HAPPY NEW YEAR !
Dear Companions All
Welcome to 2024 and another year of Royal Arch masonry, with all of the companionship that comes with it. I am very much looking forward to catching up with you all over the next 12 months.
I am positive that in this coming year we will build on the success of 2023 and that the Royal Arch will continue to flourish in line with the United Grand Lodge Strategy for Freemasonry 2022 and beyond. The reason that I am so positive about this is that I know that we are all companions together – a team.
As a team, we all want to make sure that those friends that we haven’t seen for a while are keeping well and that they are looking to return to our Chapters in 2024.
As a team, we want to work together to make all of our meetings enjoyable, well planned and involving as many people as possible. We all want to share the Royal Arch experience with those brethren who have not yet been exalted;
One Journey – One Organisation – One Team.
We have some brilliant tools available to use and to help us to encourage all Master Masons to aspire to join the Royal Arch but this must be at a time that is right for them.
The newest, and in my view the most exciting tool in our toolkit is Archway, which takes you through a step by step explanation of the Royal Arch journey, with so much more. Information too. I encourage you to click on this link to see how much it can help you and you will hear more from me on this in the coming year.
Archway – Provincial Grand Chapter of Devonshire (devonshirehra.org.uk)
Archway sits well alongside our existing materials: The new ‘Discover More’ booklet is a great Introduction to the Royal Arch.
Discover More! – Provincial Grand Chapter of Devonshire (devonshirehra.org.uk) It is produced by UGLE/SGC and is essential reading for anyone with an interest in Royal Arch Masonry.
Equally informative is the online virtual learning environment, Solomon and also the webcasts and podcasts Solomon Live and CraftCast. All three of these formats provide superb insights into all aspects of Freemasonry.
Naturally we are also keeping our own Devonshire Strategy up to date and this can be found on our website, along with lots of other useful information.
Currently we have 1680 Companions across 55 Chapters. As a percentage this is 39% of our Devonshire Brethren who are also Royal Arch Companions.
It would be wonderful if each of our Chapters exalted two new Companion this year. This is a realistic target, and I am sure that some will exalt more, so I believe that this is very achievable with us all working together as a team.
With your help Companions, I am very confident that together we can help all of our Chapters to grow and that together we can all help the Royal Arch in Devonshire to continue to go from strength to strength forging a thriving future.
I wish you all a happy, healthy and positive New Year and I look forward to seeing you soon.
Yours sincerely and fraternally
Chris Roach
Most Excellent Grand Superintendent