Whatever the collection noun for a gathering of Lodge Secretaries should be, wasn’t decided on Saturday 15 March 2024; at the inaugural Secretaries Conference for Berkshire.
Organised by the Provincial Grand Secretary Richard Olliver and his Deputy Les Matthews; it was opened by the Provincial Grand Master Anthony Howlett-Bolton OBE. A Sindlesham Court breakfast was then served to the 60+ delegates and the event got underway. Those attending were introduced to the Provincial Office team Richard, Les, Julie & the newest member of the team David.
It was explained by Richard that at Lodge-level is where change takes place. Some of these are being spoken of by the new Pro Grand Master. We’re already seeing some of these changes with the Membership Challenge needing good communications at Lodge level to be effective and understood by our members. There was lots of information shared including, but not limited to
- An update on Hermes tips and tricks from Laurence Fretwell and Les
- Lodge bylaws, with a need to have every Lodge re-submit theirs entered onto the ‘Model Bylaws’ template to the Provincial Office by the end of April 2024 please
- An update on Care Teams at Provincial and Lodge level, from Iain Marnock
- An explanation of the abbreviations used to denote Provincial and Grand Rank
- Project 2023 (that’s already underway) to replace Hermes and Adelphi’s current databases, which will be out of date by 2025
- A sneak preview of what to expect from the launch of the new Hermes member management system, which will be accessible by mobile or computer for users
- Lastly a very quick round up of Berkshires new meeting and summons finder that will go live on 18 March 2024 from Neill Rhodes
To access the conference presentations and obtain further information on all of these topics; Secretary’s Downloads | Berkshire Freemasons (berkspgl.org.uk) or go to the Provincial website, login in and head for the Teams section. Inside the Secretary area you will find all these stored there for you to read. If you have problems logging in there is a lost password and help section area for members.
