WK News - Issue 11 (5) - Flipbook - Page 10
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WEST KENT NEWS | ISSUE NO.11 WINTER 2023
IN CONVERSATION
WITH THE ROYAL
ARCH MEMBERSHIP
TEAM
We were privileged to catch up
with the Royal Arch Membership
Team, hearing about their work and
how they hope to achieve their
aims and objectives of increasing
Royal Arch engagement across the
Province of West Kent.
Written by: Adrian Grant
HEAD OF MEMBERSHIP AND
DEVELOPMENT:
VINCE LETHBRIDGE
What’s your role in the RAMDT?
I9m the head of the Royal Arch
Membership Development Team
(RAMDT). My colleagues and I all
work in conjunction to achieve the
Provincial
Grand
Master
(PGM)/Most
Excellent
Grand
Superintendent (MEGS) increased
RA membership objectives.
What’s the background and the
reason that the RAMDT was
created?
UGLE and Supreme Grand Chapter
(SGC) now want the Craft and the
RA to be viewed as one singular
unit as opposed to two separate
entities which many of our members
still view us as, in order for the RA
to be more in alignment with the
Craft the PGM/MEGS has instigated
a number of new administrative
changes to our Chapters. Among
these changes are the introduction
of Chapter Mentors and Chapter
Membership Officers (CMOs) in
addition to these new appointments
the Craft office of RA Rep or
Chapter representative has now
been upgraded to a Royal Arch
Liaison Officer (RALO) which is a
much more membership focused
role. In a move to emulate that of
our Craft Lodges, RA Visiting
Officers have now been introduced,
with the creation of these new
positions the Royal Arch in West
Kent is now in an ideal position to
realise the PGM/MEGS primary
objective of increasing the current
RA membership from 42% to 50%
in the short term and for us to
exceed 60% before the PGM/MEGS
tenure in office is completed.
Who else in the RAMDT?
Apart from myself our team
comprises of James Ashmore, the
RA Provincial Membership Officer;
Martin Eggleton, the RA Provincial
Retrieval Office; Alan Wondzinski,
Provincial RA Mentor.
All three of these Companions have
a wealth of RA knowledge and
experience and I9m very grateful
and privileged to be working with
such committed and dedicated
Companions.
What are the RAMDT doing to
achieve
these
membership
objectives?
The Provincial Executive have
already
carried
out
extensive
research into every Lodge in our
Province and they have identified a
number of Brethren who would be
ideally suited for the role of RALO,
these Brethren are now either in
place or they are about to be
appointed
imminently.
Following
these appointments every RALO has
been contacted by a member of the
RA Executive to discuss with them
the RA membership objectives unique
to their Lodge. Every Lodge RALO
will have received a Royal Arch
Membership
Eligibility
Review
(RAMER)
which
is
a
unique
breakdown of the members in the
RALO9s Lodge who are eligible for
Exaltation into the Royal Arch, we
have also included details of those
Brethren
who
are
currently
unattached Companions, I have
already received a number of positive
responses from our RALO9s who have
successfully managed to recruit some
of the eligible members on the
RAMER for Exaltation so this is really
a very positive step forward in our
overall recruitment endeavours.
What about
Masons?
our
new
Master
Four weeks after a Brother has been
raised to the sublime degree of a
Master Mason he then becomes
eligible for Exaltation into the RA, he
will
then
receive
a
personal
invitational
letter
from
the
PGM/MEGS to join the RA, then our
Provincial
Membership
Officer,
James
Ashmore
will
personally
contact the Brother in question as a
courtesy
to
then
discuss
his
membership options.