By W Bro Richard Criddle, Secretary 

Since the last edition of Arena, there has been something of a change within the Kent Club for London Freemasons. At our EGM in March, our Chairman W Bro Dudley Price PAGDC, stood down after many years of service to the Club. The committee sincerely thanks Dud for successfully leading the Club during his tenure as chairman.

In his stead, the Club elected W Bro Gary Beckwith PAGStdB as our new Chairman. He comes with a wealth of Metropolitan experience having been part of the Events Team. We also said formally goodbye to W Bros Ivor Macklin, PAGDC (Events), Frixos Melas, SLGR (Membership), James Innes (Treasurer) and Dennis Conrad and Simon Dodd (Communications). Thank you to all those Brethren for their invaluable help with running the Club.

This means the committee now comprises:
Chairman: W Bro Gary Beckwith
Treasurer: Bro James Squirrell
Secretary: W Bro Richard Criddle
Events: Bro Daoud Himmo
Communications: Bro David Cole
Charity Steward: W Bro Seirios Kokkalis
Steward: Bro Angelo Zito
Steward: W Bro Jay Tamsitt

Despite the challenges of lockdown and harnessing the power of Zoom, Bro Daoud has been organising a number of events for the members and their guests. In March, we interviewed Simone Enfor-Doy – CEO of Lifelites – when we learnt more about the charity’s incredible work and the financial strains imposed on it by the pandemic. Following that event, the Club donated £300 and this was swiftly backed up by donations from Euphrates Chapter No 212 and Sarnia Riduna Lodge No 5840, totalling just over £5,500. W Bro Seirios, the Club’s Charity Steward, said ‘I’m delighted that members of the Kent Club and their fellow brethren have been able to address, through their generosity, some of the financial shortfall experienced by Lifelites.’

Then in April, E Comp Patrick Penny PGStB 2nd Metropolitan Grand Principal and E Comp Simon White PGSoj 3rd Metropolitan Grand Principal were interviewed by committee member Bro Angelo Zito and myself. Over the course of an hour, they told us about how they had joined the Royal Arch, what they enjoyed so much about it, why the Royal Arch is so intrinsically important to a Brother and something of the journey they had taken to reach the leadership positions they now hold.

May was a busy month event-wise. First, we welcomed RW Bro Tom Quinn – known to many as the Provincial Grand Master of the Mark Master Masons of London – to talk about his personal experiences and reminiscences of Freemasonry in general in Scotland.

Then some of the Kent Club attended the Mark Awareness Evening hosted by Bro Tom’s Province, to learn more about the ‘friendly’ degree.

By the time you read this article, we will have interviewed W Bro Darrel Palmer PAGSwdB - the Metropolitan Grand Almoner – about his role and the challenges he has faced. We will have held our annual summer picnic and BBQ in the award-winning gardens of Bro Ivor Macklin, and we will also have heard from VW Bro Ian Currans PGSwdB about the Order of the Scarlet Cord, of which he is Grand Summus.

On Saturday 7 August, W Bro Mike Neville will be running one of his ever-popular walking tours – this time around London’s West End. Details of this and all our forthcoming events can be found on our website – londonfreemasons.club – and on our Facebook group. The Kent Club membership costs just £10 a year, but if you attend our annual dinner (always held in a prestigious venue) your ticket price is reduced by £10 – meaning your Club membership becomes free!

And if you would like to get involved in helping to run the Club, then please get in touch via contact@londonmasons.club.

By way of ending this update, on behalf of the Kent Club committee, may I wish you a safe and peaceful summer and look forward to seeing you in person at one of our many events in the new season.

This article is part of the Arena Magazine, Issue 45 July 2021 edition.
Arena Magazine is the official magazine of the London Freemasons - Metropolitan Grand Lodge and Metropolitan Grand Chapter of London.

Read more articles in the Arena Issue 45.

READ ARENA 45 HERE