News

Grand Master Presents Fifty Year Certificate at Craft Meeting

On Friday 22 March the Grand Master Most Illustrious Companion Kessick John Jones attended the meeting of the Old Kimboltonians' Lodge No 7204 at Kimbolton School in order to present a 50-year certificate to Right Illustrious Companion Alan Stewart.

Right Illustrious Companion Alan lives on the Isle of Man and only comes over to the mainland on odd occasions so it was proving to be difficult to present him with his certificate at a Council meeting within the District.  Right Illustrious Companion Alan is a member of Charles Hebert Perram and Northampton Councils as well as being an Honorary member of Towcester and Leicester Councils.

Finding that Right Illustrious Companion Alan would be on the mainland when the March meeting of the Old Kimboltonians’ Lodge was to be held and the District Grand Master coincidentally being the Worshipful Master of the Lodge it was an ideal occasion to make the presentation.  Permission was obtained from the Craft Provincial Grand Master, Right Worshipful Brother Max Bayes that the presentation could be made.  The main work of the evening, a passing, having been undertaken and the Worshipful Master called off the Lodge and then announced why the Grand Master was present and invited him to take the floor and make the presentation.

After saying a few words about Right Illustrious Companion Alan’s journey in Cryptic Masonry the Grand Master invited the District Grand Master to join him and read out the certificate.  Following the presentation of the certificate Right Illustrious Companion Alan Stewart admitted he was lost for words.

A very happy festive board followed the meeting with the Worshipful Master taking wine with Cryptic Masons present which to his surprise was almost half the room.

Pictured left to right are: Most Illustrious Companion Kessick J Jones, Grand Master; Illustrious Companion Alan Stewart; and Right Illustrious Companion Martin Wilson, District Grand Master and Worshipful Master.

In Memoriam: M.Ill.Comp. Col R Keith Hind (1926-2019)

M.Ill.Comp. Col R Keith Hind

1926 - 2019

R.I.P.

M.Ill.Comp. Col R Keith Hind was appointed Secretary of the RMIGirls and designate Secretary of the MTGB on the 1^st of November 1978, a few months after retiring from the Army. The MTGB was inaugurated in 1982 and required to take over as the new central Masonic Charity responsible for both Girls and Boys in 1985. In that year the former separate charities merged with the new Charity and he was appointed Secretary of the MTGB, a position he held until retiring on the 31^st of October 1993.

He was initiated as a Freemason in Mayo Lodge, No. 1413 in the Province of Middlesex on the 25^th of June 1955 and exalted in Mayo Chapter, No. 1413 on the 11^th of February 1960. During his service in the Province of Middlesex he was a Provincial Deputy Grand Director of Ceremonies from 1976 to 1978 and Provincial Grand Director of Ceremonies from 1985 to 1990. He was promoted to Provincial Senior Grand Warden in 1994. He held the Office of Second Provincial Grand Principal for Middlesex for 1990.

He joined St Alban’s Lodge No. 29 on the 2^nd of December 1974 and was  Grand Steward for 1981. In Grand Lodge he was appointed as Grand Sword Bearer in 1993.  In Supreme Grand Chapter he was appointed Grand Sword Bearer in 1985.

In 1978 he was also appointed as the Company Secretary of the Royal Masonic School for Girls, a position he held until 2004. In 1985 when the School became independent a Trust was formed, known as the RMIG Endowment Trust, to provide support for the School. In that year he was appointed a Trustee of this new Trust and a Governor of the School, positions held until his retirement in 2013.

Father held rank in several Masonic Orders as follows.

• In the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons and the Ancient and Honourable Fraternity of Royal Ark Mariners he was a Past Provincial Grand Master for the Province of Middlesex and is a holder of the Grand Master’s Order of Service to Mark Master Masonry.  He was a Member of the Grand Master’s Royal Ark Council, Honoris Causa.
• Knight Commander in the Order of the Great Priory and Great Priory of Malta.
• Most Illustrious Grand Master in the Order of Royal and Select Masters from 1994 until 2005.
• Sovereign Grand Inspector General 33^rd Degree in the Ancient and Accepted Rite under the Supreme Council 33^rd Degree.
• Past Grand Senior General in the Order of the Red Cross of Constantine.
• Past Grand Junior Warden Order in the Order of the Allied Masonic Degrees.
• Past Grand Counsellor in the Order of the Secret Monitor.
• Past Provincial Senior Grand Warden in the Provincial Grand Lodge of London and the Metropolitan Counties in the Royal Order of Scotland.
• Knight Beneficent of the Holy City in Prefectory of St George of London No. 1.

Please kindly accept this communication from my father as a permanent message of goodwill to the many Freemasons  of all ranks who he met and worked with, both at home and overseas, with his thanks for the honour they afforded him over so many years.

- Dr Charles R K Hind

The funeral service will be held at St Helen’s Church, Etwall, Derby DE65 6LP, on Monday 11^th March at 9.30 am.  Donations if desired to the Dogs Trust via http://www.wonderful.org/fundraiser/colonelkeithhindrip-ceaf9ada. 

Royal and Select Masters “Outreach Programme” arrives in Cheshire

L to R: Ian Currans, R.W. & E. Master; Kessick Jones, Grand Master; Paul Norman, D.C.; Stephen Ayres, Conductor; Len Millings, Tyler, with “The Marches” in the background.

On Thursday 19 July 2018 M.Ill.Comp. Kessick J. Jones, Grand Master, accompanied by a team of Officers from Grafton Council of Anointed Kings, arrived at Christleton in Cheshire to confer the Degree of Excellent Master on eight Candidates from the North of England.

This was part of the Grand Master’s “outreach programme”; taking the conferral of the Degree away from its usual London base of Mark Masons’ Hall, and was the third such outing, following visits to Bristol and Leeds.

They were welcomed by R.Ill.Comp. Shaun Crutchley, Dist.G.M., and his team, who had gone to great lengths to ensure that the furnishings required for the Ceremony were in place.

Cheshire View, the Masonic Hall in Christleton, looked magnificent in the summer sunshine. Its sun-trap patio was the perfect place to relax and enjoy the views, across the immaculately manicured bowling greens, to the splendour of the rolling countryside in the distance, before being called to dinner.
What better location, and a perfect opportunity, for the Grand Master to announce that, in light of recent conversations with members of the District, he was now considering changing the name of the District from “Cheshire, Shropshire and North Wales” to “Cheshire and The Marches”, bringing out of relative desuetude a term for an unclearly defined geographical area along the English/Welsh borders.

From the audible approval that greeted the announcement it appeared to be a very popular decision.

Consecration of Captain James Cook Council of Installed Masters No. 342

On Wednesday 23 May 2018, M.Ill.Comp. Kessick John Jones, Grand Master, accompanied by the Deputy Grand Master and a team of his Grand Officers, arrived at the historic Castlegate House, a striking 18th Century town house fronted by distinctive railings, a stone’s throw from the well know medieval landmark of Clifford’s Tower.

They were there to Consecrate the newest Council in the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters - Captain James Cook Council of Installed Masters No. 342.

Bearing the name of Yorkshire's most famous maritime son and under the mastership of R.Ill.Comp. Neil Thomas Woodward, District Grand Master for North and East Yorkshire, there can be no doubt that this Council will quickly become a shining light in the District and somewhere for Installed Masters of the Order to convene and enjoy their Cryptic masonry.