Lots to smile about in Dave Wheeler’s addresses at Provincial meetings: Report and pictures

This year’s major set-piece meetings of our Province were attended by a larger number of brethren than last year’s, and featured some elements not previously included.

At the Craft meeting in the afternoon a group of representatives of Lodges and organisations were honoured for their contributions to the lincs2025 Festival, amounting to more than £43,000, and Marc Ireland of St Peter Lodge was singled out at the first winner of the Province’s Excellence in Care award for his work in some of the more deprived areas of Grimsby.

For four hours during the day almost 200 brethren came along to give blood samples for PSA testing, which meant this first exercise is likely to be repeated in future years.

At the Chapter meeting MEGS Dave Wheeler said:

Good morning and welcome Companions, as always, it’s great to see so many people here, particularly our distinguished guests many of whom have had a long journey to be with us.

It is also great to see that all 33 Lincolnshire Chapters are represented here today and thank you companions for your continued support which I, personally, really appreciate.

Once again, there are busy times ahead with the 7-year strategy and membership challenge at the forefront of everything we do. ‘One journey, one organisation’ is now a reality with the joint fee for all new candidates in to Freemasonry, including payment for the Royal Arch, from next year. This will inevitably lead to an influx of new companions.

Multiple exaltation ceremonies, not a new innovation, are becoming more regular to introduce more candidates in to the Royal Arch. Embrace this change companions as the exaltation ceremony works very well with two or even three candidates.

Sharing the work in ceremonies is an ideal way to ensure newer companions become involved and engaged.

Archway and the guidance provided therein will help all Chapters to ‘shape, grow, involve and engage’. Our new Archway Group, led by John Elliott, will soon be in touch.

The fantastic work of our Royal Arch Focus Group, chaired by Mike Rix, continues to work behind the scenes to embed new ideas and share information to support a consistent narrative.

Lodge Royal Arch Representatives, are now being coordinated by Doctor David Cartwright to work together to ensure all our Chapters become thriving Chapters; full of enjoyment and responsive to the needs of all of our companions.

Supreme Grand Chapter have shown a willingness to embrace change. Is your Chapter ready? If you are then your Chapters, our Province and Supreme Grand Chapter will continue to flourish.  However, if you are not quite ready then I and my team will give you every bit of assistance that we can. This is not a rehearsal companions, the change and the challenge, is happening now. We are a successful, happy and thriving Province. With your help, we will continue to thrive in the future.

Moving on, I now wish to recognise the contribution of Excellent Companion Michael Carter as Third Grand Principal. Michael, you have put your heart and soul in to the role and I know you are sad to be stepping down. We will miss you and I wish you every success in the future. Thank you for your contribution.

I now acknowledge those companions who were recognised at SGC investiture in April in terms of promotion and appointment.

Mike Rix PGSwdB, Ian Pounder PAGSoj, Steve Roberts PAGDC and Trevor Knight PAGDC. I congratulate them all on their promotions and appointments.

I also welcome Excellent Companion John Elliott as 3^rd Provincial Grand Principal to our team. John, I know you will enjoy your new role immensely and thank you for your support.

I also congratulate those who have been promoted and appointed today and I look forward to being with you all on our visits to come around the Province.

I thank those who were on the active team last year for their wonderful support. As they will know, we are trying to keep past team members involved and engaged and I thank Excellent Companion Neil Hollingsworth for his contribution in this area.

Finally, I thank everyone who has been involved in ensuring this meeting has been such a success. From those in the Provincial office, who have worked so hard making the arrangements, to all those involved in setting up the rooms and tidying up after we all leave. It really has been a superb team effort and without your contribution it simply could not happen.

In closing, Companions, I look forward to spending time with you before lunch. For those not staying for the Craft meeting this afternoon, have a safe journey home and I look forward to seeing you in the not too-distant future.

At the Craft meeting he had this to say:

Good afternoon, Brethren,

Welcome to our annual meeting and it is always a pleasure to see so many people here, not least our distinguished guests, some of whom have travelled a long way to be with us today. You are all very welcome.

I especially welcome W Brother Shawn Christie, Assistant Grand Secretary in UGLE. Provinces were encouraged to invite a member of the secretariat to our Provincial meeting and I am delighted that Shawn was able to make it. He has been a great help to me, personally, over the years and he is a good friend to the Province of Lincolnshire.

The United Grand Lodge of England 7-year strategy is now ‘business as usual’ for all Provinces, together with the Membership Challenge.  The Strategy Working Group chaired by V.W. Brother John Crutchley is making great progress in both promoting the UGLE Strategy and tackling the Membership Challenge. I said last year that this group will be communicating with Lodges and there will be more, focused activity to come. Most Lodges have responded to a recent communication from the DPGM about the Membership Challenge, but not all have. As we have every Lodge represented here today, I encourage those who have not replied to please do so. These is not just a UGLE or a Provincial matter but it is for every Lodge and Chapter; every Mason and Companion to embrace. As a Province, Lincolnshire is currently making excellent progress to increase and retain our members. Please engage with the challenge, communicate your enjoyment to others and we, as a Province, will continue to thrive.

Today, we have tried something different in offering PSA tests to our Brethren and I thank W. Brother Bruce Goodman for his work in arranging this together with the CHAPS Charity and the Trustees of the Old Provincial Benevolent Fund for arranging the funds to pay for it. We will debrief the process at a later date but if it has worked well then this will become an annual event at the Provincial meeting. If today is the wrong day for completing the tests, then we will look at arranging another suitable time and place. However, we will continue with this initiative as, if we help just one person, then it has been worthwhile.

In terms of celebrating success, I congratulate the following on their appointments and promotions at the recent UGLE Investiture meeting, presided over by The Grand Master, his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent; David Bird PSGD , Barry Harriman PAGSwdB, Jez Hyland PJGD, Dr David Cartwright PGStB,  Ian Castledine PGStB, and John Lambert PGStB.

I also congratulate all those receiving active appointments today. I hope you enjoy your year in office, it really is a special year. I also congratulate those receiving promotions and look forward to seeing many of you again at the additional meeting we are holding in June for past rank promotions.

To the outgoing active team, your attendance on our team visits has been outstanding. Thank you for your magnificent support.

Our two active Wardens for the past year, W. Bros Gary King and Paul Ellis have visited all our Lodges between them and represented the Province extremely well.

We also say, ‘Goodbye and thank you’ to two outstanding Brethren who are standing down today. W. Brother Noel Fisher who has completed 8 years as the Provincial DC and W. Brother Pete Tong who has completed almost 6 years as Provincial Charity Steward. I am extremely grateful for their personal contributions and I know all of you will wish to show your appreciation in the usual manner.

Both their successors, Andy Ham and Paul Ellis have hard acts to follow but I am confident they are well up to the challenge.

Next year we enter the final year of our MCF 2025 Festival. I am very confident we will meet our target of raising £2.25 million and I am looking forward to the final total being revealed at our celebratory finale event on Saturday 13^th September 2025, here at the Lincolnshire Showground. I thank the 2025 Festiva Chairman, Jez Hyland, and all of his team for their continued work to make our festival an outstanding success.

I also thank those Lodges and groups who have made donations and pledges today and it has been a delight for me to meet you all and to thank you personally for your support. I know that I will be very proud of this Province when the total is announced, and you should also be very proud of your efforts.

Let’s all make one final effort to boost the total in the next 18 months whilst continuing to enjoy all the events that have been planned and to celebrate the contributions made to help others.

On this subject, it is great to see our ‘round Britain walker’ Chris Jones here today. Chris has just completed 3,000 miles on his journey and is doing a wonderful job in raising the profile of Lincolnshire; raising the awareness of mental health issues and raising a fantastic amount of money for the 2025 Festival. Thank you, Chris, and good luck on the rest of your journey.

Finally, I thank everyone who has been involved in ensuring today has been such a success from those in the Provincial office, who have worked so hard making the arrangements, to all those involved in setting up the rooms and tidying up after we all leave. It really has been another superb team effort.

It has been a long day, Brethren, but I hope you have all enjoyed it.

I thank you for your attention and your continued support and I wish you all a safe journey home.

Pictures from the day by Chris Tandy 

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