West Kent News - Issue 12 - Flipbook - Page 17
ISSUE NO.12 SPRING 2024 | WEST KENT NEWS 17
ASSISTANT PROVINCIAL
GRAND MASTER:
ANDREW WADDINGTON
Brethren,
With spring well and truly underway,
despite some of the recent weather,
many Group 2 Lodges continue to
grow and thrive. I was lucky enough
to visit park Langley Lodge last week
at Wrotham Masonic Hall to witness a
Father initiate his Son. A truly
magnificent meeting and the second
initiate for the second meeting in a
row.
The Lodge also had a re-joining
member who had decided to re-join
following the Lodge relocation from
Bromley to Wrotham.
What it shows is that if Lodges can
make changes to how they conduct
their business, that too may prove
fruitful. The changes need only be
small to have some impact. Such as
tyling later, circulating reports rather
than reading them, having a second
entrance etc etc. The ideas are
limitless. Such small changes may
mean
the
difference
between
increased attendance and retaining
members or not. We need to
consider if 8doing it that way because
we have always done it that way9 is
more harmful to the Lodge than being
open to change.
Brethren, I put it to you that if you
truly want your Lodge to survive,
change can be your friend not your
enemy. After all, Freemasonry is a
constantly
evolving
organisation
which has undergone many changes
in its long history. Embrace it and
make it work for you.
Put simply it is your Lodge, your
future.
The purpose of moving was in order
to be nearer the area most of the
Members lived and thus attract new
members
from
their
domestic
environments and retrieve members
who had found travelling further
difficult and thus resigned.
This is thinking outside of the box and
it is now starting to pay dividends.
Of course Park Langley is just one of
many successes. There have been
many and I am extremely proud of
those Lodges in my Group that
continue to grow and keep the
members engaged. In particular the
new and young Masons who may
need more help, consideration and
encouragement
to
be
useful
members of the Lodge. The
pressures of family and work life in
more recent times are more than
some of us faced in past years.
If you are reading this and are new to
Freemasonry and not yet a recipient of
Provincial Grand Rank please look out
for events run by the West Kent Light
Blues Club. There you will meet many
Brethren with whom. I am sure, you will
have plenty in common.
There will be an AGM of the Club on the
18th May 2024 and details will soon be
going out via the Club. I invite as many
of you as possible who are currently
8Light Blues9 to consider joining the
committee, helping out in some way or
just attend any of the events that will
soon be advertised for 2024. The Club is
there for your benefit but can only be a
benefit if enough Brethren take part.
There is no cost to membership and you
have nothing to lose. There is no age
limit. It is open for all masons from
Entered Apprentices to Past Masters
who are not yet Provincial Officers.
Although, those lucky enough to be in
8Dark Blue9 are more than welcome to
attend events.
Can I also take this opportunity to thank
all of the Lodge Secretaries and
Treasurers who make sure that the
Lodges are run for the benefit of the
members. You do a fantastic job and I
know that those particular roles are not
among those that are high on most of the
Brethren9s agenda.