Members and visitors of Foundation Chapter No 5394 were honoured to receive Colin Rowling as representative of the Grand Superintendent to their installation meeting which was held at the Urmston Masonic Hall.
Colin was accompanied at the convocation by Gareth Jones in his last act as South Eastern Group Chairman, grand officer and long-standing Foundation Chapter member Peter Muriel together with other Provincial and acting Provincial grand officers and distinguished visitors.
After opening the chapter, first principal Christian Hansford efficiently dealt with the business of the chapter and then Colin was lead in by Provincial Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies Derek English, Provincial Grand Standard Bearer Mark Mellor and Provincial Grand Stewards Eddie Wilkinson and Ian Edge. Christian welcomed all the officers to the chapter and the installation ceremony commenced.
The three principals were installed in excellent fashion with Norman Lowe as first principal of the chapter, Ian Wood as second principal and Howard Lloyd as third principal. The robe addresses were then given in superb style with the red robe address given by Bob Wilson, the purple robe address given by Alan Jones and the blue robe address given by Phil Rampling, with the ceremony guided in exemplary fashion by director of ceremonies Ezra McGowan.
On completion of the ceremony, Colin rose and brought the greetings and good wishes for a prosperous, healthy and enjoyable year from the Grand Superintendent Mark Matthews, saying that if Mark had been present, he would have witnessed a most interesting ceremony of installation and on Mark’s behalf, congratulated the installing first principal Christian, director of ceremonies Ezra and all those who took their part in the evening’s event.
Newly installed first principal, Norman then rose and thanked Colin for his kind words and on behalf of the companions of the chapter, presented a cheque, which with Norman’s permission Colin read, which was made out to the West Lancashire Freemasons’ Charity for the sum of £250. Colin thanked the members on behalf of all those who would eventually benefit from the chapter’s very generous donation.
At the first rising, newly promoted grand officer Gareth Jones conveyed the greetings and good wishes on behalf of all the grand officers present, saying it had been a most entertaining ceremony, was pleased to see such good support and welcomed Norman into the chair as a first principal in the South Eastern Group (soon to be Trafford Group) and wished him, the other newly installed principals and the chapter an enjoyable ensuing year.
A very friendly and good-humoured festive board continued into the evening where, in his response to the grand officers, Colin, with good humour, offered his own congratulations to the companions and commented that the evening had been extremely satisfying and the ceremony well carried out. He also touched on numerous subjects relating to the forthcoming year including the promotion of the Royal Arch, the importance of contributing to the West Lancashire Freemasons’ Charity and most importantly that all should enjoy their Masonry.
The toasts of the evening having ended and the festivities being suitably concluded, a most enjoyable meeting was brought to a thoroughly satisfactory conclusion.