Year Book 2015
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YEAR BOOK 2015 All information contained in this Year Book has been extracted from the Database of the Order; any inaccuracies should be communicated to the Grand Secretary as soon as possible to allow him to update the records of the Order. Information contained in the database includes members’ names, addresses, telephone numbers, and dates of birth The database is accessed solely by the Administration Team in connection with business of the Order. Should any member object to these details being held on the database, he should contact the Grand Secretary. A printout of all information stored in the database on an individual member will be made available to that member on reciept of a written request by the Grand Secretary. MEMBERSHIP OF THE ORDER ........................................................................................................................................................ 1 TH GRAND MASTER’S ADDRESS 29 DECEMBER 2014 ................................................................................................................. 1 REGALIA ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 2 GRAND MASTER'S COUNCIL ........................................................................................................................................................... 2 GRAND OFFICERS ............................................................................................................................................................................... 2 SUCCESSION OF GRAND MASTERS ............................................................................................................................................... 3 SUCCESSION OF GRAND PRIORS ................................................................................................................................................... 3 KNIGHTS HUMILITAS ........................................................................................................................................................................ 3 KNIGHTS CARITAS ............................................................................................................................................................................. 3 SUCCESSION OF GRAND PRECEPTORS ....................................................................................................................................... 3 SUCCESSION OF GRAND SECRETARIES ...................................................................................................................................... 4 ANNUAL PILGRIMAGE .................................................................................................................................................................... 11 RITUALS AND CONSTITUTIONS ................................................................................................................................................... 11 CONTACT DETAILS .......................................................................................................................................................................... 12 KNIGHTS CALLED TO HIGHER SERVICE .................................................................................................................................. 13 CONCORDAT WITH THE USA ........................................................................................................................................................ 14 PROVINCES ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 17 NUMERICAL LIST OF CHAPELS ................................................................................................................................................... 34 ALPHABETIC LIST OF CHAPELS .................................................................................................................................................. 35 CHAPELS .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 38 MEMBERSHIP OF THE ORDER Admission into the Order is restricted to subscribing members of the United Religious, Military and Masonic Orders of the Temple and of St. John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes and Malta, or its equivalent in other countries. GRAND MASTER’S ADDRESS 29TH DECEMBER 2014 Sir Knights, I am again humbled and extend my deep gratitude to you all for re-electing me as your Grand Master and it is again my honour to address you. It is a real delight to see such splendid support here at our Grand Master’s Council meeting. I congratulate all of you of whom I have had the pleasure of appointing, reappointing or promoting and ask you all to continue the excellent work you are doing in your Provinces and Chapels. My special thanks to all of the active officers who retire today, what a splendid team they have been in what has been another busy year. You may recall that on the 21st February 2013 the Chapel of St Stephen number 36, meeting in Perth Australia, was the first chapel of the order to return their warrant. I was deeply saddened by this development and after investigation I discovered that the chapel was no longer viable due to a declining aged membership and being situated in a location where recruitment is very difficult. I decided to visit the Province of Australia South & New Zealand to show our support. This gave me the opportunity to Install and invest the Grand Prior who was already in Australia at that time with his family and it also reduced the expense of the official trip as only I needed to travel. We have consecrated another six new Chapels this year: • Saint Jean d'Acre Chapel meeting in Paris • Becket Provost of Beverley Chapel meeting in Beverley • Light of Heaven Chapel Chapel meeting in Horndean • Grão Mestre Desembargador Murilo Pinto Chapel Chapel meeting in São Paulo, Brazil • Saint Martin of Tours Chapel meeting in Wareham • Steanforde Chapel meeting in Stamford I congratulate all of those who have been involved in the laying of the foundation stones. We have many more chapels in the pipeline including two more in France and two in the USA, which will consecrated by us before the USA becomes as Daughter Sovereign Order in it’s own right. It is a testament to the hard work and enthusiasm of you all that this order which only had one chapel until 1998 has grown to the point where we have been able to produce a Sovereign Commemorative Order of St Thomas of Acon of the USA. There is a strong concordat between us and we wish them well and look forward to many inter-visits. We have an excellent team of quality Grand Preceptors showing great enthusiasm in the support of their own Provinces and Chapels but also supporting their neighbours. I also extend my thanks to Sir Roy of Haverhill, KC, who, has retired as G. Prec. For East Anglia leaving Sir Lee of Bromley-by-Bow as Provincial Prior in charge, I have the greatest of pleasure in announcing will be his successor. I would now like to welcome our distinguished visitors in alphabetic order: • Alan of Ely GM Royal and Select Masters • Christopher of Chipping Sodbury Grand High Priest of the KTP or Order of Holy Wisdom • John of Bishop's Stortford Supreme Magus SRIA • Paul of Brownhills, KH Grand Clerk Worshipful Society Operatives • Stephen of Harlthorpe Grand Recorder KTP I would again thank you all for committing yourselves to the time and expense to be with us today. What I would also like to welcome our members from abroad this year and I would ask them to stand. Our Welcome is with acclaim Page 1 of 155 Thank you to my Grand Prior, and Grand Marshal for their assistance during the past year. Also thanks go to our Grand Treasurer for managing the finances, I am pleased to report that we have a healthy bank balance. The administration team continue to manage the order with efficiency and I thank them all for their hard work. Our Pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral continues to be a key event in our calendar and was very well supported by our members and wives, we are gaining huge support and are getting to the point of possibly having to use the main body of the Cathedral for future occasions. We have establish a Festival for Canterbury to raise and present a significant cheque, The Project which we are to support is ‘The Restoration of the North West Transept’ this is an area of the Cathedral with specific relevance to our Order and the restoration has already been supported by the Mercers Company. The nature of the works and the connection with the Mercers is felt to be an extremely worthwhile project for our Festival. A recent (December 2014) BBC 2 /BBC 4 programme has been shown on the work of Canterbury Cathedral which in part dwelt on the repairs and the site of the martyrdom. The concept of Pilgrimage to Beckets Martyrdom is still a major part of the Cathedral experience and responsible for a high proportion of visitors. You may have seen the Dean standing in for the Archbishop delivering the Christmas Address and Blessing. Currently the Festival Fund is standing at £6302 and I thank you all for your contribution to this cause. This year for the first time ever I have present the Grand Master’s Award to Sir Alan of Ben Avon. This is an award