The members and visitors of Foundation Chapter No 5394 were honoured to receive the Chairman of Warrington Group Andrew Barton as the representative of the Grand Superintendent Mark Matthews to their installation meeting which was held at the Urmston Masonic Hall.
Andrew was accompanied at the convocation by Gareth Edwards, (South Eastern Group Chairman), Nigel Paton, (South Eastern Group Deputy Chairman), and other grand and Provincial grand officers and distinguished visitors.
After opening the chapter, first principal Darren Gregory efficiently dealt with the business of the chapter. Darren then welcomed Andrew and somewhat hopefully offered him the first principles sceptre, which Andrew politely declined much to Darren’s disappointment.
The installation ceremony then proceeded with Christian Hansford installed as first principle of the chapter, Norman Lowe as second principle and Ian Wood as third principle. The red and purple robe addresses were given by Phil Rampling and the blue robe address by Howard Lloyd and the ceremony was guided in exemplary fashion by the director of ceremonies Ezra McGowan.
On completion of the ceremony, Andrew 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 Darren Gregory, director of ceremonies Ezra McGowan and all those who took their part in the evening’s ceremony.
Newly installed first principal Christian then rose and thanked Andrew for his kind words and on behalf of the chapter, presented a charity cheque, which with Christian’s permission Andrew read, saying that it was made out to the West Lancashire Freemasons’ Charity for the sum of £500. Andrew thanked the companions of the chapter on behalf of all those who would eventually benefit from the chapter’s very generous donation.
At the first rising, grand officer Peter Muriel conveyed the greetings and good wishes on behalf of the grand officers, saying it had been a most entertaining ceremony, he was pleased to see such good support and welcomed Christian into the chair as a first principal in the South Eastern Group and wished him, the other newly installed principles 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, Andrew 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, general support for our Masonic halls and the importance of contributing to the West Lancashire Freemasons’ Charity.
The toasts of the evening having ended, and the festivities being suitably concluded, a most enjoyable meeting was brought to a thoroughly satisfactory conclusion.