Nobody was ready to witness one of the most unique installation ceremonies in the history of North Shore Chapter No 7916. Even the evenings distinguished, guest John Robbie Porter, Assistant to the Provincial Grand Principals, admitted that it was something that he had never seen before and was unlikely to see again.
For on this special evening, Father Canon John Hall was being installed as first principal of the chapter, something that might be construed as ‘nothing unusual’, but on this occasion Father John was being installed into all three chairs in a well-choreographed ceremony.
Most people throughout the Province will recognise Father John as the Provincial Grand Chaplin and soon after this ceremony he will be installed as Third Provincial Grand Principal. But not many will know the tireless work that he does in the community. Before his retirement, Father John had served the community of Fleetwood as Vicar of St Peter’s and St David’s Churches for 141/2 years. He has worked tirelessly in the community of Fleetwood where he oversaw the inception of Faith in the Community, which is made up of two local Christian based groups developed and supported by the Roman Catholic parishes of St Wulstan’s & St Edmund’s and Church of England St Peter’s and St David’s. Working with Canon Alf Hayes, Father John Hall developed a group to explore working together and merging their community projects into one provision.
Amongst his many community roles he has been involved in, John is the treasurer for The Pantry, a local food bank which he helped found with colleagues from other churches and organisations in the town. He has also been a governor of Chaucer School from where the girls choir came at the church’s Harvest Festival. Father John is truly a man who typifies the purest principles of Royal Arch Freemasonry; brotherly love, relief and truth.
The chapter’s companions have dedicated their time to the founding principles of Royal Arch Freemasonry and one companion who justifies praise is the charity steward Mark Clifford, whose tireless efforts in raising £1,000s, have led to the chapter being one of the most charitable in the Province, if not the country, but more of that further on.
The chapter was opened by Martin Clements with the assistance of his co-principals, who dealt capably with the early administrative business of the chapter. Martin then gave a warm welcome to the evenings principal guest, John Robbie Porter together who, on this occasion was accompanied by the North Fylde Group Chairman John Cross, grand officer Godfrey Hirst and acting Provincial grand officers Alan Barnes and Roger O’Loughlin.
Under the watchful eye of the chapter director of ceremonies Tony Blundell, the ceremony got underway, in turn John gave his obligation and was installed into his respective chair, with the final chair being that of the first principal. Unfortunately, Peter Gaudion who was due to be installed as second principal could not attend due to illness and Warren Yates, who was due to be installed as third principal could not attend due to a home emergency. It is hoped that both will be installed at the next convocation.
During the ceremony, Ramon Ashton, David Platt and Jonathan Moss were called upon to act as installing officers, Alan Hill gave an exemplary delivery of the scripture readings, Tony Ansell delivered the prayers. and the robe addresses were given by David Calvert, John Darrell and Darren Busby.
Once installed John was called upon to appoint and invest the officers for the ensuing year and on their completion, Martin Clements gave the address to the officers with the final address to the companions of the chapter in the safe hands of John Robbie, leaving the final act to Martin Clements, to announce the completion of the installation of Father John.
With the installation complete, John Robbie leapt to his feet to bring of the greetings of Grand Superintendent Mark Matthews to the three principals, wishing them a successful and healthy year ahead. John Robbie thanked everyone who had taken part, noting the companions who had delivered the robe addresses and David Platt for all his hard work behind the scenes organising the day.
Before John Robbie had time to return to his seat, Father John presented a list of amounts that had been given to charity during the previous year. For once John Robbie was nearly lost for words on reading the amounts raised by the chapter’s charity steward Mark Clifford, £12,558 for Brian House Children’s Hospice, £1,000 for Suicide Counselling (Sarah Thornley), £915 for Prostate Cancer Support Group, £890 for the Faith in the Community Foodbank, £600 for Poverty Truth, £500 for Suicide Awareness and £300 for Empowerment. John Robbie gave great thanks to the companions of the chapter for their very generous donations. Once John had closed the chapter the companions then retreated to the dining room where they enjoyed an excellent festive board, comprising of chicken curry and ice cream.
John Robbie, in the response to his toast, brought his own greetings and thanked the grand officers and acting Provincial grand officers for supporting him. John Robbie moved to the consecration of the chapter 41 years ago, a date that one companion, Tony Ansell, remembers very well as he is one of the founding members. Continuing his thanks, he turned to David Platt, the chapter scribe Ezra, thanking him for the extremely hard work that he had done to bring the evening together, noting that David dotted every ‘I’ and crossed every ‘T’. John Robbie said that he had known David for 60 year and they were in plays at school together when they first started out as two standard bearers in the play Henry IV, Part 1.
John Robbie moved to the subject of the Grand Strategy, which came into existence in December 1922. About where we go forward in Masonry. When Jonathan Spence did his presentation of the Grand Strategy, he said that this strategy can be visualised in the form of a Greek temple with three pillars. John Robbie said that his grandson was playing with his Lego which gave him an idea, to which he proudly brought out his creation, a Greek temple formed from Lego, which took him half an hour to do, joking that the box said three to six years.
Explaining that Masonry is all about integrity, friendship, respect and service, which the three pillars represent, John Robbie explained the importance of recruitment of new members, re-engagement with members that have resigned or drifted away, coherent organisation. The importance of acting as one organisation with the Craft and Royal Arch together, community engagement and building on our charitable work to promote a positive image of Freemasonry.
To complete the evening’s festivities, the toast to the health of the three principals was given by Martin Clements, the Principal’s Song was wonderfully sung by John Darrell. The charity steward Mark, conducted a ‘West Houghton’ raffle which raised a grand sum of £145 for Masonic and non-Masonic charities.
