It was great so see 10 from Lodge Temperance 2557 at the Provincial AGM and meal at Gosforth Race Course on the 29th November
Congratulations to all those brethren who received honours, including our Senior Warden Wbro Alan Bell who was reappointed as ProvDepGDC, our Secretary and Chaplain Wbro Keith Newman on his promotion to PProvJGW and Wbro Wayne Barclay on receiving his first Provincial honour of PProvSGD.
Some interesting statistics reported by the Provincial Grand Secretary were that 2 lodges had closed during the year and membership continued to decline to 3673 a 3.4% drop from last year. The Provincial Grand Treasurer advised the membership fee will increase from £14 to £16 in 2020.
In the RWPGM’s address he advised that Wbro Brian Denton, APGM, is responsible for the roll out of Solomon, the new online learning resource. Solomon is a central and universally accessible repository of information designed to help point members along the path of Masonic knowledge. You can access it here.
He thanked the recently appointed Provincial Grand Stewards for their work at the meeting.
He also thanked Wbro Nev Johnson and the Light blues Club, the Provincial Communications Team and the Northumberland Demonstration Team for their efforts during the year.
He reminded everyone of the social media policy and reiterated that abuse and inappropriate comments would not be tolerated.
A cheque for £300,000 for the RMBI was presented to Wbro Paul Crockett, PAGDC, AGPM of the Masonic Province of Surrey and Festival Consultant/Coordinator for the RMBI who gave a very interesting update on the MCF and RMBI.
He thanked the retiring Provincial Grand Secretary Wbro Brian Rudd for all his hard work and welcomed newly appointed Wbro Stuart Cairns to the office. (Could he be related to our WWI member Robert Weatherston Cairns?)
The next AGM will be held at the Gosforth racecourse on Thursday 28th November 2019.
