WK News Summer 2023 - Magazine - Page 4
WEST KENT NEWS | ISSUE NO.10 SUMMER 2023
4
A MESSAGE FROM THE GRAND
SUPERINTENDENT AND PROVINCIAL
GRANDMASTER:
MARK DOUGLAS ESTAUGH
Brethren and Companions,
It is once again time for our regular edition of
West Kent News, and I write with a sense of
optimism that the Masonic season up to June
2023 has been one where we have been able
to reinvigorate our Masonic activities in
earnest and that most if not all of you have
returned to your Lodge or Chapter meetings.
I cannot begin to tell you how delighted I was
to see your support for our combined
Provincial Craft and Royal Arch meetings on
Friday 9 June and am given to understand
that over 1,300 people booked in to attend
the day’s events and over 500 at the
luncheon, which is normally restricted to that
maximum number.
This is a testament to the magnificent
commitment and support on your part with
which you have blessed me throughout my
term of office and, perhaps, to the benefit of
combining our Chapter and Craft Investiture
meetings on the same day in such magnificent
surroundings at Great Queen Street.
However, I need to reaffirm that this
Provincial Investiture meeting is YOUR
Provincial spectacular – not just that for the
recipients and their supporters – and I
therefore hope that many more of you who
were not present this year will support this
special event next year.
Given the aligned Provincial approach to our
Craft and Royal Arch membership
development strategy, our Deputies in the
Craft and the Royal Arch held a very
successful Visiting Officer briefing session at
Oakley House on 20 June – almost all our
Craft and Royal Arch were in attendance, with
the remainder being briefed at a Zoom
session later this month.
Each of our VOs now has a clear
understanding of our Provincial
Membership Challenge for both Orders
and how, working in tandem with our
Lodges and Chapters, we will be able to
share
each
unit’s
membership
paradigm, and bring further successful
growth to each of our units.
must focus ever more closely on
decreasing the number of resignations
we are seeing year-on-year, which is
one of my key priorities for the rest of
my term of office, and I am very
confident that we will see a return to
positive membership growth for our
Province in the immediate future.
We should remember that the warrants
entrusted to our Lodges and Chapters
empower them to “make masons”,
which should be their over-riding
priority, and I’m encouraged at the
number of new members joining our
ranks. However, I am still saddened
that some Lodges with candidates in
the pipeline are not embracing the
opportunity to conduct multiple
ceremonies, deeming this to detract
from the initiate’s experience.
At our Provincial Investiture event,
Roland Stokes shared with us the
extensive and very impressive list of
Lodges and Chapters that have already
achieved either the Bronze, Silver, Gold,
Platinum award and in some cases, the
Special PGM – G. Supt Award.I am most
grateful to each of you who have
committed
to
regular
modest
contributions via Gift Aid for your
continued support, even during these
difficult times, and encourage every
member who has yet to qualify for a
Festival Jewel to do so at the earliest
opportunity to support our aims to assist
the outstanding work of our Masonic
Charitable Foundation.
I can confirm that I was initiated,
passed, and raised in a double
ceremony and despite not having met
my fellow candidate before our
admission into the Craft, the
experience we shared made us life-long
friends, and I had the great privilege of
installing him as Master of our Lodge
some years later. Please, do not keep
candidates waiting in the wings –
ensure that they are received into our
fraternity promptly and help me in our
quest to enhance our member numbers
accordingly.
Despite the stressful economic climate
that faces us, we continue to see
encouraging trends from those being
initiated and exalted, which is
augmented by the number of joining
and re-joining members. However, to
ensure that we meet our objectives, we
In closing, I would like to appeal to
those members whose approach to
Freemasonry is one which is based on
memories of the past, and “how things
were done back then”, rather than to
“looking forward to what Freemasonry in
West Kent can become” – if we are
prepared to embrace change and
innovation, rather than reflect on past
glories.
Enjoy your summer break, go well, look
after each other and continue to enjoy
your Masonry in our magnificent
Province.