An interesting and unusual installation ceremony was held by the companions of Thornton Chapter No 8008 at Litherland Masonic Hall, with the principal guest, Deputy Grand Superintendent Chris Butterfield.
The chapter companions were honoured to have the presence of Chris Butterfield who was accompanied by the Chairman of Ormskirk and Bootle Group Graham Chambers, and several other grand officers including Malcolm Alexander, Peter Levick, Roy Pyne and Provincial Deputy Grand Director of Ceremonies Ian Halsall, together with several acting Provincial grand officers; Paul Shirley, Jayson Jackson, Derek English and Tom Bradfield-Kay.
Roy Pyne, ostensibly treasurer for 21 years, not secretary, had a lot of work to do in declaring the dispensations needed for the event to occur as Stephen Dunn, Vice Chairman of Ormskirk and Bootle Group and a member of Thornton Chapter for less than four weeks, was first passed to the chairs of third, second and finally installed as the new first principal. Roy and acted as prompter.
All three robe addresses were given by Roy Pyne. The star of the evening however was undoubtedly Barry Jones, who as director of ceremonies, did a truly remarkable job orchestrating this very unusual event perfectly. Leonard Hudson, as outgoing first principal, is also to be commended on his ritual and demeanour.
Once the ceremony was completed Chris Butterfield rose to bring greetings from the Grand Superintendent Mark Matthews and to extend his congratulations to all the companions and particularly to the new first principal, the director of ceremonies and the immediate past first principle. He said that he had never before seen a ceremony where the candidate made such a rapid rise through the ranks and passed through all three principal chairs in one ceremony.
The first principal then presented cheques to Chris Butterfield from the companions of Thornton Chapter which comprised; £165 to WLFC, £175 to Chapter Widows, £160 to FROTH, £100 to Tithebarn, £100 to the Hall, £50 to Bootle Widows Group, and £100 to Whitechapel, a charity that supports the homeless in Liverpool. In total a magnificent sum of £850 was disseminated to worthy causes which is very unusual for a chapter as most charity donations are given by craft lodges. In addition, the evening raffle raised £159 for charity. Chris thanked the companions of the chapter for their very generous donations.
