Page 44 - Essex Mason (Issue 87) Online Version

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istinguished Guests and Companions. It is a great honour for me to be able
to address you again as Grand Superintendent in and over the Royal Arch
DProvince of Essex at this Annual Essex Convocation – it is now four years
since I was installed as your Grand Superintendent and Provincial Grand Master
and I have enjoyed every minute in both those roles.

I have already welcomed our Official guests from Supreme Grand Chapter,
from other Provinces and from the Metropolitan Grand Chapter – may I
now extend a warm welcome to all the Companions here today and I thank
you all for supporting our Annual Meeting here in the Grand Temple in
such numbers. Warmest congratulations to those Companions whom I (or
my Deputy) have had the privilege of investing today. This is your day and
I hope it will be a happy and memorable one for you. Provincial honours
are, of course, in part a reward for past efforts but they also reflect an
expectation of future service for your Chapter, your Masonic Centre or
the Province itself. It is, of course, an especial privilege for us all in Essex for me to be able to welcome to our Meeting the Pro First
Grand Principal. Sir, we really do appreciate the leadership you have consistently and amply demonstrated to both the Royal Arch and
the Craft in general and to Essex in particular. Your predecessor, the Marquess of Northampton, did conduct the proceedings for the
installation of my predecessor in 2005 but this is the first occasion that the Pro First Grand Principal has ever attended an “ordinary
Essex Provincial Convocation” and we are truly grateful bearing in mind the enormous demands upon your time.

Furthermore your kindness, support and understanding, together with all the members of the Essex Executive, and of so many
Freemasons in Essex and the Provinces beyond, during my recent illness and treatment has been outstanding and uplifting for me and
my wife and family. Thank you so much for reinforcing to me personally part of what Freemasonry is all about and what it does so well.
May I again thank most sincerely Cliff Thoms for his outstanding work for the Royal Arch as Deputy Grand Superintendent. His
experience and wise counsel both in the Royal Arch and in Craft masonry has been invaluable both to me personally and to the
Province as a whole. I also pay a warm tribute to Clive Rees (and wish him well in his new role in the Craft) and to Phil Campbell for
their conscientious and diligent work as Second and Third Provincial Grand Principals respectively. I am sure that Nick Franklin will be
an admirable successor to Cliff and that Phil and Elliott Chevin thoroughly deserve their promotions.
The Assistants to the PGPs have also done an excellent job. Ian Simpson is stepping down today as an APGP. I thank him for his hard
work in that role and his continuing active involvement in the Province is very much appreciated. I am delighted to have appointed
Martin Cook as APGP to succeed him and David Wilson to succeed Elliott Chevin and I wish them both well in their new roles.

May I also extend my grateful thanks to the Provincial Scribe E, Phil Lovelock and the outgoing and incoming Provincial Grand DCs
Geoff Turpin and Joe Shearer and each of their teams for all their hard work and effort in ensuring that today’s meeting proceeded
smoothly – as well as the outstanding support they give me throughout the year.
The Royal Arch Executive has continued to develop, borrow, and produce many innovative initiatives around the Province, primarily
designed to recruit new Exaltees and to provide a better understanding of The Royal Arch. With the help of The Stewards Chapter and
the ever-improving network of Lodge Royal Arch Reps, we remain an active and vibrant Royal Arch Province. A more clearly defined
and broader role for the Chapter Almoner combining the duties of Craft Almoner, Mentor and Membership Officer is hugely important
to the strength and well being of a Chapter and we will continue to work on this.
In the long run, the overall strength of The Royal Arch depends upon the vitality of the Craft. The new Membership Pathway Lodges
in the Craft, highlight, from the very beginning, the natural progression of Core Masonry from Entered Apprentice through to Royal
Arch Companion. The Craft overall is very supportive of The Royal Arch and as this Province has the same Head of both organisations,
it should come as no surprise that this link is being continually reinforced in Essex!.

We also make no apologies for briefly emphasising two things. First, promotions to active or senior Provincial rank in the Craft in Essex
will normally require Membership of the Royal Arch as a pre-requisite and, in turn, appointments to active or senior Essex Provincial
rank in the Royal Arch require a continuing engagement with the Craft. This reinforces the indissoluble link between the two. Secondly,
it is as vital that the ceremony of Exaltation is carried out well so as to give a favourable impression to the candidate for Royal Arch
masonry as it is for the ceremony of Initiation in the Craft. It is pointless for the ceremony to be read (or even prompted) from the
book – it completely loses its meaning and purpose - better to divide up the work and farm it out. As my old Preceptor in my Mother
Lodge used to say - “Chuck the book away – it is wrong anyway !!!

I know that all the Members of the Executive appreciate the support and encouragement we receive from Chapters all across the
Province and their generous hospitality whenever we make an official visit. It has been my especial pleasure and privilege this past
year to serve as First Principal of Essex First Principals Chapter No 3256 and of Essex Provincial Grand Stewards Chapter No 8665 for
which I am eternally grateful. Can I also pay tribute to the excellent support provided by several Essex Chapters to the 2022 Festival
(as illustrated in the Report of the Committee of General Purposes) and to encourage others to follow their lead.

Thank you once again for listening to me and may God Bless you all and indeed this Royal Arch Province of Essex. As I say at the
conclusion of each of these addresses, let us go forward together and walk worthily in the light which shines around.
Rodney Lister Bass, OBE