Companions,

Once again I welcome you all here today on what is the most important date in our Provincial calendar and I thank you for supporting those Companions that I have had the pleasure of appointing and investing.

To those Companions who have been so honoured I congratulate them but also remind them of their responsibility to use those new ranks to help and encourage the members of their Chapters and further the interest of the Royal Arch.

I again welcome those representing the newly exalted Companions and whilst they are the life-blood of the Order they must be helped and encouraged hy the more senior members, many of you appointed today, to ensure that their participation is enthusiastic and continuing.

To this end I make reference to the booklet that has just been published and distributed to all the Companions in this Province - "A Guide for Royal Arch Masons" and which I hope you will all find interesting and informative.

I thank my Deputy, Alan Ward and all those who assisted him, for producing such a fine guide and to all our friends from other Provinces who kindly allowed us to use any of their researches. I also thank the members of Hertfordshire First Principals Chapter for their generosity in financing the publication. I am sure that it will prove a useful guide to all Companions, not just our newer members. I hope that it will be given to all future Exaltees and joining members.

There will be a copy available to all of our visitors at the Festive Board and should you require any more then please speak to Alan who will assist you.

This booklet is the start of a mentoring programme which will continue in the coming months with the appointment of Lodge representatives for the Royal Arch whose purpose will be to explain and encourage membership of the Order to eligible Craft Masons who have not yet taken this further and most important step in pure, antient freemasonry. I acknowledge and thank the R W Provincial Grand Master for his ready agreement to these appointments.

This mentoring programme will be under the direction of E Camp Alan Wiffen who has served this Province with such distinction and especially as 3rd Principal since my installation. He has readily agreed to oversee this project and in thanking him for this I also repeat my thanks to him for all that he has done as 3rd Principal and for his friendship, support and wise counsel. He will be contacting individual Companions and Chapters shortly and I rely on your full and speedy co-operation to him in order for this project to proceed.

I welcome our new 3rd Principal, Philip Lever, who you all know so well and I am delighted to have such an experienced and supportive Companion join the Executive.

Companions, I am pleased to note that the new ritual, and the sharing of the work, is becoming more prevalent within our Chapters and I encourage this. We must maintain the interest and enjoyment of our Companions if we are to expect them to recruit new members. Remember there are plenty of prospective candidates in the Province and they must be encouraged. At the present time we have about 38% membership which means that 62% of craft masons are not members of the Royal Arch. That is a rich source of supply and must be tapped.

I also wish to bring to your attention my views on membership of a First Principals' Chapter. We have two within the Province and whilst the Hertfordshire First Principals' Chapter is the largest one, and the one that I use to express my views and seek opinion, there is also High Barnet First Principals' Chapter which is open to past First Principals who are not members of a Hertfordshire Chapter. I strongly urge all First Principals, past and present, to give serious consideration to joining one of those Chapters so that they may further their own knowledge but also contribute to the very interesting lectures and information that is available. We do consider that membership shows an important commitment and is always considered when we look at appointments and promotions.

I said last year that this Royal Arch Province would do all that it could to support the RW Provincial Grand Master in his appeal for the 2009 Festival for the Grand Charity. To this end I am delighted to report that we have, to date, contributed the magnificent sum of over £86,000-00 for which I thank all those Chapters and Companions who have contributed so generously. Please keep up your efforts as we only have 18 months to go and I am sure that with your help we will raise a total worthy of this Royal Arch Province.

I now invite the Provincial Grand Master to receive a further cheque towards his Festival.

Companions, events such as these need a lot of work and commitment to organise. On your behalf I thank the Provincial Scribe E and his team, bearing in mind that this is the first time that he has had this responsibility, as well as the Director of Ceremonies and his team. Thanks also to the dining secretary, Peter Borst, and to all those Provincial Stewards and other helpers who have been here most of the day to ensure that everything is in order.

My thanks to my Deputy, Alan Ward, for his complete support and to the members of the Executive for all the time and effort that they readily give to further the interests of the Province. I also express my appreciation to all those active Officers who have supported and escorted us during the last year and I hope that you all have happy memories of your time in those respective offices. I particularly pay tribute to David Enock for all his work as Assistant and then Deputy Scribe E but of course we are not losing his expertise as he is continuing on the Executive as Provincial Treasurer I also thank E Comp Rod Hancock who is retiring as one of the Deputy Grand Director of Ceremonies for his complete commitment and expertise in that office. He has always carried out his duties in a most happy and friendly manner and although no longer active I am sure that we will continue to use his experience. Our thanks to all those Chapters that have received us so warmly and looked after us so well and of course to our friends from other Provinces from whom we always receive such a friendly and convivial welcome and who we are pleased to see with us today.

Finally, Companions, we must do all that we can to recruit and retain new members. They are the future of the Royal Arch and without them we have no future.

We can and must make the Royal Arch more inviting and enjoyable. We can and must make the Royal Arch important and fulfilling.

We can and must find out what prospective candidates expect of us, not just what we expect of them We can and must take into our everyday lives the important lessons of the Royal Arch and thereby stimulate interest.

We can and must continue to enjoy our participation and involvement in the Order.

If we achieve these objectives then we have a great future to look forward to.

Companions, I hope that you have another happy, rewarding and enjoyable year ahead and my best wishes for good and successful companionship to you all.


John Ilott
ME Grand Superintendent
Annual Convocation
5th November 2007