Author Archives: Peter Maguire

Hyde Mark Lodge Open Door Event

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A Busy Period ahead in the Mark degree in Cheshire.
Now that the 2024 Festival has been concluded, the Mark brethren of Cheshire have
changed focus from fundraising, to raising positive awareness and membership as their
priority for the new season, to build on the slight increase in membership achieved last year.
The Open -door team have a busy two months ahead with four events being held, including
one by arrangement in a Royal Arch Chapter for the first time which is indicative of the close
working relationship we have with the Craft and Royal Arch Leadership.
The Open- door event is a informative and interactive presentation or talk, given in a “called
off “Lodge (or Chapter), whereby none-Mark Masons who are duly qualified can find out a bit
more about the degree, and its connection with the Craft and Royal arch- and becoming the
next logical step in masonic knowledge.
The open-door events currently planned are as follows:

  • 20th September -Hyde Lodge of Mark Master Masons, Hyde
  • 15th October – The Stayleybridge Chapter of Integrity (daylight Chapter) Hyde
  • 16th October – Walter De Hereford Mark Lodge , Northwich
  • 30th October – the Stamford Lodge of Mark Master Masons, Stockport

We have also established several teams and a contact network to see if we are able to
attend the Royal Arch Chapters in Cheshire on a quiet evening, and give a short but equally
informative talk called “Adoniram, and the Mark degree “, which again goes some way to
explain the interconnection of the Mark degree within the core masonic knowledge, again
with the hope of increasing positive awareness of our order, and from that hopefully an
increase in our membership.

If you would like to attend an open-door event, or perhaps receive the Adoniram talk in your
Chapter, please contact us on the email below and we will help as best we can
membership@cheshiremarkmasons.co.uk

2024 2025 season letter from the PGM

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30/08/2024

Dear Brethren

The last two years have been exceptional in the history of the Mark Province of Cheshire, not only with the sesquicentenary celebrations in June 2023, but also of course the culmination of the 2024 Festival in July, raising over £1,161,000 for the Mark Benevolent Fund.

With all of our lodges achieving Grand Patron Diamond status, and also Grand Masters Keystone lodges, the province also achieved the honour of being the first to achieve this remarkable double in the Constitution, all thanks to the work of the team and support of the brethren over the last 7 years.

The magnificent total of over £1,161,000 also showed the care and commitment that our brethren have towards our charity work.

All the work and effort over many years has made it possible for masons around the province to join together to support each other and in doing so to meet new friends and to enjoy these events and their masonry in general. That, brethren, is our aim, to ensure that when brethren attend events or Lodges that they have an enjoyable experience – the good ritualists can enjoy themselves, the good organisers can enjoy what they do best, the more outgoing and sociable can organise and run our social events, the good mathematicians can look after our funds, and so, as you can see, we all have something to offer, and we are each an important part of the Cheshire Mark Team.

The help and support I have received from the leaders and from the brethren, has made my role a pleasant one – hard work and time consuming no doubt, but very rewarding and enjoyable when I see so many happy masons.

Your Provincial secretariat and Director of Ceremonies teams continue to go out of their way to support Lodges and individuals, and our group of Cheshire Cats is being called on more and more to assist Lodges.

Your Provincial Treasurer is charged with keeping the running costs of the province down, and in doing so ensure that any increase in Provincial subscriptions is kept to a minimum.

This year will see more and more online forms being sent out, not only saving you time but reducing postage costs to you and the province, which as I am sure you are all aware is very expensive now.

As with every facet of life we have been forced by cost and bank closures to ask that all payments are made by BACs to avoid the cost of depositing cheques into the bank, which is rising all the time and adds considerably to the running costs of the province. So please help us to help you by making payments this way in future.

Finally, where do we as a Province go from here? Well, I have tasked the leadership team to go out and visit all lodges that have an advancement or elevation, and if your lodge wishes to invite them, to encourage more new members to join us and enjoy our order.

Our APGM John Miller is running the Open-door meetings either in Royal Arch Chapters or in your Lodges, to allow more masons to fully understand the makeup of our degree and where it fits in the masonic ladder, hopefully resulting in new members for your lodges.

I am also pleased to advise that after several years of seeing a reduction in our membership, this year we have had a slight increase both in the number of advancements and also elevations.

This a trend we are working hard to maintain with the various membership initiatives introduced, including the Open-door meetings being held increasingly in our Mark Lodges, and a shorter “Adoniram nugget” being introduced into our Royal Arch Chapters, increasing the positive awareness and relevance of our orders – and of course the Just Ask campaign, which I’m sure you will have heard about.

Our Leadership team are looking to again visit and support as many lodge celebrations as possible, including advancement and elevation ceremonies, but of course will always ask if they may attend first, as we recognise that sometimes it’s nice to meet in the more normal setting of a regular lodge meeting.

I look forward to another busy year and visiting as many lodges as I can, making new friends and cementing those friendships that have already developed over the past years.

Have a great season 2024 – 2025 and remember to Mark Well.

Yours sincerely and fraternally, 

Right Worshipful Brother Gary Raymond Horstman

Provincial Grand Master

The Travelling Mark Lodge

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On the warm summer evening of July 23, 2024, the Assistant Provincial Grand Master (APGM) of the Mark Province of Cheshire presided over the ceremony at The Benjamin Addy Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners No. 1107 to assist in elevating Bro Simon Truswell. The Provincial Grand Master (PGM) and the Provincial Team were also present, and it was an excellent ceremony that will surely be remembered by the newly elevated Brother.
Following that, the ASHTON DISTRICT LODGE OF MARK MASTER MASONS T.I. opened and welcomed the Provincial Grand Master, the APGM, and the Provincial team to the ancient Mark lodge. The Worshipful Master invited W.Bro Major Matthew Christmas PPrGSW (Oxon) to give a lecture titled “The Travelling Mark Lodge of Ashton Under Lyne: 1830-1900,” which was wonderfully received.
W.Bro Norman Haigh’s 30-year anniversary in Mark Masonry and as a member of the lodge was a significant milestone and a cause for celebration. The festive board was a great success, with 54 Masons enjoying a wonderful dining experience.

Double Diamond really hits the spot for Cheshire

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On Saturday, July 6th, the Mark Province of Cheshire held their Festival Banquet at the Concorde Suite, Manchester Airport, marking the culmination of 7 years of fundraising for the Mark Benevolent Fund. Over 460 guests enjoyed the event, which took place under the iconic Concorde Alpha Charlie, once the flagship of British Airways, making it a memorable evening in the province’s history.

The Provincial Grand Master was pleasantly surprised to hear that the province had raised enough funds for every Mark Lodge and each of Cheshire’s Royal Ark Mariners lodges to achieve Diamond Patron status, making it a “Double Diamond” Province – the first in the Constitution. The Provincial Grand Master was presented with the respective collarettes to mark this achievement.

During the event, a festival jewel dating back to 1934, worn by George VI before he became King when he was a Provincial Grand Master, was presented to the Current Festival President. This jewel was transferred to the Provincial Grand Master of the Mark Province of Oxfordshire at the end of the Festive board, as they enter the final year of their festival culminating in July 2025.

The evening’s biggest surprise was the announcement of the total funds raised over the 7 years of fundraising, which amounted to a staggering £1,158,150. This amount exceeded the expectations of the Festival Team and left the Provincial Grand Master stunned. He expressed his gratitude to the team members for their efforts in achieving this magnificent total.

As the Province of Cheshire passes on the collarette to the Province of Oxfordshire, they take some time to reflect on a job well done and look forward to supporting the Cheshire Craft 2027 Festival.

A special additional meeting at Rivacre Mark Lodge 1106

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On Saturday the 29th June- Rivacre Lodge of Mark Master Masons, working in conjunction with the Mark Province of Cheshire, held an additional meeting for the purpose of advancing four new members, which was followed by an additional meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge.
The meeting was held at Wallasey Masonic Hall- which had the space and availability, as opposed to Rivacre’s normal meeting place at Whitby, near Ellesmere Port.
As the meeting was held “out of season” and on a Saturday, a number of members couldn’t attend, so some of the officers comprised of the Cheshire Cats support team, who all played their part in Advancing Tony Kellett, Richard Kellett, Geoff Balshaw and Derek Harvey into the friendly degree, in a well-conducted ceremony that was witnessed by some 58 brethren.
Following a splendid light lunch, a special meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge was held, for the purpose of presenting further collarettes and honorifics, which with the 2024 MBF festival now coming to a conclusion, there has been a great increase in the numbers now qualifying for the various awards.
Indeed, with the Provincial meeting being called off, temporarily, our Provincial Grand Master was pleased to present honorifics to none Mark Masons invited along for that purpose, including Ms Rowen Daly, Mrs Lorrainne Kellett, and Mr Ray Cramer and Mr Mike Tombs (although the latter will be joining Altrincham Mark in October).
The Provincial Grand Master then proceeded to present letters of appreciation to the members of the recently completed Van Van challenge team, our final major Festival event- which had raised over £11,000.00 towards the festival.
With the meeting called back on, he completed the presentations of the collarettes and other honorifics to those present, and closed a well-attended additional Provincial Meeting at around 3.30pm
All in all a great day for both Rivacre Mark, who with a further joining member and two still to advance have increased their membership significantly, and the Province which, with some late donations alongside monies raised on the day, raised a further £1,396.00, which will be sent to Mark Masons Hall as quickly as possible so it may be included in the final Festival Total figure.

VanVan taking the high roads, or low roads- but they’ll definitely be in the Highlands.

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An early start saw #teamVanVan past Carlisle, over the border and on to Gretna, Lockerbie and Moffat, where a slight “detour” found them testing their bikes on a glorious road, and after a lunch break carried on to Falkirk where they were met by a member of the Lodge of Dunblane, Ronnie McPhee on his bike. A short history lesson ensued on Bannockburn, then Ronnie took them on to Dunblane, where two further stalwarts of Scottish Masonry, Paul Allen and George Patterson greeted the.
A good night’s sleep, then it’ll be onwards towards Inverness tomorrow.

It’s that Van Van again!

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Van van day 2.
With our kit dried overnight( following the day 1 deluge), and an early breakfast, the team set off at around 7.20am for the longest distance day, a planned 222 miles to Tewkesbury.
However the vagaries of the several hills on the A30 meant that the team became spread out, to the point that two of the lads missed our 10am rendezous with the PGM of the Mark Province of Devonshire, RWBro David Purdie, accompanied by his Deputy, VWBro John Clendenning. Both were pleased to meet the team, and present our APGM, with a very generous cheque towards the 2024 festival. They also brought some Devonshire scones, for comparison with those brought by Cornwall, and we have to say we took a vote but couldn’t decide which was best! Nevertheless, we did enjoy the welcome, and they were both pleased to receive an official ride shirt.
Setting off from Devon, as soon the Team crossed the border into Somerset, the British weather again gave the team a good soaking, to the effect that apart from fuel stops and with no other appointments arranged, they rode on in mostly torrential conditions to their stop over point at Tewkesbury, to once again dry off their riding gear, before tomorrow’s shorter ride back into Cheshire via the A49.

Cheshire Mark Masons in London

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On 11th June, 25 Cheshire Mark Masons attended the Grand Lodge meeting to see 5 Cheshire brethren receive their first appointments to Grand Rank, with Dave Berry, Colin Lewis, Walter Grundy, Steve Roberts and Geoff Lloyd all receving the rank of PAGDC.
It was especially great to see several brother mark master masons from Claughton, De Tabley, Deeside and Cornwall Legh Lodges attending to show their support and joining in the celebrations.

Van Van A Go Go ! Day 1:

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An eventful day 1of the Van Van challenge, saw our intrepid riders set off from Middlewich at 4.40am, setting off early to avoid the Birmingham traffic. This allowed them a chance to stop near Gloucester for a hearty breakfast under favourable skies, before the turn off the M5 onto the A30, where the June-uary weather conspired against them gradually, until, when they finally arrived at lands end at circa 1.30pm to unload, the incessant rain was at the angle equal to the fourth part of a circle.
They were however, heartened to be welcomed by the Provincial Grand Master for the Mark Province of Cornwall, RWBro Peter Furness, and the Prov G Sec Simon Trevans, who not only welcomed them, but presented the Team with a cheque towards the 2024 festival, and a plate of cornish scones, with the jam first, to “show off their fine Cornish cream” which was enjoyed by the team, before they set off on the short but rain swept trip, which tested our waterproofs (sadly they leaked) to Hayle, before a long day 2 ride to Tewkesbury, a mere 222 miles away.
A “soft” day but Mark ingenuity was on hand to dry everything out!

The Salmon Lunch Returns to Stockport

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The Salmon Lunch Returns to Stockport
On Sunday 2nd of June, and after a break in 2023 due to the clash with the Sesquicentenary, Cheshire Mark held its annual Salmon Lunch at the Guildhall Stockport, under the organisation of Keith Goulden, and Howard Waddell, with a lot of help from Steve Flood.
The event was a great success, with 74 Guests attending, and enjoying the meal, whilst being entertained by the excellent Table Magician Dean Lahan.
The raffle to which many of the members had donated prizes, raised the magnificent sum of £875.00 towards our 2024 MBF Festival.
( NB: It should be worth noting that the unusually bent forks were part of Dean’s Magic show, and nothing to do with the food- which was excellently prepared as usual!)