It will come as no surprise to anyone to learn that there is a major push throughout Freemasonry to increase our membership and to give the opportunity for good men to experience the satisfaction, joy and camaraderie that we all enjoy in our lodges and chapters.
The Province of West Lancashire are fully committed to supporting the project, and to ensure that we are fully up to date with current activity and resources, six brethren travelled to London to attend a seminar hosted at Grand Lodge.
Led by the Provincial Grand Master Mark Matthews and his Deputy Phil Gunning, UGLE invited Provincial Grand Membership Officer Neil Ward, Provincial Grand Mentor Stewart Cranage, Provincial Grand Almoner Paul Broadley and Provincial Grand Communications Officer Barry Dickinson, together with AProvGM Peter Lockett, to participate. It being an early start at Great Queen Street on Saturday morning for the seminar, the contingent travelled by diverse routes and trains on the Friday. Storm Babet was causing chaos nationwide and the trains from West Lancashire did not escape the disruption, with a catalogue of delays and cancellations. Miraculously, everyone made it for a late evening meal to catch up and discuss tactics.
The remnants of Storm Babet made the early start a wet one. Anything but wet, the seminar was well attended with representatives from Metropolitan and Provincial Lodges and overseas districts, presided over by senior rulers from UGLE and members of the Pathway project team. The interactive nature of the event kept everyone busy, with audience participation in both the plenary sessions as well as the number of break out sessions, exploring and reporting back on a series of carefully selected topics. The West Lancashire team came away much better informed and prepared for the full roll out of the programme.
Watch this space, further information is being circulated to all members. Based on the results from the digital marketing campaign and initiatives in a number of groups, lodges and chapters, Mark Matthews is confident that the current members in West Lancashire will ensure that our Province meets the Membership challenge ahead