On 19 September 2016, W Bro Kevin Eastwood became Comp Kevin Eastwood on being exalted into the Holy Royal Arch and completed his journey in Pure Antient Masonry. Amongst those present to witness an excellent ceremony was the Second Provincial Grand Principal, E Comp George Clayton.

The 2nd Provincial Grand Principal congratulated the Chapter's Principals, led by MEZ E Comp Russ Dickinson, on a first class ceremony. Comp Kevin was an excellent candidate and we wish him a long and happy future as a member of this fine Chapter. The ceremony was followed by a fine festive board to welcome Comp Kevin into the Holy Royal Arch.

Pictured above from left to right:- E Comp Robert Skidmore Provincial Grand Standard Bearer, Haggai E Comp Simon Laws, 2nd Provincial Grand Principal,    E Comp George Clayton, MEZ E Comp Russell Dickinson, Comp Kevin Eastwood, Joshua, E Comp Terry Oldfield, E Comp Dr Christopher Clark Provincial Grand Registrar & E Comp Alex Henderson Provincial Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies. 

Written by: John Fergusson

Published: 23 September 2016

The Challenge Ahead – 2016 / 2017:

The new Masonic Year is now well on its way and I hope that you have all “summered” well and that batteries have been recharged so that, together, we can look forward to another happy and successful year of Royal Arch companionship with renewed vigour. 

As we head for 2017, we must remember that it is to be a very special year for Freemasonry in general as we prepare to celebrate the Tercentenary of the Craft with celebrations planned for both here in Province as well as in London. Events have already been well advertised and I bear in mind only too well the tremendous support we received from the Craft when celebrating the huge success of our own Bicentenary in 2013. As we are all both Craft and Royal Arch Masons, now will be the time to reciprocate by supporting the Provincial events in particular and, of course, as far as one’s personal circumstances in life will permit. Just as the new Royal Arch season last year started off on an exceptionally high note in Northampton as we hosted the Bristol Demonstration Team at our First Principals’ Chapter and witnessed the original and antient “Ceremony of the Passing of the Veils”, so year 2016/2017 opened on another high note, again at our First Principals’ Chapter but on this occasions at Ellindon, Peterborough, where we were privileged to host the Grand Director of Ceremonies, E Comp and RW Bro Oliver Lodge TD, as our Guest Speaker who gave a fascinating insight into his role as Grand Director of Ceremonies both in Supreme Grand Chapter and the United Grand Lodge of England.

One or two amusing and entertaining anecdotes were included in his presentation and perhaps as a result, we saw a slightly more relaxed Grand Director of Ceremonies away from the formal surroundings of Great Queen Street. Yet he went to great lengths to explain how his role in such a high office is to set and maintain the exceptionally high standards in procedure and ceremonial expected of us as the Mother Grand Lodge/Chapter by so many distinguished visitors who regularly visit our meetings and Convocations from all over the world.

He has a reputation as a strict disciplinarian, a perfectionist in all that he does and his attention to detail is unsurpassed but we did see glimpses of humour in the few hours he spent with us at Peterborough and his participation in our first Royal Arch meeting of the season was so enthusiastically received by well over 100 Companions who attended. It was another superb evening. 

And next year, who knows? It is rumoured that, in September of next year, our First Principals’ Chapter will be hosting as our Guest speaker the Most Illustrious Knight Priest Christopher G. Maiden, the Grand High Priest of the Knight Templar Priests and the Order of Holy Wisdom. Now that will certainly be something different and should create considerable interest. Watch this space for further details in due course.

Companions, we are so fortunate in this Province in the way that all the various Orders that work within Northamptonshire & Huntingdonshire share such a bond that benefits us all. We all work in close harmony and we owe so much to a successful Craft and its leadership from which we in turn will continue to grow. But we mustn’t be fooled by our successes; we must be ever alert to counter any signs of complacency as, in the Royal Arch, we are all ambassadors for the Supreme Degree and have a responsibility to grasp every opportunity to raise the profile of the Order to even greater heights and seek out those of our Master Mason friends who have yet to consider the fourth and final stage of their journey through Pure Antient Masonry. Their masonic experience is incomplete until they have rediscovered “that which was lost” at the end of their Third Degree in Craft; the happy ending to our storyline and a better spiritual awareness with their God, their Supreme Being, in whatever form their Supreme Being might present himself to them.

The Book of Constitutions and the Preliminary Declaration of 1813 on Page 1 is quite clear and says it all – we have all embarked on a fascinating journey of enlightenment from “Initiation to Exaltation”, yet there are still too many Brethren who don’t fully appreciate the true purpose and meaning of the masonic storyline and how essential the Royal Arch happens to be in bringing their journey thus far to a happy and successful conclusion.

We want the opportunity to explain it to them; to invite them to become Royal Arch Masons when they see the light and when they are ready to proceed. It’s their choice but the longer they wait, the more they are missing out.

That’s the challenge I set you therefore Companions; identify those who have yet to be exalted and quietly introduce them to the prospects of becoming a Royal Arch Mason. The Masonic legend cannot be allowed to end in anguish and grief – they will hopefully recall the impact of their Third Degree ceremony, so invite them to reflect on its ending as whilst most of us didn’t recognise them at the time, the ceremony of Raising would have given a number of hints and clues throughout that their might be a happier finale to come. Yet, in the intensity of the Third Degree ritual, we would have missed them – I know I did.

So, Companions, enjoy the year ahead - as always we are grateful for the help and support you give us; we thank you for being there, for helping us to spread the word and for being our Companions in every sense of the word. And I, in turn, it must be said, remain so grateful to you for giving me the opportunity to have served as your Grand Superintendent for the last nine and a half years – where has the time gone but what a journey it has been, what an experience!

E Comp Wayne E Williams
ME Grand Superintendent

Written by: John Fergusson

Published: 21 September 2016

A most enjoyable evening of Royal Arch masonry was there for all to see on Tuesday 13 September 2016 at Cytringan Chapter’s Installation Meeting, which was marked by an official visit from the Second Provincial Grand Principal, E Comp George Clayton.

E Comp Jason Hill was installed as Z, E Comp Peter Chown as H and E Comp John Cummins as J. It was an excellent meeting with some fine ritual all round with a special mention to E Comp Roger Hutchinson who installed his successor in a most exemplary manner following a most impressive year as Zerubbabel. Our congratulations to the three newly Installed Principals and Officers of the Chapter and we offer them our sincere best wishes for a very happy and enjoyable year ahead.

The newly appointed Principals of Cytringan Chapter are pictured below. They are from left to right E Comp Peter Chown, E Comp Jason Hill and E Comp John Cummins along with the Second Provincial Grand Principal, E Comp George Clayton along with the Provincial Deputy Grand Director of Ceremonies, E Comp Steve Seward.  

Written by: John Fergusson

Published: 18 September 2016

The Story Behind The Jewel Of Chapter Of St James, No 2... 

The Grand Director of Ceremonies, E Comp Oliver Lodge TD, wore a distinctive Chapter jewel on his recent visit to our Chapter of Installed First Principals, so, what is the story behing the Jewel of Chapter of St James, No 2? Below is a very detailed explanation courtesy of E Comp Dickon Sandbach, a Past First Principal of Chapter of St James....

The Chapter Jewel worn by the Companions of the Chapter of St James, No 2 is surmounted by a Royal Ducal Coronet, making it unique in the Royal Arch. The warrant for the Chapter was issued at a meeting of Grand and Royal Chapter held on 6 June 1788, AL 5992.  It was consecrated one week later on 13 June, and bore the number 60.  For many years it was known as St James’s Chapter, but has now reverted to its proper title. 

The union of the premier Grand Chapter with the ‘Antients’ so –called Grand Chapter occurred in 1817.  One of its regulations was that every regular Chapter should be attached to a regular Craft Lodge and take its number.  St James Chapter found common interest with and attached itself to the Lodge of Antiquity, now No2 in the United Grand Lodge, and therefore the Chapter assumed the number 2. The story of the Jewel starts in the Lodge of Antiquity, one of the three surviving Time Immemorial Lodges, No 1 in the original Grand Lodge.  In January 1812 the Duke of Sussex, Right Worshipful Master of the Lodge from 1809 to 1843, instituted “a mark of distinction for Master Masons raised in the Lodge of Antiquity, or for such as, having become subscribing Members, shall have proved themselves well skilled in the three Degrees of the Order”.  This is not referred to in the minutes of the Lodge, but in those of the Permanent Committee meeting held on 17 January 1812.  The Jewel is known as the Royal Medal, and bears the Royal Ducal Coronet above it.  It is believed that the Duke awarded it to those members who gained his approval. The Duke was an occasional visitor to the Chapter of St James, and must have held it in high regard, as the Chapter felt able to petition His Royal Highness for a similar honour to be instituted for the Chapter. 

At the convocation held on 5 March 1835 the Grand Scribe R, Comp. Wm. H. White produced and read in open Chapter the address to HRH the Grand Z:   A grant or Licence from His Royal Highness The Duke of Sussex, MEGZ, to the actual subscribing members of the Chapter of St James to surmount the Jewel of the Order with a Ducal Coronet corresponding with that which surmounts the Jewel of the Members of the Lodge of Antiquity.

 

TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS, PRINCE AUGUSTUS FREDERICK, DUKE OF SUSSEX, KG & c.  MOST EXCELLENT AND SUPREME GRAND ZERUBBABEL OF THE GRAND AND ROYAL ARCH OF JERUSALEM.

MOST EXCELLENT GRAND PRINCIPAL,

We, the Principals, Past Principals, Officers and Companions of the St. James’s Royal Arch Chapter, No.2 duly congregated and assembled in Chapter, desire to present to your Royal Highness the tribute of our veneration and grateful esteem.

And more especially on the present occasion do we desire most respectfully to offer our acknowledgements for the token for the token of your Royal Hss. kind and marked regard by which you have been most graciously pleased to distinguish the Subscribing Members of the St. James’s Chapter in permitting them under your Royal Highness’s Warrant and Sign Manual (conveyed to us through the medium of the Grand Scribe Ezra) to wear the Royal Ducal Crown surmounting that usual Jewel of the Order, as well as to indicate thereby the connection of the Chapter with the Lodge off Antiquity.

We know, Most Excellent Prince, that all Masons, as such are dear to your Royal Hss. heart, but that your affections dwell more with those who, from private regard or from the circumstances of Association in the same Lodge or Chapter, enjoy your Royal Highness’s condescending note and approbation as is now clearly manifested towards us, your Royal Highness’s grateful and faithful Brethren, Companions and Servants.

THOS. F. SAVORY MEZ

The response to this address was then read.

Most Excellent Companions, - I have received with great satisfaction the Address which you Most Excellent Z. presented to me in your name.  Every Testimony of attachment from any body in our Society must be satisfactory to me, and the more respectably it is composed, the greater is the value I put upon the communication.

To have given you therefore a proof of my goodwill, and to show that you are deserving of the Compliment, and that you feel the same is most consonant to my feelings.  That you may continue in your exertions for the benefit of the Order, and that your exertions may prosper under the protection of the Great Disposer of all Human Events, is my most ardent and fervent prayer on behalf of the Society at large, as well as for the welfare of your Royal Chapter in particular.

The Jewel is still worn by the subscribing members of the Chapter.  It is a reflection of the influential role played by the Chapter in times past.  Two examples of this are: first, that of the 17 members of the pre-Union Grand Chapter held on the 18^th March 1817, 13 were members of the Chapter; and at the first meeting of the United Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of England, held on that day seven of the ten new officers were members.  Secondly, the Chapter can boast that six of the nine members, appointed in 1833 to a Committee to revise the Ritual of the Order, were members of the Chapter.  This reworking of the ritual was the first following the Union of the Grand Lodges twenty years before.  Part of the purpose was to bring the ritual into line with the Third Degree of Craft Freemasonry, of which the Royal Arch had been described as the completion.  This work was completed in 1834, and met with the approval and concurrence of HRH the Grand Z.  The following year the Committee was expanded by the appointment of nine more Grand Officers and nine Past First Principals not being Grand Officers.  Six of the Grand Officers were members of the Chapter.  The Chapter was the first to adopt the new ritual, which it did on 5^th March 1825, the same day as the Duke granted the petition of the Chapter to use the Royal Ducal Coronet.  It is a matter of curiosity to note that the rite now worked by the Chapter of St James is unique!

Dickon Sandbach, PZ of the Chapter of St James, No 2.

 10 September 2016

Sources:

1                Records of The Lodge of Antiquity No 2 Vol 2, W Bro Captain CW Firebrace PM

2                A Short History of The Lodge of Antiquity, No 2 by RW Bro Julian Jeffs

3                Royal Arch Chapter of St James No 2 – 1788 – 1988, by Comp PJ Dawson, completed by Companions Richard Walters and John Richards.

4                Freemasons’ Book of the Royal Arch, by Bernard E Jones

5                200 Years of Royal Arch Freemasonry in England 1813-2013 by Yasha Beresiner

Written by: John Fergusson

Published: 12 September 2016