Companions of North Shore Chapter No 7916, together with their visitors, were extremely honoured to have Past Assistant Grand Sojourner Stuart Thornber as their principal guest at the installation of the three principals at Cleveleys Masonic Hall. Stuart was set for a pleasant surprise towards the end of this meeting when he received cheques and the details of donations made by the chapter to charitable causes.
The chapter was opened by Tony Blundell with the assistance of Tony Ansell and Roger O’Loughlin and the usual business of the chapter was swiftly dealt with before Stuart was admitted. He was accompanied by Tony Farrar, the North Fylde Group Vice Chairman, along with Provincial Grand Standard Bearer Brian Horrocks and Provincial Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies Glenn O’Brien.
With the guests comfortably seated, the director of ceremonies, Graham Kenyon, presented the new principals for the ensuing year for installation. Fortunately, all three had had been through the respective chairs before, which made for a very smooth ceremony, very capably performed by Tony Blundell, who is noted as an excellent ritualist. The new first principal Martin Clements was installed, he then installed Joe O’Brien as second principal, who then installed Peter Gaudion third principal; all in fine style.
The chapter and its visitors were then treated to some fine ritual with the robe addresses delivered by Mark Tomlinson to the first principal, John Darrell to the second principal and Darren Busby to then third principal. Graham Kenyon then stepped out to deliver the address to the three principals, as only a director of ceremonies knows how. He was followed by Stuart Thornber, who completed the ritual by a very polished rendition of the address to the companions of North Shore Chapter.
Then with the customary words: “That concludes the ceremony of installation,” Tony Blundell provided Stuart with his cue to bring greetings from the Grand Superintendent, Mark Matthews. This Stuart did with his customary aplomb and in so doing congratulated the new principals, wishing them good health and happiness in the year ahead. He also congratulated everyone involved in this very competent ceremony, particularly the director of ceremonies, for his hard work and the three companions who had delivered the robe addresses. Then came the surprise of the evening!
Before Stuart resumed his seat he was presented with the cheques and list of charity donations made during the previous 12 months. Stuart opened the usual envelope and asked the principals permission to share the information with the companions. He then looked at the details and the look of surprise was briefly one of total astonishment. However, Stuart has been representing the Grand Superintendent for some years and recovered quickly to announce that the total figure was £4,626. This is a staggering sum of money from a chapter and thought to be the largest sum raised by any private chapter. So how was such a sum raised. The chapter’s charity steward is the clue; Mark Clifford.
Mark is a local DJ and entertainer and is known as ‘Bomber’ to friends and audiences alike. He is very keen on the charitable side of Freemasonry and does his very best to enhance the standing of the Order in his life and work. He tells the correspondent that he carries a ‘swear bottle’ to every gig he attends and encourages his audience to donate 20p for every swear word they use during an event. £2 will get a donator immunity for the whole evening!
Along with the raffles at festive boards and social events, Bomber has been able to amass this grand total and the proceeds were donated as follows: £1,995 to Prostate Cancer, £1,815 to Brian House Childrens’ Hospice, £416 to the Christmas Food Bank and £400 to other Masonic and non-Masonic charities.
Stuart congratulated Bomber and everyone who had donated to this handsome sum and assured the companions that the money would be thankfully received and faithfully applied. The chapter business was then completed and the companions retired to the bar, thence to the banqueting suite where a four course dinner consisting of pate, roast chicken, apple pie and custard, then coffee and mints was enjoyed by all.
The usual toast were observed after the meal and in his reply to the toast to the grand officers, Stuart Thornber thanked scribe Ezra, David Platt for all his hard work in the administration of the evening. He also thanked the group and the acting Provincial grand officers for their support. He also paid tribute to Tony Ansell, a founder of the chapter, for his 40 years of service to the Royal Arch, adding that Tony had been the first principal of this chapter 34 years ago. Significantly, this coincided with Martin Clements joining the Royal Arch during that same year. Stuart went on to talk about the direction that the Pro Grand First Principal, Jonathan Spence, was leading both the Craft and Royal Arch towards a closer connection by the proposed fusion of fees. Stuart also presented the chapter with a card created by Peter Mason, Past Grand Scribe Nehemiah, with a brief layman’s description of the exultation ceremony. Stuart also added to his previous regard for Bomber and the ‘fantastic’ amount of money he had raised for charity.
In his toast to the three principals, Tony Blundell thanked the members of the chapter for their unstinting support during his year in office, adding what a pleasure it had been to install three worthy replacements into their respective chairs. His toast was followed by John Darrell who sang the Principals’ Song ‘a cappella’ (somehow with an extra verse to the amusement of all).
In his reply, Martin said what a wonderful evening it had been all round and looked forward to bringing some new candidates into the chapter. He concluded by presenting Stuart with flowers for his wife Brenda and a bottle of spirit for himself, for which Stuart gave hearty thanks.
The evening was brought to a close by Gordon Ivett, who proposed the janitor’s toast to all poor and distressed companions.