St. Peter and St. Paul Conclave No. 450

In the mid 1990s The Division decided to form a Past Sovereigns’ Conclave and on 19th September 1997, The St. Peter and St. Paul Conclave was Consecrated at Winchester Masonic Hall, with the then Intendant-General as its Primus Sovereign.

From its inception, The Founders determined that it would not be a “working” Conclave, in the accepted sense of the Order, i.e. no specialist teams, other than for ‘one-off’ reasons and that it would ever be a Forum to act as a conduit of communication both ‘up and down’, with The Intendant-General and vice versa. Furthermore, it would only meet twice a year. This Forum has proved very useful to the Division and has been most helpful over the intervening years.

A decade later, it was decided that having two Conclaves meeting at Winchester could better be served by moving one to pastures new. So, at their meeting in September 2009 a Ballot was taken to move and meet at Botley, “to establish a
presence at that Centre from 2010”. The ballot, by a show of hands, was approved by the necessary majority. The Minutes record that at that meeting the Intendant-General presented the Conclave with a Holy Bible, dated 1862 on behalf of the Abbey Church at Amesbury, Wiltshire.

The Conclave first met at Botley, by Dispensation in February 2010 and has continued to meet there since; indeed, its furniture provides for the meetings of The Annual Divisional Conclave.

Very recently the then Intendant-General has been its MPS, followed by his Deputy. This Conclave has ever been an excellent example of how to be serious, whilst enjoying yourself!