The Provincial Grand Lodge of Stirlingshire |
The Grand Lodge of Antient Free and Accepted Masons of Scotland
William Ramsay McGhee, MStJ, D.L., Grand Master Mason
18th September 2020
Brethren
On Saturday we enjoyed a unique
experience when the majority of District and Provincial Grand Masters
got together via zoom to meet up with each other and discuss a variety
of topics. The feedback from the meeting has been good and it will
become an annual feature of the Grand Lodge Calendar. A date is now
being arranged to have a joint meeting between District Grand Masters
and Proxy District Grand Masters.
Some of those who have put their
names forward for the Register of Interests will soon receive an
invitation to join several small Working Groups. We do not have many
Brethren on the Register of Interests, but I would encourage you to do
so if you feel that your skills and experience could benefit Scottish
Freemasonry. Please contact Grand Secretary if you wish to be included.
I have received detailed
information from Gordon Michie of Poppy Scotland about the Poppy Crosses
which we will circulate next week but the good news is that we will have
the Poppy Crosses this year – distribution will be a bit different from
normal – they won’t go out to Lodges in boxes – there will be an on-line
facility made available, details of which I’ll pass on as soon as it has
been set up. The other good news is that we will be planting crosses in
Princes Street.
For those Provinces and Districts
who are due to put forward recommendations for new Provincial and
District Grand Masters, the protocol for Proxy Voting in lieu of
physical meetings, has been finalised and will be circulated to all
Districts and Provinces who will be affected, by Grand Secretary.
Latest news from the Scottish
Constitution Freemasonry Supports Facebook page is as follows –
|
|
Last week |
This week |
Members |
|
|
3534 |
Posts |
|
415 |
420 |
No of Members posting |
|
194 |
196 |
Lodges mentioned |
|
224 |
225 |
Provinces mentioned |
|
30 |
30 |
Districts & Lodges abroad |
|
14 |
14 |
Monetary Value |
|
£309,963 |
310,568 |
SCFS Overseas Report
The 900 Overseas Membership milestone has now
been reached. We welcomed 49 Overseas Brethren this week,
bringing our Overseas Membership of the SCFS Group to 938.
Congratulations is extended to Brother Mike
Herbert, PM, Lodge East Rand Scots, No. 1093, in RSA, Central South
Africa, on being our 900th Overseas Member.
It is heartening to note that, once again, we had an
expansive geographical spread of new members this week ...
from The Bahamas, Barbados, Central South Africa, East Africa, Eastern
Province of the Cape of Good Hope, Far East, India, Jamaica, Lebanon,
Malawi, Middle East, Newfoundland and Labrador, Sierra Leone, and The
Gambia
The largest increase in membership was from the District
of Central South Africa, followed by the District of Middle
East and the District of the Eastern Province of the Cape of Good Hope.
Lodge Piet Retief, No. 1501, Central South
Africa, had the largest number of Brethren joining from an individual
Lodge.
An interesting route to membership was adopted by
Brother Archie Dempster, Lodge Margate, No. 1420, Kwa-Zulu Natal, who
made a video call to ensure that he had correctly provided the requested
Masonic details. Welcome, Brother Dempster.
We would strongly encourage posts from our Overseas
Lodges and Districts ... sharing the support which they are providing.
I am aware that over the past couple of weeks, there
has been a tendency to express concern and nervousness about the future
in general, Freemasonry in particular. I fully accept and acknowledge
that times are hard for many Lodges and that things will not get much
better in the foreseeable future. However, this is a time, especially
for Provincial and District Grand Masters, to take the initiative and
lead from the front. Over the past six months we have all witnessed many
great examples of inventive and novel ways to try and keep things on an
even keel financially and socially both at home and abroad. We have a
number of Lodges who, for example, have simply asked the Brethren to
sign up to a monthly standing order to put a sum of money equivalent to
what they would have spent at the Lodge on a normal Lodge night into the
Lodge account – things like collection / raffle / drinks – if the
Brethren sign up to such a scheme with even £10 per member per month, it
could make a significant difference to the Lodge finances and keep the
Brethren in touch. Many Lodges are engaging their members and families
in on-line quiz nights and they contribute a sum of money for entry to
the quiz. Others have adopted programmes to keep members fit by
indulging in exercise each day and in many cases getting that exercise
sponsored with the sponsor money going into the Lodge coffers or to
charity. Where Covid restrictions have allowed, Brethren have organised
outdoor afternoon teas or coffee mornings all of which are designed to
raise sufficient funds to cover the essential costs and at the same time
keep members involved. Can I actively encourage Provincial and District
Grand Masters with their Commissions to take the initiative and organise
events to not only build up funds that can help the Lodges but
initiatives that are going to keep the members in touch and active. Such
programmes are only limited by imagination – in these difficult times,
we must be as imaginative, innovative, and creative as we possibly can.
Let’s all adopt a positive and upbeat outlook. We will, working
together, overcome the present difficulties.
Contacting Grand Lodge
The Grand Lodge telephone switchboard will open on a part time basis from next week – the proposed days/hours will be: -Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday between 10am and 2.30pm.
Ramsay McGhee
Grand Master Mason