Royal Ark Mariner Assembly held at Corby on the 7th December

On Saturday 7^th December at the Masonic Centre Corby and in front of the best attended Royal Ark Mariner Annual Assembly since being appointed Provincial Grand Master, R.W.Bro. Robert Andrew Stokes invested five Past Commanders of the Province with Provincial Royal Ark Mariner Grand rank in recognition of their work and dedication to their respective Mariner Lodges.  The 88 brethren attending also witnessed seven of the recent brethren elevated into the Order receiving lapel pins denoting that they are ‘Northants & Hunts’ Royal Ark Mariner. This is a new initiative, to be repeated annually at this meeting and only those brethren elevated during the year and who personally attend  the Assembly will be entitled to receive one and henceforth wear with pride in the Order.

During the business meeting, 43 wives and partners were given a very informative talk on the Northants & Hunts Craft Charity ‘3 Pillars – feeding the Homeless’ from one of its founders, W.Bro. Ged Dempsey.  Ged’s talk was very well received indeed and afterwards at the lunch attended by a total of 114 members and their ladies, RWBro Stokes was able to present a cheque from the N&H Mark Benevolent Association for £250.00 to the charity for their tireless work in helping homeless in Peterborough and other major towns in the area.  Details of the Charity and it’s work within the community can be found at the web site (https://wonderful.org/charity/the3pillarsfeedingthehomeless)  

Also during the meeting, the ladies received a short presentation from the two members) of the South Northants Community Responders (https://southnorthantsresponders.co.uk/) who were providing the first aid cover for the meeting.  SNCR are a like-minded group of community first responders that come from all walks of life who volunteer their time to support East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) on 999 Emergency calls. Established in October 2012, the Scheme has seen a 38% increase in callouts since that time and now has 42 active responders.

In support of their current fund raising to provide a replacement first responder liveried car, R.W.Bro. Stokes was also able to present a cheque for £500 to SNCR representative, Lewis Chowney after the lunch. 

Provincial Grand Master, Robert Stokes presents a cheque to W.Bro. Ged Dempsey of the 3 Pillars-Feeding the homeless Charity.

Provincial Grand Master, Robert Stokes, presents a cheque to Lewis Chowney of the SNCR charity

Recently Elevated Brethren who received a Northants & Hunts Royal Ark Mariner lapel badge. 

Left to right: Bro. John Edwards of Forest Lodge RAM, Bro. Lacy Walker of Socrates Lodge RAM, Bro. John Cummins of Perseverance Lodge RAM, W.Bro. Des Hinshelwood ProvDepGSec, W.Bro. Brian Elliott DepProvGM, R.W.Bro Bob Stokes ProvGM, Bro. Richard Phillips, Bro. Fred Holland and Bro. Paul Hoffman of Powys Lodge RAM. Bro. Mike Smith of Lilford Lodge RAM also received the badge but was unavailable for the photograph.

Past Commanders who received Provincial Royal Ark Mariner Grand Rank

Left to right: W.Bro. Des Hinshelwood of Socrates Lodge RAM, W.Bro. Ray Taylor of Steanforde Lodge RAM, W.Bro. Barry Stephenson of Vikings Lodge RAM, W.Bro. Brian Elliott DepProvGM, R.W.Bro Bob Stokes ProvGM, W.Bro. Mark Constant of Earl of Euston Lodge RAM and W.Bro. Jeremy Allen ofSocrates Lodge RAM.

Northamptonshire & Huntingdonshire MBA with Croyland and Admiral Beatty Lodges provide assistance to local Charity

A chance conversation between W.Bro. Barry Weigleb and one of his neighbours has led to the N&H MBA in conjunction with the brethren of Croyland Lodge of MMM and Admiral Beatty Lodge of RAM in providing two much needed industrial sized refrigerators to the Phoenix Resource Centre (Northampton) Ltd, Charity N^o. 1133503, based in Raunds, Wellingborough.

Phoenix Resource Centre, although based in Wellingborough, has branches elsewhere across the country, that collects amongst other things, foodstuffs from various sources and then quickly distributes to the local Day Centre, homeless charities, food parcel organisations, soup kitchens etc.  Staffed totally by volunteers they were desperately in need of finding a replacement to an ageing domestic fridge in which to store perishable foodstuffs received from donor organisations such as Booker Wholesale.  Without this resource they found that they had to refuse much of the donations through fear of perishing.

The two lodges agreed to fund the purchase of one industrial sized fridge between them and approached the MBA for matched funding for a further fridge.  This was very quickly approved by the Trustees of the MBA and within 2 days the fridges were purchased, delivered and immediately put to good use as can be seen in the photograph below.

On the 12^th November the two fridges were “officially” handed to Phoenix Resource Centre when W.Bro. Brian Elliott, Deputy ProvGM and MBA Chairman, accompanied by W.Bro Barry Weigleb, Provincial Grand Almoner and W.Bro. Tony Marshall both of Croyland and Admiral Beatty Lodges accompanied by W.Bro. Jeff Chambers, Provincial Grand Charity Steward attended at the Phoenix Warehouse in Wellingborough to meet with Mr. Andrew Richardson, Trustee and Mr. Sid Norris, Warehouse Manager.

A brief tour and explanation of all the work undertaken by Phoenix by Andrew Richardson followed and everyone left the premises very impressed by what was being achieved by such a small group.  We can be very proud of playing a small part in helping them achieve their stated aims of “Recycle, Reuse, Reduce”

l to r: Mr. Sid Norris, Warehouse Manager-Phoenix Resource Centre, Mr. Andrew Richardson, Trustee-Phoenix Resource Centre, W.Bro. Brian Elliott, DepProvGM, Chairman N&H MBA, W.Bro. Barry Weigleb, Provincial Grand Almoner and W.Bro. Tony Marshall of Croyland Lodge MMM and Admiral Beatty Lodge RAM.

A letter of grateful thanks received by the Provincial Grand Almoner from The Phoenix Resource Centre was accompanied by a photograph showing both fridges fully stocked with perishable foodstuffs ready for quick distribution to the needy.