Address to District Grand Council on Saturday 4th December 2021
Brethren all, it is now my honour to address you for the 5th time (including 1 Virtual
address last year) at this our 15th Annual Meeting since the District of Surrey was
formed here at Croydon out of the old District of Southern Counties. Whilst there is no
requirement to wear a face mask in the temple should anyone wish to so please do.
It is so nice to see so many people here today and thank you all for your support, especially
our Deputy Grand Master and his team. I know how incredibly busy you are Sir so thank you
for honouring us with your presence. An important part of all Freemasonry is visiting which
continues to be the case. On a personal note, I recollect that when I was first attending the
other District meetings as the new DGP on the block with my rather worn out dummy, I
always remember, very fondly, how supportive the other District Grand Prefects were to me
when I was visiting other District meetings so I thank you all again.
Whether travelling from near or far it is very much appreciated by us all that you have given
up your precious time to support our District meeting – thank you again! We look forward to
your company at our Festive Board and hope that you have enjoyed the proceedings so far.
Brethren, who would have thought how important a Zoom meeting would have become in
our lives, enabling us to stay in contact with each other, hold Virtual Business Meetings and
so much more? Being a bit of a dinosaur myself it took a while to fully appreciate the
benefits of Zoom, albeit I now have to get used to wearing long trousers again instead of my
shorts! I have to say though that I have been even more pleased to see that we have also
been keeping in close contact with each other by way of support using the old fashioned
telephone and as I am a great believer in the old saying that “It`s good to talk”, long may that
continue. So thank you again one and all for staying in touch and supporting each other
during these difficult times.
Because of the Covid restrictions we decided that it would only be fair to re-appoint our
active District Grand Officers for this year thus giving them the opportunity, not only to
enjoy their year in office but also to keep myself and our Deputy District Grand Prefect
company at our Official Visits to each of our Councils. I do however appreciate that you are
all very busy in your private and Masonic lives so there is no pressure, but I will be delighted
to see you if you can make some if not all the official visits. Please also remember that if
anyone else wishes to keep me company on my visits to other Annual District meetings you
will be made more than welcome. Again Brethren there is no pressure to attend, albeit your
company would be greatly appreciated by one and all.
I would also like to congratulate the Brethren who received Appointment or Promotion in
Grand Rank at the Annual Meeting of Grand Council at Great Queen Street. It was a lovely
meeting which was well supported, and my congratulations go out to W.Bro. Jack Love
(Promotion to) Past Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies; as well as (First appointments
to) W.Bro. Stephen Harvey and W.Bro. Graham Beer to Past Grand Standard Bearer; - I do
congratulate them all for these well-deserved appointments.
Having missed a couple of Hog Roast social events because of the restrictions, we held a
rescheduled one last September which was not only sold out but also another great success
and the sun shone again – I`m not sure how our Past DGP does it, but he continues to
guarantee that it will be a sunny day for the Hog Roast whenever, thank you again R.W.Bro.
Ray!
Thank you again to those that attended, and brethren please put our normal July date in your
diaries for next year which is the 10th July 2022. W.Bro. John Coleman has handed the reins
to Bro. Kevin Brennan in organising this event and I thank John for his hard work in ensuring
that our Hog Roast is not only well supported but also an extremely enjoyable family day
out. Good luck Kevin.
The Web Site I hope you will all agree is a great source of information and I encourage you,
not only to log on so as to catch up with all of the news but also to send in articles and
pictures which the Deputy District Grand Prefect W.Bro. Bob Tuthill will be pleased to add
on to your web site! Our DGP, (that`s the other one brethren - as in the District Grand
Photographer, a new unofficial office which he dreamt up!) will be sending some excellent
pictures of today’s meeting so that the web site remains up to date and vibrant. Thank you
Chris for supporting so many meetings and taking every opportunity to ensure that the web
site is updated with pictures and articles. Brethren we must also thank W.Bro. Chris for his
tireless efforts in creating the Surrey Gridiron which I know is not only well received but
also very much appreciated by us all. Thank you Chris on behalf of all the members. During
lock down this has been so important and appreciated, and I don`t blame you for the typo in
the first sentence of to-days edition - I think we all have 2022 on the brain! If anybody has
any new ideas how we can improve the web site or make it more user friendly we would be
happy to hear from you.
Brethren, District Meetings do not just happen. A lot of people have worked extremely hard
to put everything together today for our enjoyment and I offer my sincere thanks to all of
them, particularly the District Grand Secretary W.Bro. Alan Brockwell; the District Grand
Director of Ceremonies today W.Bro. Chris Craddock, standing in for W.Bro. Anton Smith
who is very poorly at the moment, and of course all of their teams for their hard work.
My driving passion for our District has always been ENJOYMENT, after which everything by
way of RETENTION and RECRUITMENT which are always important to every Order in
Freemasonry will fall into place. In addition to enjoyment Brethren I add the word
SUPPORT so please continue to support each other and remember that to receive or make a
phone call is rewarding - always well received - and very much appreciated.
Also remember Brethren that we are very fortunate to have the full support of the Provincial
Grand Master in the Mark to promote our wonderful Order at Mark meetings so please take
full advantage of his help and assistance by spreading the word and wearing your Allied
napkins at each Mark festive board, which does brethren create a conversation about the
Allied degree (especially when Chris Eley is present with his camera) thereby enabling you to
produce one of our Allied flyers which rather conveniently has an application form on the
reverse! The good news brethren is that since our return to meetings we have welcomed in
6 new members into 4 councils, and 7 joining members albeit we have unfortunately lost 1
member (for reasons beyond our control). I congratulate and thank those Councils that have
recruited new members – please keep up the good work! To those who have not managed to
recruit last year please let me know how we can help you in any way to reverse this trend.
As well as the napkins, the trifold, and the pens which I encourage you to continue using so
as to introduce and encourage new members to join our wonderful Order, W.Bro. Mik
Barnes has put together a booklet which we have had printed called “Variety is the Great
Attraction of the Allied Masonic Degrees”. It is very informative and will give potential
candidates a much better idea of this beautiful Order. These will be distributed to your
secretaries and put on display in our Masonic Centres – thank again W.Bro. Mik.
The Charity collection at this Meeting today will be going into the District Benevolent Fund,
and because of your generosity, we will be able to support some very worthy causes.
The District Meeting next year will again be held here on the first Saturday in December
which will be the 3rd of December 2022 so please make a note in your diary.
I finish by wishing you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy
and Prosperous New Year.
Thank you for the attention you have given to my address – and May the Great Disposer of
all have you in his holy keeping now and forever.
R.W.Bro. John V C French
To download copy of this speech click here.
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