Worthy Knights, it gives me great pleasure to stand here this morning and address as your Intendant General.
I welcome you here today and thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to join us. I have already greeted our official guests individually but I would like to especially thank them for their kindness and friendship when the triumvirate attend their Divisional Conclave meetings. We always enjoy your meetings and I am glad to reciprocate today and hope you are having an enjoyable day here so far.
It has also been an honour for me to be invited to represent the Red Cross of Constantine at the Annual Meetings of many of the other Orders within the Province, for which I thank them all for their hospitality.
May I first pay tribute to the members of this Division that were mentioned in our requiem earlier.
- V.Ill.Kt John Dillon Makin –St Peter & St Paul Conclave No.450 & Cathedral Conclave No.398 – Died 27/11/2023
- Ill.Kt. Bruce Dyson – Border Conclave No. 168 – Died 16/6/2024
- W.Kt. David John Nicolas – Holy Rood Conclave No.319 – Died 7/7/2023
- Ill. Kt. John Harwood – St Boniface Conclave No.287 – Died 26/5/2024
They were all well known to us, and they all served this Order faithfully and diligently for a considerable number of years.
I would especially like to mention two of these knights, firstly, V.Ill.Kt. John Makin, John joined the order in 1993 in Cathedral Conclave becoming their Sovereign in 1999. He was also a founder of King Aethelwulf Conclave. He served the Division as Asst Recorder for 4 years then Recorder for 5 year, joining the Divisional Recorders Conclave in 2004. Even when John ’s health deteriorated he still served the Division in any capacity he could, this was exemplified when he agreed to put together the Divisional History for our Sesquicentenary. His unstinnting support and the fact he had achieved 90 years of age it pleased the Grand Sovereign to give him a field promotion at our Sesquicentenary celebrations to P.G.J.Gen. John’s service of thanksgiving was held in the Lady Chapel in Winchester Cathedral at which the Division and other orders were well represented.
Secondly, Ill.Kt. Bruce Dyson. Bruce joined the order in 1990 in Border Conclave No.168, becoming the MPS in 1997 and on his passing he was Viceroy of the Conclave. He was also a founder of King Aethelwulf Conclave in 1995. He served the Division in several offices especially the Divisional Eusebius from 2014 to 2016. He was honoured with several Grand ranks of PGPref in 2002 and P.G.Chamb in 2011. His funeral details will be communicated when known.
They and the other Kts will be sorely missed by us all.
I would now like to congratulate all those who will be appointed in Grand Imperial Conclave early next month in London. On first Appointment:
- P. Kt. Robert Warwick as Past Grand Prefect
- P.Kt. Brian Corney as Past Grand Prefect
- P.Kt. Martin Bell as Past Grand Vice Chamberlain
These appointments and promotions are all well-deserved and follow many years of dedicated service to the Order. I look forward to seeing them in London for their Investiture and I trust many of the W.Kts of the Division will also be attending to support them.
I also congratulate those that have been appointed to office today. It is an honour that is well deserved by you all. I look forward to working with you during the next year. I would remind you all that you are expected to attend as many official visits as you can, that also includes those promoted to a Past Divisional Rank, as we treat you all as active for this year.
In the year 2023 to 2024 we have installed 7 new members into the Order and we have a further 4 knight to be installed later this year. This is an excellent start but we cannot now just sit back, we need to continue recruiting to enable us to outweigh the losses that occur each year from deaths and resignations. You are all well aware that the best method of recruitment is for each member to make approaches to individuals about joining us. The letter that I sent out to all Holy Royal Arch companions introducing our Order is a good starting point for any conversation about the Order. I would also like to remind Sovereigns and Viceroys that they should be bringing in an individual each, in their year of office. This does not mean that the rest of us can stand back and watch, we are all recruitment officers for this wonderful Order.
I officially visited all of the Conclaves, with the Divisional Team, once in the past year and I was pleased to renew past acquaintances and meet the new Knights. Wherever the Divisional Team went, we were entertained with warmth and friendship, and I am most appreciative of the support given to me by the Grand and Divisional Officers, Sovereigns and Past Sovereigns of Conclaves, and members of the Divisional Guard.
As we all know the ceremonies we perform are not for our own gratification but are for our candidates and we always want to provide a very good ceremony for them. I am therefore saddened when attending Conclaves, that appointed officers are absent from their duties and substitutes have to be arranged. This puts extra pressure on those knights that do attend, especially when the Conclave is already low on members. This is particularly noticeable when a Conclave holds an Appendant Orders Ceremony, with members having to perform multiple offices or knight from other conclaves having to be sequestered to fill offices. In an attempt to take some pressure off conclave, two Conclave will be hosting the Appendant Orders ceremony in 2025 for candidates from any Conclave to receive their Appendant Orders. These conclave will be St Peter and St Paul Conclave in February and King Aethelwulf in June. The meeting at St Peter & St Paul conclave may be a permanent event but it is intended that for the second meeting a different conclave will be selected to host the meeting each year.
I now wish to acknowledge my senior team for the immense amount of work undertaken by them, V. Ill. Kt. Kevin Todd MBE, my deputy; Ill Kt Tony Bargrove the now Past Divisional Eusebius; P. Kt. Roger Curtis, the Divisional Marshal and Ill Kt Mark Denton, the now Past Divisional Recorder, who has become the Divisional Eusebius. Their advice and guidance has been invaluable to me throughout the year.
I would also like to thank all the members of the Divisional Sepulchre Guard who play such a substantial role within this Division, not only on Official Visits but at the Appendant Orders Ceremonies. They have my grateful thanks for all they do.
The bi-annual Christian Orders Family evensong took place this year on the 9th June, at the wonderful venue of St Cross Church near Winchester. St Cross Church was built at the same time as Winchester Cathedral and by the same stone masons. It is part of the oldest active Alms Houses in the Country. It was a colourful event as we were supported by members from nine different orders with the head of the order and their members wearing their respective regalia. About 90 attended the service with approximately 75 joining us for High Tea afterwards in the Alms House Refectory. It was a wonderful afternoon very much enjoyed by all present. For those that get the Freemasonry@86 newsletter there should be an article in the in which you can see the wonderful photographs of the event.
The Combined Christian Orders Ladies’ evening is this year being organised by the Rose Croix and will be held at Winchester Masonic Centre on Friday 2nd August. This is always a wonderful evening but numbers are limited, so if you wish to attend then please ensure you book in early.
The collection today will go to our Divisional Relief Chest. I would like to thank all the W.Kts and the Conclaves who have made contributions to the Relief Chest during the last Masonic Year.
W.Kt’s, We are Christian order and should be applying christian values and principles in our daily lives. Some of these are Generosity, Kindness and Serving Others, so with these in mind it gives me great pleasure to be able to support several charitable causes. Firstly, we will be making a donation of £1000 to the Grand Sovereigns Care for Children Fund and secondly we will be making donations to two orders within Hampshire and Isle of Wight that are currently in Festival. Divisional Marshal, would you please conduct to me from the Craft their PGM, V.Ill.Kt. Jon Whitaker and from the Mark Degree their Deputy PGM, Ill.Kt Tony Green.
W. Kts, both your Orders are in festival with the Mark due to end in 2026 and the Craft in 2027. We presented cheques to you last year and It now gives me great pleasure to present a further donations of £750 each from the W.Kt’s of this Division to your respective festivals.
Worthy Knights, the last year as your Intendant-General, has been encouraging, stimulating and enjoyable. I mentioned earlier that ours is a truly Christian Order and that should be emphasised throughout our sojourns as members of this order. No candidate for admission into our order should be in any doubt as to the relationship between the Order and his Christian beliefs.
Worthy Knights may I thank you all for attending today. My thanks go to Mark, Anton, Robert, Roger and James for organising today; and the staff at Botley for the meal to come. I look forward to working with you in the next year and we part with the watchwords of our wonderful Order:
FAITH UNITY and ZEAL
God bless you all
R.Ill.Kt. Steven Groeger
22nd June 2024