UGLE Annual Investiture Meeting - Day One

-
The Grand Temple
The Annual Investiture Meeting of the United Grand Lodge of England is always held on the last Wednesday in May. Worthy brethren from every corner of the globe are recognised for their hard work and are appointed and promoted in Grand Lodge.

It is a great opportunity for brethren to meet and discuss freemasonry and there are meetings for Provincial & District Rulers and the Secretariat. As Provincial Grand Master I attend the Pro Grand Master's Business Meeting on Tuesday afternoon, which is followed by a dinner. On Wednesday morning I attend the Provincial Grand Master's Forum Meeting. The actual Investiture Meeting is on Wednesday afternoon. With Supreme Grand Chapter being held on Thursday morning. It is a very intense but enjoyable three days!

The Deputy Provincial Grand Masters have their own meeting on Tuesday evening. The Provincial Grand Secretaries / Scribes meet on Wednesday morning and their meeting is followed by a luncheon.

In most years West Wales receives one first appointment to Craft Grand Rank and one first appointment to Grand Rank in Supreme Grand Chapter. West Wales receives a promotion in Grand Rank every three or four years. It is a great pleasure to be able to attend the meetings and watch the Brethren / Companions receive their collars from either His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, or the Pro Grand Master, MW Bro Peter Lowndes.

The Investiture Meeting is a ticket only affair, with the majority of the tickets going to friends of those being appointed and promoted or members of the Provincial and District Excecutives who are in London to attend the various business meetings.

Most years there are between fifteen and twenty West Wales Brethren in London for the meetings and for the vast majority it is a once in a lifetime experience. This week is tinged with a little sadness that we will not be travelling to London today. There will be no face to face meetings with old friends, no convivial dinner and sadly those who have been appointed and promoted will miss out on receiving their collars. Worst of all, the brethren / companions who would have attended as guests of those receiving collars will also miss out. Hopefully there will be some sort of special meeting to recognise all the hard work of this year's recipients later in the year.

Tomorrow, I will profile the recipients of this year's Craft Collars. W Bro David Rayson who will become a Past Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies and W Bro Ryland James who will be promoted to the rank of Past Senior Grand Deacon. I congratulate them both, I thank them for all their hard work and I look forward to seeing them in person soon.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 2

-
Image
Well what funny times we find ourselves in. I've gone from being really busy, travelling here, there and everywhere, to having a clear diary. The only things left to do are from my wife's "wish list" and I'm running out of excuses fast! With Freemasonry suspended, my inbox is pretty empty, well when I say pretty empty, I mean completely empty. We've done our best to keep the West Wales website up to date with the latest Government Guidance, but I am sure that we're all sitting at home watching the television, so no one is short of guidance, quite the reverse. All we have to do is make sure we follow it and keep our fingers crossed that the situation improves. We haven't made any firm decisions about when and where to reschedule the events which we have had to postpone. I think the time for that will be when the situation is a bit clearer. If you're one of the lucky ones who has received an appointment or promotion in Provincial Grand Lodge...
Read more

Vincent

-
Image
Vincent van Gogh For the purposes of this set of family members you need to pronounce Gogh like the Americans do "Go" to rhyme with snow. To keep the peace with our Provincial Grand Charity Steward and proud Dutchman, Dirk den-Hartog, I have included a tutorial on how it should actually be pronounced at the end. Have You Met the Van Gogh Family? Did you know the painter Vincent van Gogh had a very large family? There's his dizzy aunt, Verti Gogh The brother who ate prunes, Gotta Gogh The brother who worked at a convenience store, Stop N Gogh His magician uncle, Wherediddy Gogh His Mexican cousin, A Mee Gogh The Mexican cousin's American half brother, Gring Gogh The nephew who drove a stage coach, Wellsfar Gogh The constipated uncle, Can't Gogh The bird lover uncle, Flamin Gogh The fruit loving cousin, Man Gogh An aunt who taught positive thinking, WaytoGogh The little bouncy nephew, Poe Gogh A sister who loved disco, Go Gogh And his niec...
Read more

Charge During Coronavirus

-
Image
Freemasons Hall December 2019 Brethren, as you have passed through the month of your lockin, let me congratulate you on being a sensible member of our ancient and honourable institution. Ancient no doubt it is, as having subsisted from time when we used to meet, and honourable it must be acknowledged to be, as by a natural tendency it con­duces to make safe those who are obedient to its guideline. Indeed, no institution can boast a more solid foundation than that on which Freemasonry rests - the practice of every safe and social distancing. And to so high an eminence has its credit been ad­vanced that every day Grand Officers them­selves, have not thought it derogatory to their dignity to exchange the black shoe for the carpet slipper, have supported our situation and not joined in our assemblies. As a Freemason, let me recommend to your most serious contemplation the Volume of Government Guidance, charging you to consider it as the unerring standard of truth and safety, to...
Read more