NEWSLETTER 36 Repro - Masonic Province of Yorkshire, West Riding

NEWSLETTER 36 Repro 11/5/07 11:45 AM Page 5
INNER WORKINGS
AT GRAND LODGE
Grand Officers in the
Province were privileged to
hear a fascinating insight
into the day-to-day running
of United Grand Lodge at
Great Queen Street when
around 60 enjoyed lunch at
the Masonic Hall,
Westbourne House, Otley.
PRESIDENT of the Grand Officers’ Mess,
W Bro Bill Barnard, Assistant Provincial
Grand Master in the Province of
Derbyshire, was all set to welcome guest
speaker V W Bro Nigel Brown, who had to
withdraw at 24 hours notice.
In giving the Grand Secretary’s
profuse apologies to speaker finder W Bro
Richard Bolton, V W Bro Brown’s personal
assistant, Mrs Louise Watts, jokingly said
that she would perhaps keep the
engagement instead.
Richard took Louise at her word and
the following morning she was on a train
from King’s Cross to Leeds where she was
met by W Bro Keith Madeley, Mess vice
president, and whisked to Otley; all the
while swatting up on sketch notes ahead
of her speech-making debut on behalf of
the United Grand Lodge of England!
And what a super job she made of it!
Explaining that "Grand Secretaries
come and go," Louise told her captivated
audience she had intended talking about
"A day in the life of the Grand Secretary’s
Secretary," but no day was the same,
indeed no Grand Secretary is the same
and I’m now on my third!!”
"Some nine years ago I was
interviewed by V W Bro Jim Daniel, Grand
Secretary, who asked me what I knew
about Freemasonry. My headmaster at
primary school was a Mason and every
Christmas, he would march the school
choir and band up to the Masonic Hall to
perform after his Lodge’s Festive Board.
That was the extent of my Masonic
knowledge. He asked if any of my family
were Masons, to which I replied in the
negative. Needless to say I left the interview
feeling sure that I had not got the job, so I
was surprised to get a phone call the
following day asking me when I could start!
On my first day in the office, Mr Daniel
said that my job as PA would be no
different from any PA working for a Chief
Executive. He could not be more wrong. It
was like trying to learn a foreign language:
R W Bro this, PAGDC that. I spent the first
two months referring to the Programme
Master until it was spotted in writing and I
was corrected!!
Jim Daniel was Grand Secretary for
four years and had a pretty tough remit: a
major reorganisation of staff, the
introduction of proper budgeting, assisting
Mrs Louise Watts
in setting up the Library and Museum
Charitable Trust and the Chair for
Freemasonry at Sheffield University.
He accompanied the Pro Grand
Master on a series of regional
conferences, which involved every
Province and District. He was very much
involved in the advent of MQ and in
planning Freemasonry in the Community
Week and the European Grand
Secretaries meeting, which UGLE hosted
in 2002.
On a purely personal note, I feel that
he retired a year too early, as all the fruits
of his labours were borne in 2002.
Freemasonry in the Community Week was
a huge success with every Province
working hard and in harmony with the local
media and we certainly don’t get such a
hard time in the media now as we used to.
Since our Openness, we get fewer of
the strange letters that frequently came
across my desk. They accused
Freemasonry of all sorts of conspiracies
and I asked V W Bro Graham Redman
what we should do with them.
‘Send them straight to Upton Park,’ he
said, before explaining this was two stops
short of Barking and that was how the file
was referred to!
V W Bro Bob Morrow was appointed
Grand Secretary early in 2002. He took
great pride in answering all his
correspondence the day it was received,
which is no mean feat. He loved his
involvement in External Relations and was
heavily involved in the changes to the
Royal Arch Ritual.
Nigel Brown has been Grand
Secretary since February of this year and,
although still in the honeymoon period, he
has achieved a great deal in a short space
of time.
Already he has accompanied the Pro
Grand Master on three of the four Regional
Conferences in the Provinces. He also has
plans to meet with all the Provincial Grand
Secretaries.
Plans for a trip to visit our three
Districts in India this November are well
under way and he has already attended
the Centenary and Installation meetings in
Sri Lanka with the Assistant Grand Master.
He is responsible for all personnel within
UGLE and has been working closely with
the Charities in readiness for their move
into Freemasons’ Hall.
Our current Rulers are very `hands on`
and work extremely hard for the benefit of
the Craft and Royal Arch.
The Pro Grand Master, Lord
Northampton, is so enthusiastic and
energetic and has introduced many
initiatives, such as the Mentoring and
Orator Schemes. He devotes a great deal
of his time both at home and overseas on
Masonic business.
The Deputy Grand Master, R W Bro
Peter Lowndes, meets regularly with the
Charity presidents and has recently chaired
the Lowndes Committee, which looked at
changes to Provincial Grand Ranks.
In 2005 he chaired the Strategic
Working Party, which had a broad remit.
The Rulers’ Forum came out of this, as did
the decision to have a Grand Chancellor in
addition to a Grand Secretary.
The Grand Chancellor is responsible
for our External Relations with Sovereign
Grand Lodges, while the Grand Secretary
is responsible for our Districts overseas.
The Assistant Grand Master, R W Bro
David Williamson, is in charge of the
Universities Scheme, which is now
flourishing and the Second Grand
Principal, E Comp George Francis, has
met with almost all the Grand
Superintendents and currently chairs a
Working Party, looking at recruitment and
retention in the Royal Arch.
The Third Grand Principal, E Comp
The Rev Neil Collings, chairs a committee
on the Relationship between Freemasonry
and Religion.
Unfortunately, because of his
promotion to Dean of St Edmondsbury, it
has not met for a while but I am pleased to
report that the Grand Superintendent of
Monmouthshire, the Reverend Malcolm
Lane, is due to meet the Archbishop of
Canterbury very soon.
Looking back, the 10 months without a
Grand Secretary were naturally difficult but
throughout, the Rulers were wonderfully
supportive. But I would have been unable
to do my job without the advice and
support of V W Bro Graham Redman, “the
walking Book of Constitutions,” V W Bro
John Hamill, Director of Communications,
who knows everything there is to know
about external relations, public relations
and, well, everything really.
Finally, I would like to pay tribute to my
two predecessors, Irene Hainworth and
Mary Payne. Irene worked for Sir James
Stubbs and had a reputation as a bit of a
dragon. She is renowned for having once
told the Pro Grand Master, the then Earl of
Cadogan, that the Grand Secretary was
far too busy to see him. I can’t quite see
me ever doing that!
Sadly, Mary Payne, who worked
devotedly for Michael Higham, passed
away suddenly earlier this year. It is a
tribute to this organisation that UGLE was
remembered in her will. It is a wonderful
organisation and I feel very proud and
privileged to be working for you all."
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