The 2024 North Fylde Group Annual Ball was once again held at the Savoy Hotel Blackpool and this year the group was honoured to have the Provincial Grand Master Mark Matthews and his wife Debbie in attendance.
The evening was started with group chairman John Cross and his wife Shelagh hosting a meet and greet for the master’s, first principals, group officers and other distinguished guest. Amongst these were Assistant Provincial Grand Master Duncan Smith and his wife Karen, Assistant to the Provincial Grand Principals John Robbie Porter and his wife Susan.
After the pre-drinks were finished, the evenings director of ceremonies John Lee called on the brethren and their ladies and guest to take their places as the dignitaries lead by Mark and Debbie Matthews paraded in to the ballroom.
Once Mike Brown, the group secretary had delivered grace, the staff of the Savoy Hotel took to the floor serving a three-course meal of Brussels pâté, pan-fried supreme of chicken in a white wine and wild mushroom sauce with a forest berry and apple crumble with vanilla custard followed by coffee and mints.
During the meal the guests were asked to deposit £1 in an envelope with the prize being a Bells whisky in a Bells decanter and raffle tickets were sold by the organising committee with the prize table groaning under the weight of donated prizes. John Lee swiftly called to winning numbers aided by a multitude of stewards delivering the prizes to the happy winners.
With the meal complete, Mike Brown returned thanks followed by a toast to the King and the assembled guest in fine voice singing the National Anthem. It was then time for John Cross to take to his feet to give his toast, which he started by thanking Mark Spragg and his wife Christine and Jon Davies and his wife Katie for their hard work in organising such a fantastic night. John continued to thank his hard-working executive team; Tony Farrar, Mike Brown and Jim Gregson, for the support that they gave him throughout the year and John Lee for acting as director of ceremonies for the evening.
John then said how honoured he was to have the Provincial Grand Master Mark Matthews and his wife Debbie in attendance. Then as everyone has come to expect from John, he moved to say: “It is nice to know a little about Mark and there’s always negatives, he’s an Everton fan”, which raised a faint ‘hey’ from the guests in the room.
Outlining Marks career, John noted the early similarities, both starting out in the chemical industry, both working in chemical plants. John said that he lasted 10 years, got bored and moved on and Mark similarly moved on.
Mark moved to a career in the police force, which lasted for 30 years and saw him rise to the rank of Chief Superintendent and being deployed to the New York City and Hungarian Police Force. His impressive career saw Mark work for the Home Office. All this experience helps him in his new role as Provincial Grand Master, inspires his vision for the Province and assist him in the development and rolling out of United Grand Lodge strategies throughout the Province.
Moving to Mark’s hobbies, John said that he likes sea fishing, going to the gym and running, John adding that Mark got into running because in the police he spent a lot of time running after people. John joked that at first, he wasn’t so good at catching them, so Mark trained and trained and has kept it up since to keep himself fit.
Continuing on to Mark’s Masonic career, he was initiated into Liverpool Charter Lodge No 7650 in 1986, exalted into the Royal Arch in 2009, became Provincial Senior Grand Warden in 2013. Mark went on to be the Chairman of the Liverpool Group from 2017 to 2020 and from there he was appointed Assistant Provincial Grand Master of the Liverpool and Gladstone Group and from there he was appointed our Provincial Grand Master in 2022.
John completed his toast by thanking Mark’s wife Debbie for the tremendous support she gives to Mark and for the hard work she does throughout the Province. John then asked all the brethren and guest to rise and join him in a toast to the health of our Provincial Grand Master Mark Matthews and his wife Debbie.
On John completing his speech, the distinguished guests retired to allow the staff to remove the top table from the dance floor. It was time for the guests to take to the dance floor and show their best dance moves to the vocal talents of Ella Coleman, until the clock struck midnight and the guests called for their carriages.
