UGLE Annual Report 2022

ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023

INTEGRITY • FRIENDSHIP RESPECT • CHARITY

ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023

CONTENTS

Freemasonry – Building Together

Building Friendships, Shaping Lives, Supporting Communities, through Timeless Traditions

“We are a unique members’ organisation which has thrived for over 300 years. Having no political or religious affiliations, we comprise members of all ages, races, religions, cultures and backgrounds. We gather in our individual Lodges throughout the country where we have ceremonial traditions which encourage us both to be more tolerant and respectful and actively to fulfil our civic and charitable responsibilities; we also make time to eat, drink and meet together, and form lifelong friendships.”

The Grand Master & First Grand Principal

Iam pleased to welcome you to this, the third Annual Report of the United Grand Lodge of England. It covers the period from January 2022 to April 2023, partly to align with our Masonic year, which begins with our Annual Festival each April, and partly to reflect on how a number of the major changes announced in 2022 have been methodically implemented in the first few months of 2023.

This past year has been personally very sad for me with the loss of Her Late Majesty and I very much appreciated the support and commiserations offered by Freemasons worldwide. However, it has also been a year of importance for the United Grand Lodge of England, not least because we have enjoyed the smooth transition from the previous Pro Grand Master to a new one.

Bro Peter Lowndes had served as Pro Grand Master with distinction for nearly 14 years and his calm, dignified and approachable style of leadership spanned a period of organisational stability and yet increasing focus on practical programmes and initiatives. These were intended

both to define how we might best continue to improve our members’ experience, so that we all derive and communicate enjoyment and pride from our Freemasonry, and to ensure it continues to be seen as a relevant and attractive force for good in society.

Bro Jonathan Spence, who had served as Deputy Grand Master for the same period and had been instrumental in such notable achievements as the creation of the new Masonic Charitable Foundation from the four older Masonic charities, brings to his new role as Pro Grand Master a sense of continuity and committed adherence to our ancient principles and tenets. Yet he also brings a refreshingly energetic challenge to all members to address the steady decline of our membership numbers over time. If we aspire to be a thriving organisation that people aspire to join, then we must embrace some measure of change, both in our approach to addressing challenges and in how we are organised, as described in our new Strategy: Bro Spence will lead by example in this regard. The Strategy charts a clear way forward for UGLE, which I strongly commend to you all.

Bro Geoffrey Dearing steps down at the Annual Investiture, having served as President of the Board of General Purposes since 2018, a period marked by an acceleration in the effectiveness and delivery of several key Committees and Working Parties, whose efforts have helped us considerably to prepare for the actions called for in the Strategy. I thank him most warmly for his assured leadership of the

The Grand Master & First Grand Principal

Board in this seminal period. I also welcome Bro Michael Ward as the new President of the Board of General Purposes and Bro Adrian Marsh as our new Grand Secretary and I wish them well in their respective roles.

We have a committed, new leadership in key roles and I sense a powerful wave of post-pandemic enthusiasm and energy at all levels of UGLE, directed towards

strengthening our organisation for the future. I am confident that we shall continue to build upon our history and our traditions and that we will collectively meet the challenges set in the Strategy.

I believe that, as you read this Report, you will be impressed by the sheer scale of activity undertaken by so many members of our organisation at all levels, both in preparing it for the future and

also, as ever, simply by acting as Freemasons have always done, caring for our fellow men by engaging fully in our communities.

ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023

The Grand Master & First Grand Principal

If we aspire to be a thriving organisation that people aspire to join, then we must embrace some measure of change, both in our approach to addressing challenges and in how we are organised

The United Grand Lodge of England: At a Glance

The United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) is the governing body for Freemasons in England, Wales, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and a number of Districts overseas.

Freemasonry is one of the world’s oldest social and charitable organisations. Its roots lie in the traditions of the medieval stonemasons who built our cathedrals and castles.

For Freemasons, there are four important values that help define their path through life: Integrity, Friendship, Respect and Charity. In today’s uncertain world, these principles ring as true as they have at any point in the organisation’s history.

OUR VALUES

INTEGRITY: BUILDING GOOD PEOPLE

Freemasons are focused on building themselves as people of integrity, and membership provides the structure to help achieve that goal.

FRIENDSHIP: BUILDING TOGETHER

Freemasonry provides the common foundation for friendships between members, many of which will last a lifetime.

RESPECT: BUILDING UNITY

Freemasonry brings people together irrespective of their race, religion, background or any other perceived differences that can divide us as a society.

CHARITY: BUILDING COMPASSION

Kindness and charitable giving are deeply ingrained within the principles of Freemasonry. The organisation provides the structure for members to make positive contributions to their communities and many other charitable causes.

171,763

Total members

63 rs

153,069 England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man

18,694

Overseas (Districts)

PROVINCES, DISTRICTS AND GROUPS

48

Provinces and Metropolitan Grand Lodge

32 Districts

4 Groups

(Malta, Montreal and Halifax, Portugal, and South West Pacific)

Our Leadership

HRH The Duke of Kent, KG, GCMG, GCVO, ADC GRAND MASTER & FIRST GRAND PRINCIPAL

Sir David Wootton DEPUTY GRAND MASTER (Past Second Grand Principal)

Professor Stephen Tucker PRESIDENT OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL PURPOSES

David Medlock, DL ASSISTANT GRAND MASTER (Past Third Grand Principal)

Gareth Jones, OBE THIRD GRAND PRINCIPAL (Past Assistant Grand Master)

Michael Ward PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF GENERAL PURPOSES

Adrian Marsh GRAND SECRETARY & GRAND SCRIBE EZRA

Russell Race, DL SECOND GRAND PRINCIPAL (Past Deputy Grand Master)

Jonathan Spence, DL PRO GRAND MASTER & PRO FIRST GRAND PRINCIPAL

Steven Varley ASSISTANT GRAND MASTER (Past Third Grand Principal)

ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023 Our Leadership

ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023

The Districts and Groups of UGLE

Across the globe

The Districts and Groups of UGLE

5.

Montreal/Halifax

The Group of Lodges in Montreal & Halifax (3 Lodges)

2. CARIBBEAN

Kingston/George Town

District Grand Lodge of Jamaica & the Cayman Islands (24 Lodges)

Port of Spain

District Grand Lodge of Trinidad & Tobago (8 Lodges)

Bridgetown

District Grand Lodge of Barbados & The Eastern Caribbean (21 Lodges)

Georgetown

District Grand Lodge of Guyana (15 Lodges)

3. ATLANTIC

Nassau

District Grand Lodge of Bahamas & Turks (12 Lodges)

Hamilton

District Grand Lodge of Bermuda (5 Lodges)

4. SOUTH AMERICA

Sao Paulo/Rio de Janeiro

District Grand Lodge of South America, Northern Division (21 Lodges)

Buenos Aires/

Santiago/Montevideo

District Grand Lodge of South America, Southern Division (11 Lodges)

g ob b

Portugal

The Group of Lodges in Portugal (4 Lodges)

Gibraltar

District Grand Lodge of Gibraltar (9 Lodges)

Valleta

The Group of Lodges in Malta (2 Lodges)

Limassol

District Grand Lodge of Cyprus (17 Lodges)

6. WEST AFRICA

Freetown/Banjul

District Grand Lodge of Sierra Leone & The Gambia (21 Lodges)

Accra

District Grand Lodge of Ghana (58 Lodges)

Lagos

District Grand Lodge of Nigeria (42 Lodges)

7. EAST AFRICA

Nairobi

District Grand Lodge of East Africa (48 Lodges)

8. SOUTHERN AFRICA

Johannesburg

District Grand Lodge of South Africa, North (101 Lodges)

Kimberley

District Grand Lodge of South Africa, Central Division (8 Lodges)

Windhoek

District Grand Lodge of Namibia (4 Lodges)

Cape Town

District Grand Lodge of South Africa, Western Division (30 Lodges)

Ndola

District Grand Lodge of Zambia (11 Lodges)

Harare/Lilongwe

District Grand Lodge of Zimbabwe & Malawi (12 Lodges)

Durban

District Grand Lodge of Kwazulu-Natal (26 Lodges)

Bloemfontein

District Grand Lodge of Orange Free State (7 Lodges)

Port Elizabeth

District Grand Lodge of South Africa, Eastern Division (28 Lodges)

9. THE SUBCONTINENT

Mumbai

District Grand Lodge of Bombay (23 Lodges)

New Delhi

District Grand Lodge of Northern India (5 Lodges)

Kolkata

District Grand Lodge of Bengal (23 Lodges)

Chennai

District Grand Lodge of Madras (18 Lodges)

Colombo

District Grand Lodge of Sri Lanka (10 Lodges)

10. THE FAR EAST

Kuala Lumpur/ Singapore/Thailand

District Grand Lodge of Eastern Archipelago (40 Lodges)

Hong Kong/Kobe

District Grand Lodge of Hong Kong & The Far East (20 Lodges)

Vanuatu/Fiji

The Group of Lodges in the South West Pacific (3 Lodges)

11. AUSTRALIA

4 Lodges

12. NEW ZEALAND

Christchurch

District Grand Lodge of South Island, New Zealand (13 Lodges)

Auckland District Grand Lodge of North Island, New Zealand (24 Lodges)

1. CANADA

EUROPE

ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023

The Pro Grand Master & Pro First Grand Principal

The Pro Grand Master & Pro First Grand Principal

This is my first Annual Report as Pro Grand Master and Pro First Grand Principal, and I wish to start by thanking my predecessor in those roles – Bro Peter Lowndes – for his major contribution to our organisation over so many years. Before serving as Pro Grand Master for nearly 14 years, Bro Lowndes was Deputy Grand Master for five years, Grand Director of Ceremonies for eight years and Deputy Grand Director of Ceremonies for three years, being first appointed in 1984. All these roles are critical to the success of our organisation, and Bro Lowndes served in each with great skilfulness and effectiveness. On a personal note, I am also very grateful to him for stepping in at such short notice to install me in September, when The Grand Master entered a period of mourning following the death of Her Late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.

Indeed, the past year has seen a period of significant national and international change, with the death of Her Late Majesty, the unfolding of the terrible war in the Ukraine and our long awaited exit from the pandemic. Throughout this time Freemasonry has remained a constant in our lives and the consistency and regularity of our traditions, ceremonies and social engagements have provided much needed stability to us all. However, I am pleased to note that, complementing this sense of stability, is a renewed determination to commit ourselves to the continued evolution of our organisation: the past 15 months in particular have seen significant change in UGLE, a positive momentum which we are resolved to continue.

In September, for the first time in living memory, we Installed a full complement of Craft rulers to support The Grand Master – with a new Deputy Grand Master, Bro Sir David Wootton, and Assistant Grand Master, Bro David Medlock, being appointed alongside myself as Pro Grand Master. Importantly, The Grand Master was also pleased to appoint a second Assistant Grand

Master, Bro Steven Varley, in March 2023. This team, alongside the existing Royal Arch Rulers – Second Grand Principal Russell Race and Third Grand Principal Gareth Jones – is now well placed to take a handson approach in supporting our Provincial and District Grand Masters and Grand Superintendents as they tackle the important issues facing our organisation. Top of the list of these, of course, is the Membership Challenge.

2022 saw the launch of our seven-year Strategy, the focus of which is to ensure that UGLE remains a thriving membership organisation. A cornerstone of being “thriving” is to be growing. To be clear, we are not at a moment of existential crisis, but if we allow our slow decline to continue, then our national relevance and our ability to contribute meaningfully to society as a whole may come into question. As you will see later in this Report, a key component of the Membership Challenge is not just bringing in new members but also keeping them. A focus on continuous engagement is critical to stabilising our membership base and using that as the firm foundation from which slowly, but consistently, to grow our numbers.

If 2022 was about articulating the Membership Challenge and communicating the overall aims of our Strategy, then the focus for 2023 will be providing our members with the guidance and tools to help tackle that challenge. To be clear, the responsibility to meet it and to create a thriving organisation sits with every single member. Embracing the Strategy and adopting

a positive attitude – a “yes, if” approach rather than one of “no, because” – will be key to this.

I believe that this will not only benefit the organisation as a whole but each Lodge and Chapter and individual member as well – for if we are all members of growing, thriving units, then we should all hopefully be enjoying our masonry.

Over the coming months UGLE will be working with our Provincial and District Leaders, and their Executive Teams, to develop practical initiatives to support the Strategy, and to share instances of good practice from across our global organisation.

The Royal Arch, through its unique connection with the Craft, is an essential element of our Strategy to

drive continuous engagement, and it will be emphasised as the logical continuation of the Masonic journey for all Master Masons.

Members will also notice new initiatives, such as closer liaison with the Women’s and other Masonic Orders, to help both grow our appeal externally as well as to encourage retention internally. As I said at a recent meeting of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons – if the Craft is successful, then the Mark will be successful, and if we all work together, we will all succeed.

A number of important personnel changes within UGLE’s organisation have taken effect over the past year.

After five years in post, Bro Geoffrey Dearing is retiring as President of the Board of General Purposes, to be replaced by Bro Michael Ward. I would like to thank Bro Dearing for his many years of service to our organisation, and also, in more recent times, for helping to begin the process of reshaping the Board to be a fit-for-purpose body for a modern membership organisation.

The Grand Master was also pleased to appoint a new Grand Secretary, Bro Adrian Marsh. With his many years of corporate and financial expertise, honed at the highest level of multinational businesses, he brings the necessary skills set to ensure that UGLE provides the Strong Foundations upon which delivery of the Strategy relies.

From the visits I have made across our Constitution at home and abroad in recent months, I have strong reason to look forward confidently to our rising to the challenges in the Strategy. We have a highly engaged and enthused membership base, who, when presented with a challenge, will tackle it with energy and commitment. We are an organisation which, for the past 300 years, has been an important supporter of our local communities and contributor to our society as a whole. It is now our task – the current generation of members of UGLE – to ensure that we build an organisation resilient enough to last and be relevant for the next 300 years.

ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023

The Pro Grand Master & Pro First Grand Principal

Embracing the Strategy and adopting a positive attitude – a ‘yes, if’ approach rather than one of ‘no, because’ – will be key

President’s Report A

s The Grand Master and Pro Grand Master have stated, this is my last Annual Report before I step down as President of the Board of General Purposes at the April Investiture. Also, as previously stated, this Report is somewhat more than an “annual” one, because the pace of activity which began with the Installation of our new Pro Grand Master in September, and the launch of our new Strategy in December, has not slackened. I believe that it makes far more sense to describe the list

of events and developments in 2022 and in the first months of 2023 in one document as a coherent whole. This will also bring our annual reporting cycle in line with our Masonic year – April to April – which we intend to follow going forward.

In reviewing this period, I hope I will be forgiven for describing certain activities in the context of my whole term of office, since several important initiatives –years in gestation – came to fruition and were signally important in preparing the ground

for the changes in our organisation and the new Strategy.

I shall, however, remain mainly focused on the future, since responsibility for management of the activities of the Craft has only ever made sense to me and to my Board colleagues in terms of our duty to pass to our successors a healthy and vibrant organisation, hopefully even stronger than that which we inherited.

Looking back at the last two Annual Reports, I could not but be struck by how similar they were in tone, as our lives in both years

were so overwhelmingly impacted by the deleterious effects of the global pandemic. Against this background, and although our Lodge and Chapter meetings were suspended for many months, we were nonetheless able to talk positively of the incredible response of our members, as they directed their thoughts and energies to helping others in greater need in our communities. That individual member and Lodge response was complemented and supported by an exemplary level of partnership between Provinces/ Regional Communications Groups (RCGs) and the Masonic Charitable Foundation, so that substantial financial support was mobilised and directed to best effect within our communities. UGLE, both as an organisation and through its individual members, demonstrated fully its credentials as a powerful force for good in society.

It is, therefore, extremely pleasing to note that this year’s Report is anything but downbeat, and that UGLE, having weathered the COVID storm, came back in comparatively rude health in 2022. We suffered lower net losses in members than we had initially feared during the pandemic (9% cumulatively in the period 2019 –2021, during which we were able to conduct hardly any Initiations) and we managed carefully to husband our financial resources, without recourse to borrowing, in very testing financial and property markets. The Grand Treasurer’s Report on pages 35-36 details, inter alia, the financial effects of the problems that COVID bequeathed us and provides some encouraging news on the renewed stream of Initiates and income from the resumption of activity at

Freemasons’ Hall in London. It then also, however, points to another unwelcome new problem that came to the fore in 2022: that of gathering inflation and its effect on our whole cost base.

Balancing the many demands on our necessarily limited financial and management resources and prioritising areas in which to expend those resources in times of great uncertainty is a difficult and exhausting task, and I must pay tribute to the professionalism and dedication of Anna Buss and her central finance team and all of my Board colleagues, who have implemented difficult choices to steer us to a position where we can now confidently respond to the challenges of the Strategy. We are now ready again to focus singlemindedly on the future, on the many positive things that active membership of our organisation confers upon us and on confidently demonstrating our values to the wider world.

We have new leaders across the organisation, a new Strategy that challenges us and a shared, renewed sense of energy and enthusiasm to drive UGLE forward. 2022/3 was a busy year indeed.

As in the past two years, I continue to note with satisfaction the steady progress made by the important Working Parties under the Board’s auspices, in particular the Membership Working Party and the Members’ Pathway

Working Party. Under their respective Chairmen, Bro Michael Ward and Bro Steven Varley, these groups, comprising representatives from each of our RCGs, have continued to issue written materials and give practical advice and guidance to all our Provinces in that most topical of concerns: how to ensure that we become a growing, and hence thriving organisation. There is no doubt that the element of our Strategy called “Thriving Membership” is partly aspirational, but it is also firmly grounded in the painstaking work undertaken by these important working groups over the past few years.

Although not a Board Committee, the Strategy Group, established some three years ago by Bro Spence as the then Deputy Grand Master, mainly comprised Board members. It delivered its assigned task by, indeed, producing the Strategy, which was first unveiled to Provincial and District Grand Masters in April 2022. A months-long period of consultation ensued, in which the now Pro Grand Master, supported by members of the Group, took the Strategy to every RCG, presenting it also to Metropolitan Grand Lodge, the Grand Lodges of Women Freemasons in England, the staff at Freemasons’ Hall, the Masonic Charitable Foundation and other Masonic Orders and partner organisations. The aim

We have new leaders across the organisation, a new Strategy that challenges us and a shared, renewed sense of energy and enthusiasm to drive UGLE forward. 2022/3 was a busy year indeed

was to explain the thinking behind the Strategy, particularly explaining the idea of the “Membership Challenge” as a concept that none of us could ignore. The extensive feedback was collated and informed the publication of the final version, which was launched at the Quarterly Communication in December and has been the subject of many addresses and articles in FMT and elsewhere since.

I am, therefore, extremely proud that the work of my Board colleagues and the many other members of the Working Parties over the past few years both supported and led directly to the publication of a Strategy that will galvanise the Craft for years to come.

On retiring as President, I shall also be stepping down from the External Relations Committee of UGLE, which is responsible for our relations with overseas Grand Lodges. I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the important work undertaken by the Committee under its Chairman, Bro James Long, and by the Grand Chancellor, Bro Paul Engeham, and his External Relations team. We are so tremendously fortunate in England to enjoy the stability and continuity of a “United” Grand Lodge, when so many countries, in Europe and beyond, have numerous – often dozens – of competing Masonic bodies, which often do not live in amity with their local “rival” Grand Lodges.

At the front of our Book of Constitutions and of our Year Book we publish a Statement of the “Aims and Relationships of the Craft”, together with our “Basic Principles for Grand Lodge Recognition”, which detail the criteria we apply when considering whether to recognise any Grand Lodge as

“regular” and thus one which our own members are permitted to visit. We currently recognise over two hundred overseas Grand Lodges and entertain applications for a dozen or more every year, many of which, after extensive due diligence, we are obliged to decline.

Every Grand Lodge is a sovereign body, in whose workings we would never seek to interfere, but UGLE is viewed by many around the world as the bastion and defender of regular Freemasonry, and our informal guidance is thus sought and respected in many cases of local and cross-border dispute and turmoil. Our envoys and representatives, in the Chancellor’s team and more generally, seek to set an example of exemplary Masonic behaviour in their interaction with foreign Grand Lodges, whilst always being alert to changes in the Masonic landscape, where Grand Lodges might suffer internal strife based on personalities or disputes on principle or policy direction. The amount of work, visible and behind the scenes, is enormous in this area of key importance to Freemasonry globally.

Just as we saw changes in our leadership at the highest levels, so the Board continued to review its composition, its effectiveness and its mix of skills and experience, a process which also led to changes in its composition.

The first major change was when my Deputy President, Bro Long, who had served me and my predecessor over a period of 7 years, was promoted to be President of the Masonic Charitable Foundation, the body formed from the merger of the then four major Masonic charities in 2016. The idea of bringing together these individual and independent charities, some with histories going back to the mid-1700s, in order to make them more effective, efficient

THE BOARD

Members of the Board as of 26 April 2023, together with the list of Committees on which they sit.

Michael Ward PSGW, President Standing Committee, Membership and Communications Working Party, Remuneration*

Jon Whitaker ProvGM Hampshire & IoW, Deputy President Audit, Remuneration

David Bell Grand Treasurer Investment, Property, Standing Committee

Ian Chandler ProvGM Surrey

Consolidation and Delivery*, Standing Committee

Quentin Humberstone PSGW Investment*, Hall, Property Investment*

James Long PSGW, President of the Masonic Charitable Foundation External Relations*, Risk

Tom Milner PJGD Audit*, Risk*

Sir Michael Snyder Metropolitan Grand Master Professor

Stephen Tucker

PGSwdB, President of the Committee of General Purposes

*Committee Chairman

and much more a part of our collective vision for English Freemasonry, was bold and visionary. It was, as stated by The Grand Master earlier, championed by our new Pro Grand Master, who has a right to be proud of the way in which, during the pandemic and since, the MCF has proved itself to be a true partner of UGLE, with organisational and formal liaison structures in place to ensure that it is responsive to, and entirely supportive of, the Strategy of UGLE. Bro Long has embraced his new role with typical enthusiasm and we can therefore confidently expect even closer, positive alignment going forward. That close partnership is further underlined by the fact that Bro Long continues to serve as a member of the Board and its Committees.

Bro Long was succeeded as my Deputy by Bro Michael Ward, who joined the Board and his new role, having previously been senior Deputy Metropolitan Grand Master. London, as we well know, is the largest unit within UGLE, and its health and success are vital for our whole organisation. Bro Ward had supported the Metropolitan Grand Master, Bro Sir Michael Snyder and his predecessors for 16 years, bringing particular professional skills to bear in assessing and designing programmes for addressing London’s own “membership challenge”. He will succeed me as President at the Investiture and will, I have no doubt, translate his skills and the assiduity and effectiveness of his approach to an even bigger stage.

We also, more recently, lost the considerable contribution to Board deliberations of Bro Steven Varley, who, as Provincial Grand Master for Derbyshire, was chosen by The Grand Master to be one of the new Assistant Grand Masters; Bro Varley had proved himself to be a tireless and tenacious chairman of the Membership Working Party. Importantly, he will continue in a hands-on role, as Chairman of the newly amalgamated Membership & Communications Working Party. The Pro Grand Master has talked about his determination that the Rulers will be far more visible in supporting Provinces and RCGs in the delivery of their elements of the Strategy: Bro Varley’s experience and practical focus on deliverable results will be well harnessed in his important new role. I would also like to thank Ian Chandler for having chaired the Communications Working Party prior to its amalgamation with the Membership Working Party.

Finally, Bro Stephen Blank, who had played such a key role in the Hermes development throughout its formative stages, also retired from the Board.

Two new members were appointed to the Board in the year. The first was Bro Tom Milner, who had been serving both on the Audit Committee of the Board and on the Strategy Group established by Bro Spence. He manages to bring considerable commercial skills to the Board while driving down our average age; identifying and harnessing younger talent being one important strand of the Strategy, we have already made him Chairman of the Audit Committee and the Risk Committee.

Bro Jonathan Whitaker, Provincial Grand Master for Hampshire and Isle of Wight, one of our largest and most successful Provinces, has also recently joined the Board and will be replacing Bro Ward as Deputy President at the Investiture. Bro Whitaker has served on the Remuneration and the Audit Committees and has been extremely effective in bringing his calm professionalism to some very challenging situations. He will, I am sure, be a great asset to the Board as Deputy President.

Another departure from the Board was occasioned by the appointment of Bro Adrian Marsh as Grand Secretary. With his predecessor, Bro David Staples, leaving to resume his medical career, Bro Marsh stepped down from the Board, where he had chaired the Audit Committee, and was formally Invested by the Pro Grand Master in September.

Although Bro Marsh had served on the Board for four years, his active professional life had prevented him from pursuing much active Masonry during the course

The element of our Strategy called ‘Thriving Membership’ is partly aspirational, but it is also firmly grounded in the painstaking work undertaken by these important working groups

ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023 President’s Report

of his business career. He proved immediately effective, however, because of his current skills in finance and commercial matters, bringing a strongly disciplined approach from his experience as a main board director of two FTSE100 companies. As he was in the course of stepping down from his external executive role, we were delighted that he agreed to become Grand Secretary. He has thrown himself with vigour into a dispassionate analysis of what we need to do in our headquarters’ functions, in order better to serve our members and to reinforce the Strong Foundations that will enable us to fulfil our part in the delivery of the Strategy. The Grand Secretary will explain in more detail in his Report the approach he is taking and the actions already implemented.

Ceremonial matters do not lie within the Board’s purview, but I must congratulate the Grand Director of Ceremonies and his team, our in-house staff departments and the various special committees of our members, who together delivered a number of unforgettable and rich experiences over the past months.

We were privileged to witness the Investiture of four Rulers new to their roles, in the Pro Grand Master, his Deputy and two Assistants, in ceremonies that effortlessly combined our age-old traditions of brilliantly executed pomp with a tangible sense of renewal, hope and dedication to future service.

The celebration in the Grand Temple to mark the 55 years of service given to the Craft and Royal Arch by our Grand Master was another fittingly respectful and joyous occasion, in which so many actively participated. The quiet planning behind the scenes by a

small committee led to a beautifully memorable evening, which The Grand Master himself greatly enjoyed. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Bros Sir Andrew Parmley and David RobertJones for their tireless work in organising such a splendid event.

The most lavish event of the year, though, was undoubtedly the Especial Meeting of the Grand Lodge, held in the Grand Temple in January 2023, to mark the 300th Anniversary of the publication of “The Constitutions of the FreeMasons” in London in 1723. Much has been written and said, in previous Annual Reports and elsewhere, about the importance of

this original Book of Constitutions, as we laid the groundwork for the Especial Meeting and for the Conference to be held later this year in Cambridge. The idea to celebrate the Constitutions as the bedrock of our whole Masonic structure, values and principles, seemed a perfect way of putting into effect one of the key strands of our Strategy, viz. “further enhance our members’ understanding of our history and values”, so that we would be “enthusing our members, supporting them with the tools and knowledge to act as ambassadors”. We assembled a core team consisting of Bros

I have been humbled by how many members give up their time to participate in the many Working Parties and other groups, whose actions have contributed to a steady rate of progress

James Long, Ric Berman and Matthew Mitchell and they set about months of planning for the events in 2023.

To read any of the dozens of articles on the importance of the 1723 Constitutions penned by Bro Berman, either on the dedicated website he created, or in FMT and elsewhere, or to attend one of his popular talks in Provinces up and down the land, is to be fascinated and enthralled. Our members are, indeed, enthused and become even prouder of our history as they hear how these Constitutions were exported and gratefully absorbed around the world. A wonderful and novel insight at the Especial Meeting was further provided by the 2023 Prestonian Lecturer, Bro Akram Elias, a Past Grand Master of the District of Columbia, who described how the 1723 Constitutions had a direct and material effect on the shaping, not just of Lodges in the then Colonies, but, through those Lodges, of the constitutional documents of the emerging States,

and eventually of the US Constitution itself.

The Meeting in the Grand Temple, attended by delegations from Grand Lodges around the world, had a scene setting talk by Bro Berman, an abbreviated and thought-provoking lecture by Bro Elias and a filmed mini-play about the genesis of the Constitutions, featuring Bro Mitchell himself, with a voice-over by the inimitable Sir Derek Jacobi, who had guided us through the UGLE Tercentenary celebrations at the Royal Albert Hall in 2017.

March 2023 saw a major Conference in Paris on the importance of the Constitutions, with particular emphasis on their influence on Continental European thought via the medium of Freemasonry, whilst a similar Conference will be hosted by the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia in Virginia in June. Finally, Quatuor Coronati, the premier Lodge of Masonic research in the English Constitution, is staging its own 1723 Conference, sponsored by UGLE, in Cambridge in September.

Thought is already being given to how to build upon the benefits of these celebrations, responding to the immense interest evinced by our own members in our history. The legacy of our 2023 Tercentenary Celebrations must be to continue to enthuse and inspire our members by making them more aware of our history.

The current Book of Constitutions, a somewhat more prosaic volume than that of 1723, says that the Board “…has the regulation of all the affairs of the Grand Lodge…[and] shall take cognizance of all matters in any way relating to the Craft”. The sheer range of the activities and challenges that fall to be dealt with by the Board under this remit goes from

the very mundane to the strategically complex and challenging and it is a ceaseless flow that makes great demands on people’s time, energy, judgement and relevant skills. I am privileged and extremely grateful, therefore, to have been supported throughout my tenure by many talented individuals, both on the Board and on the staff at FMH, whose dedication and professionalism, coupled with their collegiate spirit and positive attitude, have carried us through COVID and a myriad of less visible, but often serious challenges.

I have also been humbled by how many of our members, at all levels, give up their time to participate in and contribute to the many Working Parties and other groups, whose deliberations and actions have contributed to a steady rate of progress towards that point at which we were able credibly to launch a new Strategy, confident that we are now well within reach of having the organisation, the systems, the resources and the right people in the right places to deliver it and to measure our progress along the journey.

I strongly believe that our organisation will thrive, will have people aspiring to join us and will continue to give our members – and members yet to be – a rewarding, enriching and enjoyable experience, enabling them to be better people and more valued members of their own communities.

It remains only for me to thank The Grand Master for allowing me the privilege to serve for five years as President of the Board. The Pro Grand Master for most of my term, Bro Peter Lowndes, was always a wise guide to me, a voice of calm and a trusted friend and colleague, one to whom I shall always owe a great debt of gratitude.

ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023

The 1723 Constitutions: Inventing the Future

The 1723 Constitutions: Inventing the Future

2023 sees the 300th anniversary of “The Constitutions of the Free-Masons”, a book which has acted not just as the cornerstone of Freemasonry, but also took Freemasonry to the world and helped spread

Enlightenment ideas of equality, democracy and scientific reason. UGLE, in conjunction with the Grande Loge Nationale Française and the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia have organised a year of special events to celebrate this important

anniversary. A yearlong exhibition at the Museum of Freemasonry at Freemasons’ Hall in London, “Inventing the Future”, is complemented by a series of supporting celebratory and educational events, including a major international conference in September 2023.

The flagship event occurred in January, when more than 1,600 people attended the Especial Meeting of the Grand Lodge, including Grand Masters and representatives from American and European Grand Lodges, as well as the Grand Masters of the Order of Women Freemasons and HFAF – Freemasonry for Women.

The programme, which was titled “The 1723 Constitutions: Inventing the Future”, included interesting talks from Dr Ric Berman and Akram Elias, Prestonian Lecturer for 2023 and former Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia.

The event also featured outstanding filmed entertainment produced by Matthew Mitchell and narrated by Sir Derek Jacobi.

It was, in the words of the Pro Grand Master, a truly extraordinary and wonderful event.

The Constitutions gave the world an astonishingly bold, almost revolutionary proclamation of values. Starting with their promulgation, Freemasons became an important vector for the principles of the Enlightenment, confidently propagating notions of religious tolerance, meritocracy, selfimprovement by education and even democratic elections.

Over time, these ideas spread to and were embraced across Europe and in the United States, shaping models of governance.

ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023

Our Strategy: 2022 and Beyond

Forging a thriving future: The Strategy for 2022Freemasonry and Beyond

2022 saw the launch of our new Strategy, Freemasonry 2022 and Beyond.

The current Strategy was formed in 2022 under the Pro Grand Master’s leadership to develop our approach for the next sevenyear period. So why do we need one? While most major organisations have a public strategy, we can assure you this is not a tick-the-box exercise or to follow some trend or fad. Our aim is simple: to cement our reputation as a force for good in our communities and society at large, and as a thriving organisation with people aspiring to join us.

Freemasonry has been an important part of the development of our society for more than 300 years. The impact of our charitable efforts cannot be overestimated. However, a slow but steady decline in our membership numbers threatens our relevance to a wider society and our ability to have a positive impact on local communities.

On average, there has been a 2.5 per cent annual decline in our membership each year across England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man since

2008, taking us from around 200,000 members 10 years ago to a little more than 150,000 today. While we have made great progress over the past year with Initiations, this is really only reversing the impact of the pandemic. Even with this substantial increase, we still had a slight decline in members overall. Importantly, these losses are not coming from where you would think. Although we are, on average, an older organisation, death in this situation is not the enemy. We lose far too many members to resignation, cessation and exclusion, including those who

quietly drift away. It almost completely negates all the excellent work we have done in bringing new Initiates into the Craft and our membership challenge is to close this gap.

At present, we either need to increase Initiations by 46 per cent or reduce resignations accordingly. The ideal practical reality would be a mix of the two.

One particular statistic is that 17 per cent of new Initiates are lost within three years of joining. This is an average for UGLE. In some Provinces, the figure is 30 per cent. Others leave later for a number of reasons, including Lodge closures, usually because they have moved to a different part of the country and don’t re-join a Lodge, or simply because they have stopped enjoying their Freemasonry. All of this is avoidable.

The Temple is set upon Strong Foundations – these are the practical and logistical elements that UGLE and the Provinces need to deliver for you as a best-in-class organisation. There are three pillars. The first is Thriving Membership, which is

While we have made great progress over the past year with Initiations, this is really only reversing the impact of the pandemic

ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023 Our Strategy: 2022 and Beyond

critical to tackling the membership challenge and is about attracting new members and ensuring their experience keeps them in Freemasonry for life. It also sets out how we can engage with existing members, ensuring that Freemasonry remains relevant and enjoyable for them, particularly those who attend their Lodge infrequently.

The second pillar, Coherent Organisation, sets out how we, across all levels of our organisation, must act as one in delivering the Strategy. Everyone, from The Grand Master to the newest entered apprentice, has a duty and a responsibility to support the success of our organisation. Without our membership pulling in the same direction, the Strategy will fail.

The third pillar, Engaged in our Communities, is what we already do so well. We must build upon our charitable works and member contributions to their communities and wider society as a whole, to ensure we continue to promote a positive and attractive profile and image for Freemasonry. To be clear, our ultimate goals are immensely achievable. We are not talking about setting unrealistic targets, such as a 20 per cent growth in membership. Rather, our approach is for slow and steady increases in our numbers.

The aim is to grow the membership by 1 per cent per annum by year three, and 2 per cent per annum by year seven – which marks the end of the Strategy period. This should set us on a sustainable growth trajectory as a nationally relevant and thriving membership organisation for the next 300 years.

Every Freemason has a part to play, no matter where he sits in our organisation.

Total number of members since 2008 England, Wales, Channel Islands & Isle of Man

Loss of Initiates within three years of joining

The average loss is 17% across UGLE; in some Provinces, it is as high as 30%

Membership gains and losses

The membership challenge is the increase in Initiates required to stabilise our numbers

ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023

Our Strategy: 2022 and Beyond

FOUR STEPS TO SUCCESS

Strong Foundations

Implement an investment plan (people, capabilities and technology) to support delivery of the Strategy

Tap into our talent base, identifying and using members’ skills and talents, whatever their rank

Update the Book of Constitutions, ensuring that it is fit for a modern membership organisation

Thriving Membership

Constantly reinforce the concept of our unique combination of fun/sociability and serious and timeless core values

Address the “membership challenge” at all levels, encouraging innovation, embracing change and spreading successful ideas Further enhance our members’ understanding of our history and values

Coherent Organisation

Communicate clear, concise and consistent messaging within UGLE and beyond Empower and enthuse our members, supporting them with the tools and knowledge to act as ambassadors and become our future leaders Further develop the RCG structure to maximise local impact across traditional Provincial boundaries

Engaged in our Communities

Build on the recent success of our members’ response to the pandemic in their local communities and of our partnership with the MCF and other local and national charities Identify new areas for engagement in our communities Communicate more openly and explicitly the full scale and community impact of members’ current engagement through charitable donations and volunteering

Establishing Foundations:Strong Grand Secretary’s Report

Iwas immensely proud to have been invested by the Pro Grand Master in the role of Grand Secretary in September, after a few weeks of intensive induction. I did not come to the position with any hands-on experience of Masonic administration apart from my time on the Board of General Purposes and I was, and indeed still am, fully employed in an executive Board role in a large public company. My notes to my eventual successor will certainly include a very strong exhortation not even to consider doing the job on a part time basis! As I am now very close to full retirement from my executive career, I am looking forward to devoting all my energies to UGLE, as we embark upon this next exciting phase of our history.

I have been enabled to fulfil my responsibilities over the past few months by a combination of factors.

Firstly, as I worked to assess and understand fully our protocols and our detailed modus operandi across so many operational areas I would still be fumbling in the dark were it not for the unstinting support of my senior staff colleagues, led by

the Deputy Grand Secretary, Bro Graham Redman, who guided and cajoled me through a myriad of complex issues and decisions.

Secondly, I enjoyed the strong support and wise counsel of my erstwhile colleagues on the Board, led by Bro Geoffrey Dearing and his Deputy, Bro Michael Ward, who were determined that I should weather any initial storms and come through, ready then to make a full contribution to implementation of our Strategy in the coming years.

Thirdly, I shall always be indebted to the hundreds of our members across the land, be they Provincial Leaders, or the members of so many committees and working groups, those members who freely give their time and interact with my colleagues at UGLE in the host of initiatives designed to improve our systems, our processes and the very effectiveness of our organisation. I encountered nothing but goodwill and support and felt a humbling realisation that we have so many talented members out there working hard and wanting nothing more than to make UGLE stronger and better, for the good of our

members as well as wider society. Lastly, and most importantly for me personally, as I juggled with so many commitments, deadlines and decisions, I enjoyed the unfailing and good humoured encouragement of the new Pro Grand Master, whose own commitment, passion and steely determination to lead us forward were a constant source of inspiration, especially with the high standards he sets for himself and expects of others.

These factors, coupled with the palpable sense of a growing collective buy-in to the Strategy across our whole organisation and the way that that, in turn, increased our members’ belief and level of ambition, have sustained and motivated me through my early months. The Strategy is now a current reality to be met, not some future vague aspiration, and I and my team are going to play our full part in delivering it.

The President earlier mentioned the re-emergence of inflation in our economy, a phenomenon possibly unknown to many of our younger members, as a zero or low inflation environment has obtained for so long. We have reserves that give us

ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023 Grand Secretary’s Report

ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023

Grand Secretary’s Report

confidence in our future investment plans and have also allowed us to increase our members’ dues and other fees below inflation. Given my background I doubt that it will be much of a surprise that I have also begun a thorough review of all aspects of our central expenditure, both operational and projectdriven, with the aim of applying rigorous hurdles to justify and prioritise any future spending.

This is not a blunt cost-cutting exercise, but rather an acceptance that the Strategy, in stressing the need for “Strong Foundations” providing a first class service for members through investing in our IT, people and capabilities and maintaining our unique Freemasons’ Hall, demands such a periodic and fundamental review of our relative strengths and weaknesses across all these areas.

I have already written elsewhere that this review has a twofold aim: firstly, to ensure that the organisation or inner workings of UGLE and the operations of Freemasons’ Hall are fit for purpose and deliver value for money for our members; and secondly, to ensure that UGLE is well positioned to support and prioritise actions and to bring to bear resources to support our members at every level in delivering the Strategy.

It is critical that we remember that UGLE is first and foremost a members’ organisation, and that, therefore, our central functions must be designed and focused on serving our membership. It has been suggested to me by many people that UGLE centrally has perhaps been too focused on our own internal rules and requirements and not sufficiently outwardly focused on our members’ experience. I am acutely aware of the Pro Grand Master’s insistence

on creating a new culture of “yes, if” to replace “no, because”. My response to that challenge, which I wholeheartedly endorse, is simply to say that, if there are any last vestiges of institutional lethargy and unresponsiveness in Freemasons’ Hall, we shall uncover them and implement change. So many of these behavioural and attitudinal changes called for in the Strategy demand setting an example, from the very top and down throughout all levels of management and leadership. Our central staff functions will be at the forefront of this change.

I have been working closely with my leadership team to define and implement an organisational structure that is aligned to the Strategy and managed and resourced accordingly. Having been through several such exercises before, I know that, although the end result might often be an informed decision to increase resource allocation, including headcount, in some areas, it can be stressful for people involved. We have highly motivated people here at the Centre and my aim is to emerge with a stronger, more

coherent, more confident and more effective team.

In the same vein I will be actively looking for, and encouraging others to identify, talent across our whole organisation. I firmly believe that one of the best kept Masonic secrets is the sheer range and depth of talent possessed by individuals in our organisation up and down the country whom we simply do not know about. Many of our members have full time jobs, whilst many others are recently or longer term retired, and I am sure that across all these groups there are many who would be motivated and excited about participating in working groups, at Provincial level or centrally, to implement the Strategy, much as my own passion for Masonry was reignited when I was invited to use my business skills. It seems that all

I hope it is clear that all these initiatives are united by one recurring theme –a relentless focus on providing the Strong Foundations to deliver our Strategy

too often we go back to the same people who willingly give up their time, whilst also heavily relying upon – and paying for – the expertise of people outside our organisation. I believe we should prioritise giving our own qualified and talented members the opportunity to get involved directly and help shape our future. There is no requirement for Masonic rank – it is simply experience, skills and enthusiasm we would like to tap into.

Apart from personnel, our information databases and technology provision represent another critical area of focus for UGLE, particularly insofar as they impact our members’ experience. A decision we recently took as part of a technological capability review was to pause the schedule for the roll-out of Hermes. Hermes is meant to be a tool which will make

everyone’s life easier, especially the Lodge Secretary or Chapter Scribe E. It is being used by some 2,000 units currently, often with great success, but there have also been some cases where its introduction has not gone smoothly and where some troubling problems have arisen. After reviewing extensive and forthright feedback data, we concluded that the issues were significant enough that, if repeated in other large Provinces, they would at best undermine the user experience and jeopardise the positive benefits the new technology was designed to deliver. Hermes is simply too important a tool for us to risk launching it more widely in its original form. The pause, therefore, will allow us to fix the bugs which have been identified, enhance the support tool, and re-work the training

and induction methodologies so that future roll-outs run much more smoothly.

Our new CIO, Bro Hugh Douglas-Smith, brings years of professional experience in the technology sphere and was also a Deputy Provincial Grand Master. He therefore brings a unique and highly relevant perspective in assessing the relative strengths and responsiveness of our systems. He has set out a very detailed plan for an in-depth review of the current capabilities and proposed roll-out of our core membership systems – ADelphi as well as Hermes. As well as defining clear delivery standards and expectations for any future system launches, the review also includes longer term consideration of our future needs against the background of Oracle operating platforms nearing the end of their economic lives. The

ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023 Grand Secretary’s Report

ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023

Grand Secretary’s Report

renewed focus will be on delivering systems solutions that are both reliable and which do actually make things easier and more intuitive for all our users. This sounds trite in its obviousness, but it will actually demand some radical changes across our IT resources. Relating this to the Strategy, it is imperative that our core systems work well and that the data they hold can be easily interrogated, thereby providing the timely and accurate membership information and trends that will allow all of us to contribute to addressing the Membership Challenge.

As I mentioned earlier, we are acutely aware of the effects of inflation, not least in increasing the cost of living for our members as well as society more broadly. Whilst we now have a relentless focus on better managing our cost base, there will still be significant and unavoidable investments which need to be made in our systems and the physical fabric of our magnificent headquarters building. Our first priority is to keep members’ dues as low as possible

and so, to give ourselves the headroom to make these necessary investments, we must fully optimise our commercial income.

I have recently appointed a new commercial director here at UGLE, who is tasked with maximising those income streams across external events, our shop and the café and bar area, whilst recognising that our priority at all times is the enjoyment of Freemasons’ Hall by our members. Lodge dining is also a service we are keen to continue to offer here at Freemasons’ Hall, where festive boards, so important to maintain and strengthen the life of any Lodge, are currently facing exceptional labour, utilities and food and beverage cost headwinds which are severely impacting Lodges’ dining numbers. We will have a particular focus on delivering value for money to our members rather than trying to seek a profit margin and I am excited that our Metropolitan Grand Secretary, Bro Matthew Christmas, is leading a Working Party to look at innovation and the art of the possible in Lodge dining.

I hope it is clear that all these initiatives are united by one recurring theme – a relentless focus on providing the Strong Foundations to deliver our Strategy. Especially at a time when disposable incomes are being remorselessly squeezed, we must rigorously prioritise our time and resources to make sure we have the right balance between serving our existing members and trying to attract new members. Both are important, but we need to recognise that our existing members’ experience and sense of value for money needs to be improved, or we risk them drifting away. Similarly, if new members’ expectations are not met then we will continue to lose significant numbers in their early years after Initiation.

We clearly need to invest in Freemasons’ Hall and to keep it as splendid as it is today, finding ways in which members up and down the country can experience its splendour and history. We likewise need to think about how we can invest to support members’ experience in local halls and meeting places, which I realise may be easier to say than to deliver, but it is nonetheless an area we need to consider as part of the whole drive to improve our members’ experience.

There will inevitably be a number of other high priority areas that pass the test of supporting the Strategy and we can describe and plan for those as we need to. I will simply conclude by saying we will keep our activities focused and our priorities clear as we seek singlemindedly to ensure that UGLE has the Strong Foundations from which our organisation will again begin to grow and thrive.

Supporting a Thriving Membership: Rolling out the Members’ Pathway 2.0

The Members’ Pathway 2.0 was launched in 2022. Here, we detail how our Provincial leaders are rolling it out at a local level.

Every journey starts with the fi rst step

One of the first instructions we receive during the ceremony of Initiation is to “step off with your left foot”. And so begins our Masonic journey.

Traditionally (or should I say habitually), our journey from that point can vary immensely. We progress through the first three degrees, take up appointments as Lodge Officers, eventually becoming Master of the Lodge. Many join the Royal Arch and, perhaps in due course, move on to the other Orders where they enjoy the varied ritual and conviviality associated with that particular journey.

However, the pressures of the ever-changing pace in modern-day life, especially over the past 25 years, have resulted in all too many becoming disillusioned; their progress and interest wane and they are lost to Freemasonry.

As an organisation, we still lose approximately a fifth of our Initiates

NEIL CONNOLLY ProvGM Hertfordshire

ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023 Members’ Pathway

ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023

Members’ Pathway

within three years of their Initiation. The Members’ Pathway seeks to provide a structure that enables Lodges to review themselves in terms of planning how they wish to be perceived, how they attract new members –then engage and support them. Then where this has not fully worked out, there’s guidance on how to try and retrieve a member in the initial stages when they are seeking to resign.

In Hertfordshire Freemasonry, we carried out a Province-wide launch of the Members’ Pathway offering guidance and support to Lodges who wished to engage with it.

Needless to say, there was a varied response, ranging from those who have fully embraced the concept to those that decided to “keep things as they are”.

There are three types of Lodges: those that are struggling, those that are striving and thriving, and those that are strong.

For the next year, we have chosen to focus on the 35% of Lodges who have enthusiastically engaged with the Members’ Pathway, in whatever category they fall, and to work with them to embrace the principles it contains.

There is no denying that in a Province of 180 Lodges, the resources required to assist all cannot be met overnight.

However, as the appointment of Lodge Mentors and Membership Officers grows, we have seen the green shoots of the necessary adaptive change begin to flourish, thereby ensuring a strong future for our members and for our organisation.

The launch of the updated Members’ Pathway in September 2021 coincided with the restart of Freemasonry after the COVID lockdown. At first glance, it looked complex and felt like yet another initiative requiring even more from Provinces, Lodges and Chapters. Under the strapline of “Attracting Members, Growing Lodges”, Provinces were asked to develop strategies to deliver the Members’ Pathway. There was a request for Lodges to appoint Lodge Membership Officers, which, when some were struggling to re-engage their membership, started to feel like overload.

However, a deeper dive into the Members’ Pathway and how it can help has led to a change in attitude in Durham.

As units become smaller, we need to ensure every member feels part of not only their Lodge or Chapter but something bigger – their Province and Freemasonry in general. It is vital we explain why the Members’ Pathway is important. It is not just about falling membership – if that was the case, we all would have acted by now. PostCOVID, re-engaging the membership, connecting members to their Lodges, Chapters and communities, and actively demonstrating support from our Provincial Team is how we plan to attract members back to our units. Growing Lodges is not just about increasing numbers. It is about how much enjoyment we get out of our Freemasonry and taking satisfaction from the good we do in our communities. This is something we can all take pleasure from.

For the Province of Durham, the Members’ Pathway is about positive change that will lead to increased involvement and enjoyment of our members, their Lodges and families. We look forward to seeing how we grow.

JOHN THOMPSON ProvGM Durham

Don’t just be a member of the Province. Be part of it!

When I took the reins of the Province, this summer I reflected that during my time as Assistant Provincial Grand Master, I was responsible for the implementation of the Members’ Pathway. This has proved to be very useful as I now map out the Province’s future, with the prime objective of seeing Freemasonry thrive. This

JAMES ROSS ProvGM

West Wales

MARK CONSTANT ProvGM Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire

A Members’ Pathway reflection

requires attracting members and ensuring they are positively engaged with our work and their fellow members, so they enjoy their Freemasonry. As a result, we retain their interest as active members over the long term. Working closely with our Provincial Grand Membership Officer, John Fergusson, our focus in the early days of the original Members’ Pathway in 2018 was not to try and implement the whole individual steps strategy. Following a consultation period across the Province with senior members identifying where good practice was happening, we focused on these areas and individual Lodges

that, in some manner, mirrored the Members’ Pathway. These were presented to the wider membership as best practice, aligned with the new Strategy. We are open to changing and fine-tuning our approach, while signalling the importance of the Members’ Pathway model. Having created a knowledgeable senior team, from the Executive through to our Group Officers, we have demonstrated the importance of the Membership Pathway and built a support structure that can ensure the next phase of the roll out is successful as we start appointing individual Lodge Membership Officers.

Our challenge now is to maintain the focus on membership in our Lodges

The initial Members’ Pathway and the updated version 2.0 have sought to define exactly how to keep our Lodges relevant and healthy. In West Wales, we launched the original to our Lodges in 2019 and the update over the past 12 months.

The first launch included in-person meetings in each of our three counties. They were well attended and lively, with the Membership Team delivering presentations with Q&As. However, not every aspect of the Members’ Pathway was welcomed. Particularly controversial were the

ideas that Lodges might have a social media presence to attract new members and that a small regular interviewing committee might replace trial by every Past Master, which was especially popular in some Lodges.

I appointed Steve Fearn to be our first collared Provincial Membership Officer and asked him to sort out the relaunch. Since then, he has been contacting every Lodge membership team on a fortnightly basis to introduce a different aspect of the Members’ Pathway. Steve quite rightly identified that the

modular nature of the new material lends itself to short, sharp and, most importantly, regular and ongoing communication.

Our challenge now is to maintain the focus on membership. There is complacency in some places and an unwillingness to change in others, but West Wales is certainly heading in the right direction.

ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023 Members’ Pathway

Coherent Organisation: How the Royal Arch is Critical to the Delivery of the Strategy

Akey area of the Strategy is to reinforce the connection between the Royal Arch and the Craft as a means of supporting member engagement and to enhance the experience of all our members in their Masonic activity. The English Constitution is unique amongst Grand Lodges in the fact that the Royal Arch is explicitly highlighted as the completion of “pure Antient Masonry”. No Freemason’s journey within our Constitution is therefore complete until he has become a Companion in the Royal Arch. It is only for historical reasons that the Royal Arch is governed by Supreme Grand Chapter when in reality both UGLE and SGC function in many areas as one organisation with a shared leadership and common values.

Participation in the Royal Arch provides a new dimension to our members’ experience, be that through the splendour of the Exaltation ceremony itself, making new friendships (as Chapters draw from multiple Craft Lodges), or a better understanding of what it means to be a Freemason. Active participation in a Royal Arch Chapter also provides our members with an opportunity to become more involved in the running of a unit and to contribute to our organisation in a more hands-on way.

However, it is undeniable that there is a disconnect for many of our members when they become Master Masons but then do not go on to complete their journey in the Royal Arch and so miss out on the full experience of what Freemasonry has to offer. A key focus of the combined strategy is, therefore, to empower our members to discover more about the Royal Arch, to understand its importance and

relevance to the Masonic journey that is started in the three Craft degrees and to make it easier for them to join and actively participate.

To facilitate this, a Royal Arch Membership and Communications Working Party has been established. It consists of Companions from across the country and provides support to the Committee of General Purposes on all matters relating to membership and communications. The group is currently working on three major projects:

The creation of “Archway” – the Royal Arch equivalent of the Members’ Pathway in the Craft. Improving the overall narrative around why the Royal Arch enhances our understanding and enjoyment of Craft Freemasonry. Developing a general communications strategy for the Royal Arch across the many available channels.

It has been a busy start to the Working Party’s programme, commencing with several major surveys of our members not

The English Constitution is unique amongst Grand Lodges in the fact that the Royal Arch is explicitly highlighted as the completion of ‘pure Antient Masonry’

ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023 The Coherent Organisation

currently in the Royal Arch, and a focus on the views of both newly made Master Masons as well as newly Exalted Companions. Progress has been steady, as the group has been taking an evidenceled and consultative approach.

As in the Craft, whilst attracting new members into the Royal Arch is essential, motivating them to stay is no less critical to our success. It is an established fact that those who progress into the Royal Arch are far more likely to remain engaged with Freemasonry in general than those who limit their experience of what it has to offer. For this purpose, Archway will deliver examples of good practice, case studies and innovative approaches that

Chapters can use to achieve their goals. The resources it provides will assist Chapters to shape and plan their future, grow their membership, involve their members more in what they do, and make sure their members enjoy themselves in the process. There are numerous examples of thriving Royal Arch Chapters that have already adopted such measures and where Master Masons are queuing up to join Chapters that are perceived as exciting and enjoyable yet serious about what they do.

In the coming months, members will be introduced to the start of a wider communications strategy that explains why the messages within the Royal Arch

are still relevant in the 21st century and places these more clearly within the context of the Craft. It will build on the strong historic and symbolic connections between the two and reinforce themes that will be familiar to all. This will form the cornerstone of the wider roll out of Archway later this year, and will be the critical next step in our plans for the Royal Arch.

The progress made in the past year is just the start of a new period of greater integration of the Royal Arch with UGLE within English Freemasonry under the theme of “One Journey, One Organisation”. Understanding the views of Craft Masons as well as Royal Arch Companions will arm us with the necessary information with which to grow the Order and help support the wider Strategy. To adapt the simple mantra set out by the Pro First Grand Principal: for the Royal Arch to be successful, the Craft must be, and for the Craft to thrive, so must the Royal Arch.

As in the Craft, whilst attracting new members into the Royal Arch is essential, motivating them to stay is no less critical to our success

Community Engagement

Bro James Long, President of the Masonic Charitable Foundation and member of the Board of General Purposes, looks at the critical role our charitable efforts play in presenting Freemasonry as a force for good in society.

Adual theme running through this Annual Report is that UGLE’s new Strategy has not suddenly been sprung upon an unsuspecting membership and that it is not revolutionary: it builds upon and is a natural outcome of the work of many Working Parties and other groups over recent years and it proposes an acceleration in, not a change in direction for, many of the initiatives and activities already underway. The seamless transfer of leadership to the new Pro Grand Master has afforded a timely opportunity to inject more pace into the development of our organisation: the Strategy includes a review of our organisational coherence, but at the same time it challenges our members, individually and at every level, to play their part in demonstrating to the outside world “the happy and beneficial effects of our ancient institution”.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the sphere of our charitable activities, given their own visual representation in the Strategy in the pillar named “Engaged in our Communities”. This is anything but a new call to practise charity – an instinct so rightly denominated the “distinguishing characteristic” of any Freemason. It is instead a call, at the national level, to ensure that we continue to deploy our charitable funding in a coordinated and impactful way, and, at the local and Provincial level, to ensure that we better communicate the full breadth and depth of our contributions, both in monies donated and volunteer hours given.

Charity, as we know, is best practised quietly and without vaunting itself, but the Strategy calls upon us to create an organisation that people aspire to join, and that must mean being more explicit in

documenting and communicating what we do in our own communities and in supporting national charitable causes and international humanitarian appeals.

If I might start with the first of these two elements, our local activities, it constantly strikes me, both by reading the dozens of reports in every edition of FMT and in visiting Provinces “in Festival” (that is, currently engaged in fund raising for the MCF), to what extent local Lodges and individual members throughout the land lay great store by supporting causes within their local communities. They do not simply lay off their charitable activities to their central charities but manage enthusiastically to support the MCF whilst continuing to care for those in need closer to home.

UGLE conducted an exercise in 2020 designed to capture the whole spectrum of our members’ charitable activities, and published the statistic that, apart from contributing to the £42 million in Masonic charitable giving in the year, they had also given some 18.5 million hours in voluntary social and civic actions. We shall continue to measure our impact in voluntary work, alongside the more visible central grants awarded, for together they begin to convey the powerful force for social good that we represent.

Our members also continue to make extensive use of the MCF’s

Relief Chest Scheme, which gives them a practical tool to enable them to support their local communities. In aggregate, Lodges donate some £1.2 million per month from their own central Scheme account to charity. The challenge on Community Engagement at Lodge level, therefore, is being met to a degree of which we may all be proud.

Another layer of such engagement is being practised by Metropolitan Grand Lodge and our many Provincial and District Grand Lodges. I was recently amazed and impressed to hear how one Province, Devonshire, which was celebrating the conclusion of its own five-year Festival in support of the MCF, had nonetheless continued to make meaningful contributions to local charities and causes up and down the county. Again, community involvement sat comfortably alongside central fundraising, so that Devonshire Masons can feel fully part of local and national grant making.

At the recent Annual Investiture Meeting of Metropolitan Grand Lodge in London, the Metropolitan Grand Master, Bro Sir Michael Snyder, announced a new fundraising appeal on behalf of London Air Ambulance. As some of the older helicopters – also generously supported by London Freemasons – come to the end of their busy lives, it is now proposed to raise and donate substantial new monies to

replace them. This is a perfect example, not only of how much good our members do, and how they are so self-evidently proud to be part of, and to support, worthy local causes, but also of how such an appeal can galvanise and enthuse members, giving them a target to challenge and inspire them. As said earlier, this example of Community Engagement is not a new development, but I believe that it will be a resounding success and will be viewed in London as tangible evidence of their contribution to making Freemasonry a “Thriving Organisation”, one in which members’ own palpable pride becomes, itself, an element of attraction.

The second element of the Community Engagement pillar consists of the charitable work undertaken by our central Charities. Although it is managed centrally, it is very much informed by local input and is supported by, and thus dependent on, local fundraising. The MCF – which we increasingly refer to as “The Freemasons’ Charity” –plays the largest part in this area of activity. It cannot be repeated often enough that The Freemasons’ Charity

Th is is anything but a new call to practise charity – an instinct so rightly denominated the ‘distinguishing characteristic’ of any Freemason

is funded exclusively by the Freemasons of UGLE. If I have one overriding goal as its President, it is to ensure that our activities are entirely responsive to and supportive of UGLE – and are seen to be such.

We have now developed our own strategy, which we shall be presenting to UGLE in the coming weeks, whose explicit aim is to achieve such a heightened measure of alignment, supporting the new UGLE Strategy. It builds upon the high level of partnership that was created during the UGLE Tercentenary year in 2017 and further forged during the pandemic. We have an advisory group within the RCG structure, so that we obtain feedback and, indeed, guidance, from our Provinces as to how best we can deploy our substantial funds to support them and to make the best “impact” – optimal and measurable beneficial outcomes from money spent.

The Freemasons’ Charity had a busy and productive year and, since January 2022, 681 grants have been made to charities supporting people in communities across all Provinces. As well as this core support, several

ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023 Community Engagement

new important partnerships and initiatives were established.

Our partnership working model began in earnest in 2017 when Provinces were asked to nominate charities to receive grants from a special £3 million central fund commemorating UGLE’s Tercentenary. Since then, Provinces and UGLE, latterly through the RCGs, have become increasingly involved in determining which local charities receive central funding.

Through these partnerships, Freemasons are given the opportunity to direct MCF support to local level community charities within a national level strategic framework. This approach was particularly beneficial during the pandemic, when Freemasons were able to obtain centrally funded grants for local projects which would otherwise probably not have been able to attract funding. Over the duration of the pandemic, The Freemasons’ Charity awarded a total of 608 grants to such projects, totalling £4.6 million; over half of the funds comprised new donations made by Freemasons into a dedicated COVID-19 Community Fund, in addition to their regular charitable giving.

In 2022, a major partnership was established between the MCF and the Cranfield Trust to provide essential training and expert help to 60 small charities across England and Wales. The two-year partnership, funded with a £228,000 grant from Freemasonry, will offer consultancy and leadership development support in areas such as business planning, HR procedures and accountancy. At least one charity nominated by every Masonic Province in England and Wales will receive intensive support, with additional learning events and activities available to thousands of other charities.

Freemasons have long been significant supporters of the hospice movement. We are now playing an important part in supporting local hospices by working directly with Hospice UK to develop a bursary scheme to improve the quality of care provided to patients, carers, and families. With up to £300,000 committed each year, the new scheme is supporting the professional development of individual hospice workers in areas such as palliative or dementia care. This is in addition to the £300,000 available each year to support the launch of innovative new projects at local hospices.

A further £300,000 grant is funding bespoke training for adults to supervise young people with special needs in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE). This initiative aims to train 240 staff by 2024, enabling over 30,000 young people with disabilities and special educational needs to participate. The life-changing impact of the DofE Award will provide opportunities for young people who are often excluded from adventurous activities due to a lack of accessibility and resources.

By providing grants for staff training in both hospice care and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, The Freemasons’ Charity is helping to build long term capacity for these vital charities, ultimately enhancing the quality of care for patients and creating life changing opportunities for young people with special educational needs.

In addition to these new partnerships, the MCF marked the successful conclusion of a four-year project with Age UK, in which we granted £1.2 million to fund the “Later Life Goals” programme. This initiative was highly successful, providing community-based advice

and services to over 10,000 older people and identifying over £21 million of unclaimed state benefits, ultimately reducing loneliness in later life and otherwise improving the quality of life for older people.

Through its national charities Freemasonry has regularly shown great compassion and generosity towards those affected by natural and humanitarian disasters across the globe. Most recently, through the Ukraine Crisis Appeal that was established by the MCF and UGLE, over £1 million was raised and donated by Freemasons to support Ukrainian people. Half of the funds were given to aid agencies working on the ground in Ukraine and across Eastern Europe. The other half was awarded through local community foundations to support Ukrainians who have temporarily relocated to the UK, with funding directed to smaller, local charities providing practical support to those who had to leave their homes in the aftermath of the invasion. The Freemasons’ Charity was also

quick to respond to the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria by awarding significant grants to several humanitarian agencies working in the region.

Before leaving our review of the many examples of Freemasons’ positive contribution to society, we should note that the Strategy also contains a particular challenge in this area, namely “to identify new areas for community engagement”.

As we showed during the pandemic, this engagement can mean much more than simply making charitable donations: our members then mobilised other resources, giving their time, using our buildings, physically “engaging” in a visible and direct way: we must now all think creatively about how we might further expand the scope of our work in these post-pandemic times.

The collective value of the wide-ranging activity undertaken by The Freemasons’ Charity is substantial. In fact, as we approach our seventh anniversary, the total amount we have awarded in charitable grants stands at around £120 million – or almost £50,000 per day. This total includes support for over 4,000 charities across England and Wales.

In The Freemasons’ Charity’s new strategy, an increasing priority for us will be on monitoring, evaluating and reporting the impact we are making on society. In doing so, we can ensure that Freemasonry – through its charitable work –genuinely makes, and is seen to make, a positive difference to people who most need our help in all local communities.

The multi-layered approach in voluntary work and charitable contributions within UGLE and The Freemasons’ Charity – with local, Provincial and central initiatives aligned for maximum beneficial impact – has already proved to be a powerful and positive formula for harnessing our members’ willingness to serve and to help those in need. It will now be further built upon, so that the Community Engagement pillar –or challenge – will be met and our combined efforts will be a source of pride internally and will be increasingly noticed and appreciated in the wider world.

The Freemasons’ Charity had a busy and productive year and, since January 2022, 681 grants have been made to charities supporting people in communities across all Provinces

Financial Highlights

2022 was the first year since 2019 when the operations of UGLE were not restricted in some way by the Coronavirus pandemic. However, the effect of the pandemic continues to cast a long shadow over our operations, and its effects can still be seen in the 2022 accounts. Our income recovered somewhat, although in the face of continuing headwinds; we are increasing our efforts to maximise income from other sources to offset these. Meanwhile costs increased as activities which had been in abeyance during the pandemic resumed, and all costs were affected by rising inflation. These pressures were offset by actions to bear down on cost, plus management of the timing of significant project expenditure.

INCOME

Our total income rose by 11% compared to 2021, and has now returned to its pre-pandemic level. Income from annual dues was £7.4 million, £0.6 million below the 2021 level. Membership has fallen by 9% since 2019, as our normal rate of attrition was not offset by Initiations and joiners during the lockdowns. The good news is that the rate of Initiations has now recovered. With our new Strategy in place, we hope that our membership will begin to grow over the next few years. Investment income grew by 22% to £2.3 million, driven by a recovery in income from our investment properties – although a number of vacancies still remain. Our trading income more than doubled to £1.7 million as activity in the shop, café and bar at Freemasons’ Hall increased.

COSTS

Trading cost of sales increased by 74% to £1.0 million (lower than the rate of increase of trading income); and utility costs increased by 34% as the holiday in rates payments during the pandemic came to an end. The latter increase also affected the recharges of costs to the other occupants of Freemasons’ Hall. Energy cost increases were muted

as we benefited from fi xed price contracts for the majority of 2022, so the full impact of energy price rises will not be seen until next year. Travel costs increased significantly as activity resumed following the lockdowns. Offsetting these increases, project costs reduced to £0.6 million (2021 – £1.0 million) as a number of projects we had undertaken during the lockdowns were concluded, and the timing of new projects was managed to protect our cash flow. Priority was given to those projects with greatest benefit to the membership, such as Hermes. Meanwhile, given the deficits experienced during the pandemic years, we were compelled to reduce our funding of the Museum to £0.6 million (2021 – £1.0 million).

Overall, our operating income was £0.1 million, an improvement on last year’s deficit of £0.2 million.

OTHER ITEMS

Our financial investments are revalued to market value every year. In 2022 this resulted in a fall of £0.8 million (6.6%), in line with market conditions. This was slightly offset by a rise of £0.2 million (0.3%) in the valuation of our investment properties. The continued rise in bond yields had a favourable impact on the actuarial valuation of our defined benefit pension scheme, which recorded an actuarial surplus for the first time for many years.

Our balance sheet remains strong, with net assets at £68.4 million. We are, however, highly conscious both of the deficits which arose during the pandemic years, and of the challenges lying ahead as we position the organisation to deliver the service required to support our new Strategy.

We remain committed to the principle that our ongoing operations should be funded from membership income and projects from investment income, and to ensure we continue to provide good value for our members’ dues.

DAVID BELL Grand Treasurer

Our full audited accounts can be viewed at ugle.org.uk/ugle-accounts-2022

ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023 Glossary

Glossary

Brethren/Brother/Bro

A Freemason becomes known as a Brother on joining, e.g. “Brother Smith”, abbreviated to “Bro Smith” when written.

Chapters

Units in the Royal Arch, Chapters are presided over jointly by three Principals, and are organised as a Metropolitan area or in Provinces (roughly based on the old county boundaries), each with a local Grand Superintendent in charge.

District Grand Lodge

The equivalent of a Provincial Grand Lodge, but in one of UGLE’s overseas Districts, headed by a District Grand Master (DistGM).

Exaltation

The ceremony at which a Master Mason is made a member of the Royal Arch.

FMH/Freemasons’ Hall

The headquarters of the United Grand Lodge of England – a Grade II* listed art deco building in Covent Garden, London.

Grand Lodge/United Grand Lodge of England/UGLE

The United Grand Lodge of England (“Grand Lodge” or “UGLE”) is the governing body for Freemasons in England, Wales, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and a number of Districts and Groups overseas.

The Grand Lodge is a representative body of all private Lodges and Grand

Officers and Past Grand Officers, with The Grand Master at its head. The Grand Lodge meets four times a year in Quarterly Communications to enact laws and regulations and to vote on the administrative agenda required to run the organisation.

Grand Master

The most senior Freemason in the constitution, elected annually by Grand Lodge. The Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England is HRH The Duke of Kent.

Grand Officers Officers in Grand Lodge are called “Grand”, e.g. The Grand Master, the Grand Treasurer. After retiring from active positions they are called “Past” Grand Treasurer etc.

Initiation

The ceremony at which a candidate (“Initiate”) is made a Freemason.

Installation

The ceremony at which a Freemason is made the Master of his Lodge.

Master Mason

A Freemason who has been through all three basic ceremonies of Freemasonry.

Masonic Charitable Foundation/MCF

The Freemasons’ Charity, UGLE’s primary charitable grant giving body.

Metropolitan Grand Lodge

The administrative body overseeing London Lodges. It is headed by the Metropolitan Grand Master.

Museum

The Museum of Freemasonry, located at FMH and containing UGLE’s archives and collection of artefacts.

Lodge

The basic unit in which Freemasons meet. To be regular it must have a Warrant or Charter from a Grand Lodge. It is sometimes referred to as a Private Lodge.

Prestonian Lecture

An official annual lecture sponsored by UGLE and delivered in its Lodges.

Pro Grand Master

If The Grand Master is a member of the Royal Family, he is entitled to appoint a Pro Grand Master to stand in for him on most occasions.

Provincial Grand Lodge

The administrative body overseeing Lodges in a particular county or area. It is headed by a Provincial Grand Master (ProvGM).

Regional Communications Group

RCGs (Regional Communication Groups) are groups of Provinces that have been divided into ten geographical clusters to provide a means for Provincial Rulers to meet regularly and share ideas and good practice.

Supreme Grand Chapter

The Supreme Grand Chapter of England is the governing body of Royal Arch Masons in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Overseas, there are 32 Districts and four Groups.

ugle.org.uk

United Grand Lodge of England, Freemasons’ Hall, Great Queen Street, London WC2B 5AZ

United Grand Lodge of England @UGLE_GrandLodge unitedgrandlodgeofengland