Page 4 - Essex Mason (Issue 92)

Provincial Grand Lodge
P r o v i n c ia l G r a nd L od g e

W.Bro Paul William Tarrant

Investiture By Tony Hales
Provincial Communications Team

reemasons from all over Essex travelled to a special Essex
Provincial Investiture Meeting on Thursday 9th September 2021,
Fheld at Freemasons’ Hall in London, the headquarters of the
United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) to see Paul William Tarrant
installed as the 20th Provincial Grand Master (PGM) of Essex by the
Deputy Grand Master of UGLE, Jonathan Spence.
Born in Leigh-on-Sea in 1954, Paul Tarrant became a Freemason in 1983,
having been proposed by a close friend, David Badger, from the Little Theatre
Club in Westcliff. He joined the Lodge of Fraternity No 5916, which now meets
at Saxon Hall in Southend, and became the Master of the Lodge in 1994.
Educated at Westcliff High School and Southend College of Technology,
where he gained a diploma in Business, Paul has had a distinguished career
working for Racal Electronics, HM Customs and Excise and the Department
for Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
Describing his biggest personal success as meeting Jenny, his wife, with
music, theatre and the arts playing an important part in their lives. Whilst at
the Rug Opera in Southend they helped raise over £80,000 for charity. Paul
has also been the South Essex representative of the National Operatic and
Dramatic Association and served as a Trustee of the Freda Parry Scholarship
Fund helping young people follow a career in singing. With a keen interest
in conservation, they are also supporters of the RSPB and Wildlife Trusts and
enjoy walking three to four miles each day.

The first PGM for Essex, Thomas Dunkerley, was appointed in 1776. He
became a famous Freemason after having served as a gunnery instructor in
the Royal Navy and fought at the Battle of Quebec under command of another
Freemason, General James Wolfe. In the late eighteenth century, Dunkerley
helped modernise the then ritual and developed the concept of Provincial
Grand Lodges. Today there are 48 Masonic Provinces in England and Wales
with over 200,000 Freemasons. Essex is one of the largest with currently 9,120
members in 331 Lodges at 27 Masonic centres across the county.
This new appointment as the twentieth PGM for Essex comes at a pivotal time
as public perception has changed favourably over the last year or so towards
Freemasonry. Positive local press includes Essex Masons winning the 2020
Pride of Essex Awards and now “Engaging with the Community” in partnership
with Braintree Museum is one of the most recent. Paul is determined to build
on this positivity and attract more members not only to enjoy the friendship
Freemasonry offers but also to help with all the charitable works and good
causes in Essex which the Freemasons support. Over £7 million has been
pledged by the Masonic Charitable Foundation, the Freemasons charity, for
Essex alone.
Paul Tarrant explained “We are all in together with a wide-range of different
beliefs and religions. Since the Age of Enlightenment, Freemasonry has
never become a melting-pot producing one religion, as some people think,
and it never will. It is a wonderful organisation in which every member has a
healthy respect for each other. Being a member of Freemasonry is the best
decision made in all my years. I have never been ambitious. I simply love
seeing members enjoying themselves with a focus on charity, which is a good
thing”. David Badger said “I’m sure that the Brethren of Essex will see more
clearly what a great choice has been made, and that’s not just because he is
my friend. I’m certain Paul Tarrant will be remembered as one of the great
Provincial Grand Masters of our time”.

4