committed Companions which is a figure far higher In thanking the two Davids for their outstanding than the average achieved by so many other Provinces. service, I wish to thank Carole Halford and Janice Whilst, I welcome this success, our challenge Dunn for all the support they have given their in East Lancashire must be to increase that husbands throughout their Masonic careers. percentage figure to 50%. Since our Annual Meeting in March last To enable us to do that, the commitment and year, we have seen a further increase in diligence of the Royal Arch Representatives in our the number of Exaltations in our Chapters. Craft Lodges is essential. That is precisely why we have As we are all aware, given the significant increase in undertaken a series of “Workshops” to encourage the number of new Initiates joining the Craft, those Representatives in their very important role in this is perhaps not surprising but nonetheless the Craft. very welcome. As most of you know, I am privileged to sit on the I am very impressed that our lectures page on the General Purposes Committee of Supreme Grand Provincial websites is our most frequently visited page. Chapter and in that capacity, I made a request that the Pro Grand Master, the Most Worshipful I encourage all Chapters to use this valuable resource Peter Geoffrey Lowndes, should emphasise the to ensure that when they do not have an Exaltation vital importance of selecting the right person Ceremony, the Chapter will be invigorated by the use to be the RA Representative in our Lodges. of an interesting, enjoyable and memorable lecture. This he did at the Quarterly Communication of United Finally, my sincere thanks go to all the Members Grand Lodge just over a year ago and I made it clear of the Royal Arch Cabinet for their commitment to him that I was so grateful for what he had said. and tenacity; also, to Excellent Companion Andrew Holland our relatively new Provincial Grand Scribe I cannot emphasise enough the importance Ezra and all the Provincial Secretariat and the of these appointments. volunteers who collectively are the backbone of this Since writing the foreword to this Newsletter twelve Province. months ago, the Province faced the tragedy of losing my dear friend, Excellent Companion Paul Rose who, in his capacity of Deputy Grand Superintendent, had introduced so many initiatives which have strengthened the Holy Royal Arch in East Lancashire. Please continue to enjoy your Royal Arch Masonry. Sadly, for this Province, Paul joined the Grand Lodge above after suffering a significant deterioration in his health. It is of immense significance that Paul played an important role in recommending that Excellent Companion Martin Roche should succeed him as Deputy Grand Superintendent.
Spring Newsletter 2020 CALENDAR OF UPCOMING RA EVENTS 2020
28th February Personal 50th - EComp Roger Flitcroft - D Dunn APGP attending. Remembrance Chapter 3787 - Clayton le Moors.
2nd March East Lancashire Provincial Grand Stewards Chapter No. 8408 Manchester
3rd March RA Cabinet - 16.00 (please note time change), Ashday Lea followed by MEGSupt meeting with the RADO’s - 18.00
11th March Acting Officers Dinner Ashday Lea
19th March Provincial Grand Chapter - EL King Georges Hall, Blackburn
30th March Provincial Grand Chapter - Cheshire Park Royal Hotel, Stretton
15th April Personal 50th - EComp Alan Wolstencraft Chapter of Beauty, Radcliffe - K Mulhearn APGP attending.
30th April Supreme Grand Chapter Great Queen Street, London
14th May East Lancashire Provincial Grand Officers Chapter No. 3747 Manchester Hall
31st May Service of Celebration - The RW Provincial Grand Master Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation, and Lady Ruth will be in attendance. 84 Middleton Rd., Manchester, M8 4JX.
13th June Royal Arch Banquet Manchester Hall
3rd September Joint Convocation - ELRAPT will demonstrate Limestone Rock The Passing of The Veils Ceremony Chapter No. 369, Clitheroe.
2nd October Deputation from East Kent - “In The Beginning Huntroyd Chapter of Installed 1st Principals - A Glimpse of Early Years of Royal Arch Freemasonry” No 6385, Adelaide St Accrington.
8th October East Lancashire Provincial Grand Officers Chapter No. 3747 Manchester Hall
15th October Provincial Grand Chapter - West Lancashire Southport Convention Centre
19th November Provincial Grand Lodge - EL King George’s Hall, Blackburn
26th November Royal Arch Principals, Assistants and Senior Officer Mess Manchester Hall
7th December East Lancashire Provincial Grand Stewards Chapter No. 8408 TBC
Spring Newsletter 2020 Welcomes and Goodbyes to Senior members
Changes at senior level within the Provincial Royal Arch Team: Some thoughts and insights.
I caught our 3rd Provincial Grand Principal Designate, EComp Colin Whitaker, just a few hours before he was due to go on a five week cruise to celebrate his Golden Wedding. I did the sums and had to ask him whether he would be back in time for Provincial Grand Chapter on the 19th March. He is back two days before and his batteries will be recharged in order to take on a very onerous task at a pivotal point in the evolution of Freemasonry in East Lancashire.
As he was flying out of the door, he was able to answer a couple of the questions I had for him.
Royal Arch, since
So saying, he disappeared in a flurry of shorts, Hawaiian shirts, valises, trunks and the like. Only when he’d gone did I think to ask where, but by then it was too late. Wherever you are Colin, enjoy not being in the middle of Storms Ciara and Dennis, and come back with a tan.
I have had the very good fortune to be able to ask the retiring APGP for Northern Area, EComp David Dunn and his successor EComp Aubrey Oldham a few questions about the Royal Arch and their roles.
Spring Newsletter 2020
Spring Newsletter 2020
The impressions I came away with from all the interviews was that we are very fortunate to have such great replacements for two of the best known and loved Freemasons in the Province as they step down from high office in the Royal Arch. I am sure we wish them both our best wishes. Colin and Aubrey have shown they are up for the tasks before them and I have no doubt the Province continues to be in very safe hands.
Spring Newsletter 2020 RA Honours 2020
Given Name Surname Chapter Name & No Current Rank Acting ProvGSE Andrew Holland C37 Concord Deane ProvGSE ProvGSN Paul Holt C5712 Aldwyn PPGSwdB ProvGTreas Jonathan Selwyn Brownson C6594 Ark and Menorah ProvGTreas ProvGReg Barrie Danford Darby C2185 Ardwick ProvGReg ProvGDC David Stephen Bristol C369 Limestone Rock ProvGDC ProvGSwdB Ian Christopher Screen C7958 Unitas Fratrum PPGSoj ProvDepGDC James William Hilton C1219 Renaissance ProvDepGDC PDepGDC Jonathan Basger C6594 Ark & Menorah PP1stAGSoj ProvGAlm David Hudson C993 Alexandra PPGSwdB, ProvGAlm ProvGChStwd Stephen John Clark C5771 Papyrean ProvGChStwd ProvGSoj Victor Ernest Murphy C2185 Ardwick PPGStB Prov1stAGSoj Howard Anthony Freear C277 Tudor Prov2ndAGSoj Michael Andrew Buchanan C221 Saint John’s ProvAGSE Roger Stuart Norris C9640 Red Rose of Lancashire PProvGSN, ProvAGSE ProvGStB Simon John Rogers C277 Tudor ProvGStB James Walter Mayall C9397 Three Shires ProvGStB Brian Leonard Tunstall C128 Prince Edwin’s ProvGStB Alston Karl St. Joseph Hall C5332 Manchester Commonweal ProvGOrg Christopher Peter Stokes C62 Social ProvGOrg ProvAGDC Fred William Blackburn C128 Prince Edwin’s ProvAGDC Harold Cooper C1723 St George’s ProvAGDC Graeme Alex Hoyle C42 Chapter of Unanimity ProvGStwd Andrew James Bain C462 Bank Terrace ProvGStwd Francis Ernest Scott Davies C268 Union ProvGStwd Gary Whitelegg C367 Probity and Freedom ProvGStwd William David Spiby C3788 Kitchener ProvGStwd Robert Summers C116 Cana ProvGStwd Andrew James Davies C350 Chapter of Meribah ProvGStwd Christopher James Smith C344 Chapter of Beauty ProvGStwd David Michael Shalom C6594 Ark and Menorah ProvGJan Donald James Smith C462 Bank Terrace ProvGJan Promotions PPGSN Peter Bibby C7224 Fairfield PProv2ndAGSoj PPGSN John Griffin C1055 Derby PProvGSwdB PPGSN Edmund Kenworthy C9397 Three Shires PPGSwdB PPGSN Paul William Yates C3747 EL Provincial Grand Officers PPGSwdB PPGReg John Norman Holt C62 Social PPGSwdB PPGReg Ian William Ogden C1775 Leopold PPDepGSwdB PPGSwdB Robert Forsythe Allan C126 Chapter of the Nativity PP1stAGSoj PPGSwdB Stuart Ashworth C128 Prince Edwin’s PPDepGSwdB PPGSwdB Neil Cooper C9211 Rochdale Chapter of First Principals PPGSoj PPGSwdB David Jeffrey Conway C325 St John’s PProvDepGSwdB PPGSwdB Alun Lewis Davies C3120 Sincerity PPDepGDC PProvGSwdB Edward Smillie C369 Limestone Rock PProvDepGSwdB PPGSwdB Alan Griffin C4828 Audenshaw PPGSoj PPGSwdB Ian Mark Suffield Hunter C37 Concord Deane PPDepGDC PPGSwdB David McGurty C462 Bank Terrace PPDepGDC PPGSwdB Martin Simon McKinley C44 Chapter of Friendship PPDepGSwdB PPGSwdB Andrew Procter C9640 Red Rose of Lancashire ProvDepGDC PPGSwdB John Michael Slater C1219 Renaissance PPGSoj PPGSwdB Allen Steele C42 Chapter of Unanimity PPDepGSwdB PPGSwdB Trevor Michael Thomas C6385 Huntroyd Chapter of First Principals PPDepGDC
Spring Newsletter 2020 PPDepGDC Raymond Alexander Christian C5041 Vis Unita PProv1stAGSoj PPDepGDC Paul Thomas Doran C2702 Hollingworth PP1stAGSoj PPDepGDC David Dredge C152 Chapter of Virtue PP1stAGSoj PPDepGDC Colin Fletcher C3317 Ben Brierley PPGStB PPDepGDC Arthur George Freeman C2891 Lord Stanley PPGStB PPDepGDC Nigel Martin Johnson C3615 Reddish PProvGStB PPDepGDC Ian David Malloch C7814 Cathedral PP2ndAGSoj PPDepGDC George Keith Price C7042 Hartshead PP1stAGSoj PPDepGDC Brian Reynolds C210 Chapter of Faith PProvGStB PPDepGDC David Russell C1504 Red Rose of Lancaster PP1stAGSoj PPDepGDC Kenneth Graham Shaw C219 Loyal Todmorden PP1stAGSoj PPDepGDC Paul Smillie C369 Limestone Rock PPGSoj PPDepGDC Stanley Smith C1504 Red Rose of Lancaster PP1stAGSoj PPDepGDC James Arthur Stahler C1322 Waverley PPGSoj PPDepGDC David Stanley Thomas C1218 Prince Alfred PP1stAGSoj PPDepGDC Alan Twigg C6005 Good Companions of Commemoration PP1stAGSoj PPDepGDC Norman Walker C9397 Three Shires PP1stAGSoj PPDepGDC Dean Lee Wheeler C152 Chapter of Virtue PP1stAGSoj PPGSoj James Alan Bolton C219 Loyal Todmorden PPGStB PPGSoj Graham Davies C325 St John’s PPGStB PPGSoj Christopher Warren Haywood C62 Social PP1stAGSoj PPGSoj Shaun Higson C37 Concord Deane PP1stAGSoj PPGSoj Colin Stuart Hill C6577 Mossley PPGStB PPGSoj Christopher Rex Jupp C128 Prince Edwin’s PPGStB PPGSoj David Leach C1218 Prince Alfred PP2ndAGSoj PPGSoj Brian Edward Tattersall C1775 Leopold PPGStB PPGSoj Robert John Waddington C6577 Mossley PPGStB PPGSoj Christopher Michael Wildman C6594 Ark and Menorah PP1stAGSoj PP1stAGSoj Simon Kenneth Archer C62 Social PProvGStwd PP1stAGSoj John Curry C6163 Werneth PProvGStwd PP1stAGSoj Andrew John Foster C3867 West Salford PProvGStwd PP1stAGSoj Dennis Heskett C2529 Abbey PProvGStB PP1stAGSoj Paul Richard Higson C4130 Unanimity PProvGStwd PP1stAGSoj Douglas Howard Irving C3336 Samaritan PPGStB PP1stAGSoj Abbas Ali Javan C5332 Manchester Commonweal PPAGDC PP1stAGSoj John David Platt C1218 Prince Alfred PPGStB PP1stAGSoj John Michael Walter Snape C369 Limestone Rock PPAGDC PP1stAGSoj Michael David Stubbs C116 Cana PProvGStB PP1stAGSoj Stephen Richard Watson C3787 Chapter of Remembrance PProvGStwd PP1stAGSoj Stephen Peter John White C269 Chapter of Fidelity PProvGStB PP2ndAGSoj Barry Trevor Greenlees C8763 Tonge Hall PProvAGDC PPAGDC Gregory Robert Wood C1723 St George’s PProvGStwd Appointments PProvGSoj Alan Kirwilliam C274 Chapter of Fidelity PP1stAGSoj Barry Dickson C6577 Mossley PP1stAGSoj Michael Vernon Lomax C7958 Unitas Fratrum PP1stAGSoj Patrick James McEvoy C42 Chapter of Unanimity PP2ndAGSoj David Abram C7814 Cathedral PP2ndAGSoj Nigel Gibson C78 Imperial George PP2ndAGSoj Robert Olive C9640 Red Rose of Lancashire PP2ndAGSoj William Whittaker Reeves C7042 Hartshead PPGStB John Barker C7042 Hartshead PPGStB John Andrew Brear C219 Loyal Todmorden PPGStB Leslie Harold Brookes C1322 Waverley PPGStB James Fairclough C5041 Vis Unita PPGStB Michael Wyatt C6575 Portland PPAGDC Hurryduth Beedaysee C128 Prince Edwin’s PPAGDC Raymond Phillip Degg C2185 Ardwick PPAGDC Joseph Barry Nicholson C350 Chapter of Meribah
Spring Newsletter 2020 There was a wonderful paper given at Provincial Grand Lodge concerning the Dr Desaguliers saw how this could form the basis of a relationship between the Craft and the Royal Arch. MEGS has asked that it be new Masonic degree. It was originally called reproduced in the Newsletter so we can all consider and enjoy it. the degree of Scots Master and was an early version of the Royal Arch. The story is almost word-for-word that told by the Principal Sojourner in the ceremony of The exaltation. But in order to rediscover something you first have to lose it and Dr Desaguliers then created what Indissoluble we know as the Hiramic legend which lies at the heart of the Third Degree. So historically the Third Degree Link and the Royal Arch were created at the same time by the same person: the one describing the loss of the Word and the other of how it was found. At the end of the Third Degree the candidate is left with substituted secrets and in the Royal Arch he receives the genuine By W.Bro. Christopher Powell, PM, PZ secrets of a Master Mason – note Brethren ‘of a Master Mason’, not of the Royal Arch. So ritually too the The subject of my talk ‘The Indissoluble Link’ refers to the Third Degree and the Royal Arch are one thing: relationship between the Craft and the Royal Arch and my talk the one completing the story told in the other. But there is a thinly veiled appeal to all Freemasons to join the Royal Arch is more to it than that. As we progress along the path and moreover to go through the three Chairs in that Order. of our Masonic journey, as we climb the ladder a step or degree You will all be familiar with the famous sentence that occurs on at a time, we do not received more and more Masonic page one of the Book of Constitutions - the Blue Book - which secrets, but rather explanations of things that we have statesthat ‘pure Antient Masonry consists of three degrees already seen and heard about in an earlier degree, and no more, viz., those of the Entered Apprentice, the Fellow indeed, mostly in the First Degree, that of Entered Craft and the Master Mason, including the Supreme Order Apprentice. As you know, the candidate enters the lodge room of the Holy Royal Arch’. This was a compromise statement ‘divested of all metals’, he is also ‘slipshod’. Why he is ‘divested of which enabled the two Grand Lodges, the Antients and the all metals’ is partly explained in the First Degree in the passage in the Moderns, to come together to form the United Grand Lodge North-East Corner, but a fuller explanation occurs in the of England in December 1813. It implies very clearly that the Third Degree in which he comes across Tubal Cain, and having Royal Arch is not a wholly independent degree but the completion been divested of all metals before his initiation he is of the degree of Master Mason. We still debate invested with metals on his Master Mason’s apron, whether the Royal Arch is a separate, fourth degree with a symbol of wisdom. But why is he slipshod? as the Antients’ maintained or the completion of the The answer to that question is not revealed until the Installation Third Degree as the Book of Constitutions states it is. of a Third Principal in the Royal Arch. So in order to explain to a Well Brethren, I can assure you the Book of Constitutions keen Entered Apprentice why he is slipshod one has is correct and the Royal Arch is part of the Third to go through the chairs in the Royal Arch. I could give Degree, historically, ritually and structurally. you many, many more examples but you get my point. When the Premier Grand Lodge was founded in 1717 there At the bottom of the Royal Arch jewel is the phrase in Latin: were just two degrees in Masonry: the Entered Apprentice ‘Nil nisi clavis deest’ [only the key remains] reminding and the Fellow Craft. Masters of lodges were, in Masonic rank, the new Companion that there is still more to learn. Fellow Crafts. This is why even today much of the Installation Obviously, the only ceremonies left in which he can ceremony is conducted in the Second Degree. That pattern of gain the key referred to on the jewel are the Installation two degrees still exists today in our professional bodies. I am ceremonies of the three Royal Arch Principals. The three certain in this hall there are many Brethren who are Fellows of Principals represent among other things the three their professional institution: Fellows of the Royal College of keystones of the Royal Arch, keystones which when re- Surgeons, Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects etc. moved reveal the cave in which is found the true secret And in each case there is a junior degree: Member of the of Freemasonry, a secret that is finally revealed to an Royal College of Surgeons, Associate of the Royal Institute of Installed First Principal at his Installation. Armed with British Architects etc. Two degrees of which the more senior that knowledge, an Installed First Principal can now teach is always denominated ‘Fellow’ and, as with Masonry being Entered Apprentices about Freemasonry. Only by joining the a Fellow permits one to teach others, to have apprentices. Royal Arch and going through the three chairs can you make A sea change occurred in English Freemasonry shortly after the sense of Craft Freemasonry as a coherent whole. formation of the Grand Lodge in 1717. Instead of meeting And so Brethren, joining the Royal Arch and going through the occasionally in order to make and pass Masons, lodges began three chairs is not just a matter of another Masonic degree, it is meeting frequently and regularly, usually once a month as we the completion of pure, Antient Masonry and it is thekey do now, at fixed times and in fixed places. to understanding what the whole Craft of Freemasonry is about, Masons began carrying engraved lists of lodges like this, which even things that occur in the very first degree. enabled them to visit other lodge meetings. Very few of the In 2011, our Pro-Grand Master, Peter Lowndes said: ‘what is the new Masons were builders and sculptors, they were gentlemen point of watching the first three episodes [of a drama] Masonswho came from all walks of life. Consequently, and then ignoringthe fourth when all is revealed?’.1 they needed much more Masonic work to do and this was Note his final phrase Brethren: ‘when all is revealed’. provided in the form of lectures and of two new Masonic degrees. To that I would add, why would one not want to learn Around 1720, our third Grand Master, Dr Desaguliers came the genuine secrets of the Master Mason that have across a 4th-century Greek legend in a book he been passed down from generation to generation for well possessed entitled Orbis miraculum, or, The temple over 600 years? Why would one not want to understand of Solomon pourtrayed by Scripture-light which told Freemasonry better? And surely all of us want to be in a position of a discovery in a cave under the ruins of the Temple at to help a keen Entered Apprentice understand what Jerusalem. our ancient and glorious order is all about. Spring Newsletter 2020 Musings from the Editor
ave you ever been intrigued by the doings at the H Social Board in the Royal Arch? I particularly like Is there a link the questions between Z and PS about the 3 Lodges. between Mount The more often I hear them, or more particularly those around the Second Lodge, the more I think of Moriah and the Lord of the Rings, and ask was JRR Tolkein a mason? Mounts of Moria?
Moria, an invention of Tolkein’s amazing mind, was, at one time, the greatest dwarvish house deep in By EComp Tony Freemont PGStB APGP the heart of The Misty Mountains (AKA The Mounts of Moria). It is surrounded by legend and myth, having been founded long before the time in which The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are set, by Durin the Deathless, the greatest and First of the Dwarvish “Lords under the Mountain”. The dwarves were forced to leave Moria by a Balrog (known only as Durin’s Bane) and an army of Orcs and fled to the Wildland. Only after many years were the Dwarves successful in returning to Moria under the leadership of Durin VII to reconstruct their citadel, the heart of their kingdom.
Our second, or Sacred, Lodge “was holden in the bosom of Mount Moriah” under the very place that the sanctum sanctorum of the First Temple would stand. It was presided over by Solomon King of Israel, Hiram King of Tyre and Hiram Abif, the legendary, part historical, part mythical centre of Craft masonry. The very spot directly links to Abraham, the first progenitor, Isaac, the second progenitor, and great King David. Through the sanctum sanctorum, it is also the place discovered by the Sojourners whose tale is at the heart of the allegorical story underpinning the Royal Arch, at a time when the 2 tribes returned to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple and city, years after they had been driven out by Nebuchadnezzar.
Can you see the similarites, or is it only me?
A little research on the internet reveals that 4 of Tolkein’s nearish relatives are named in the chronicles and records of UGLE. Tolkein, born 1892, himself was staunch Catholic and therefore in the days in which he was writing, unlikely to be in the Craft. But did he have a patrominal inheritance of masonic ritual and knowledge that inspired at least part of his stories about the fight between Good and Evil?
Spring Newsletter 2020