The annual meeting of the Knights Templar in the Province of Surrey was held in the morning of Saturday 13th July 2013 at the Croydon and District Masonic Hall.

Processions of the Provincial Prelate and Almoner, preceded by the Provincial Cross, followed by a delegation of Knights from the Order of the Knights of Malta, all the specially invited guests of the Province, entered the Temple under an Arch of Steel formed by the Bodyguard, followed by the Procession of the Provincial Prior with the Officers of Provincial Priory of Surrey. A Chapter of the Provincial Priory of Surrey was opened by the Provincial Prior, R.E.Kt. Michael Banbury at 11am.

The first, sad, duty of the meeting was to remember those members of the Order who had died during the preceding twelve months. A requiem was conducted by the Provincial Prelate, V.E.Kt the Rev. David Allonby in memory of V.E.Kt. The Earl of Shannon, for so many years the Provincial Grand Master of Craft Masonry in Surrey, and E.Kts. Bill Barclay, Reg Smith, John Birchall and David Rea.

The Provincial Prior then welcomed guests from the Provinces of Sussex, Derbyshire, Middlesex, N. & E. Yorkshire, Oxon. Berks. & Bucks., Kent, London, Hants. & IOW, Essex together with his predecessor as Provincial Prior, R.E.Kt. Bryan Page, KCT, and representatives of other Masonic Orders in Surrey.

Rolls of the current Provincial Officers and of the members of the individual Preceptories, whose Banners were paraded around the Temple, were called, proving an excellent attendance from both the Provincial Officers and the members of each Preceptory.
Moving on to what might be called the business part of the meeting, the minutes of last year’s meeting were approved, as were the accounts for the preceding year. The Provincial Treasurer, E.Kt. Graham Best, was re-elected. E.Kts Bonter and Kerswell were elected as account examiners and E.Kts. Williams and Hosie-Kingham were elected to serve on the Provincial committee. The following donations were proposed and approved:

The Provincial Prior then invested the Officers of Provincial Priory for the coming year, a list f which can be found elsewhere on this site, and welcomed those Knights who had joined the Order during the preceding year.

The Provincial Prior then addressed the meeting:

"Brother Knights, 2012/13 has not been a bad year for Surrey KT. It also hasn’t been a good one, or has it? We have maintained approximately the same membership that we have had for the past 10 years and in a period when our main sources of supply, Craft and Chapter would be delighted to be able to make the same claim, we have held our own. But this in itself is a worrying statement. With the intake of members, initially into Craft and to a lesser extent into Chapter falling, inevitably we could be facing the same problem in years to come. At the moment we have 15 approved candidates waiting to be Installed but it may not always be so. It is therefore very important that we support our Lodges and Chapters in the same way as we do our Preceptories. Always be on the lookout for suitable candidates and attend your meetings. I find it very sad that I am so often asked, ‘Do I have to join Chapter before I can become a Knight Templar?’ Chapter is a wonderful Degree with some lovely ritual and, as far as performing it is concerned, it doesn’t get much better than the work of the Principal Sojourner. So Brother Knights, not just in KT but in Craft and Chapter, attend your meetings, always be on the lookout for possible new members and above all, enjoy all the Orders you belong to.

So, what have we done during the past year? Not a lot you may say. Well that’s not quite true. The Preceptory of St John celebrated 50 years of existence following its consecration on 16th July 1962 and we marked this with a full team official visit in October. We had another full team visit to Stephen Langton for their Christmas meeting with carols and a cabaret. We had the Biennial Provincial Church Service at the lovely little church of St. Mary’s in Thorpe. A couple of weeks before the annual meeting last year there was the Provincial BBQ. Although the weather wasn’t that great, we didn’t get the rain we had in the previous year and I think and certainly hope we all enjoyed ourselves. The event raised around £750 for the Eye Hospital.
What about the coming year? Full Team Official Visits this year will be to Nutfield Preceptory, at Nutfield, on 9 October and this will include the dedication of their new Preceptory Bible: on 18 January next year there will be a full team visit to St Georges’ Preceptory at Surbiton and on 22 April one to Chertsey Preceptory at Chertsey. It is expected that all active Provincial Officers will do their very best to attend all of these events and any others organised by the Province during the course of the year. You will appreciate the full implication of that remark in a minute or two.

2014 is also the next year for our Biennial Church Service, this time in the east of the Province at All Saints’ Church in Banstead. Our annual meeting will be on Saturday 12th July and the BBQ will follow on Sunday 20th July.

Overshadowing all of this is the fact that the Province of Surrey was consecrated on 18th February 1864 making 2014 our Sesquicentenary year. Reading, and drastically abridging from David de Ville’s excellent history of the Province, copies of which are still available, Provincial Priories, or Commanderies as they were then called, were first formed in England in 1836, in some instances before Preceptories had actually been formed in them. Indeed the Provincial Priory of Kent was devoid of Encampments (Preceptories) when it was Constituted in 1847 and remained so until 1856 when Kemeys-Tynte Encampment was Consecrated. To cut a long story short and ignoring another very short lived Encampment Consecrated in Kent, Kemeys-Tynte moved via Blackheath in Surrey to Golden Square in London in 1874, leaving Kent without any Encampments. So in 1880 Great Priory decided that Kent was in dire need of assistance and ordered their amalgamation with a Masonically strong Province of Surrey. And so we remained together until, again, Great Priory decided, as recently as 1956, that Surrey had reared the fledgling Kent well and that they were just about strong enough to manage on their own. In fairness to Kent, this is my slant on what went on. I dare say the Provincial Prior of Kent might wish to put a slightly different interpretation on the events. The events and dates are however correct!

So back to our celebration. Regretfully planning for this is still in the early stages but we do intend to have a big Provincial meeting on 18th February here in Croydon to mark the occasion. We also have in mind an outing to a notable place of interest for a celebration lunch. I have just referred to our Provincial history. I have asked David de Ville to update this with a supplement covering the period from the millennium, where the present history ends, up to 2014 and our 150th birthday, thus covering in full our first 150 years. Our Provincial Sub-Prior is heading a small sub-committee and doubtless he will keep me and you informed of these and other plans as details become more certain.

During the past year a couple of members of the Bodyguard have been very busy drawing up plans and actually establishing the Coeur-de-Lion Detachment. They describe themselves as a group of Knights Templar focused on the augmentation and reinforcement of our ritual and improving attendance at meetings. They are also dedicated to researching and learning old rituals and performing them wherever they may be invited to do so. So Brother Knights, although they are more than happy, if they can, to help out at any meeting where there is a shortage of Officers, they want to go further than that in promoting a deeper appreciation of our ritual and how it developed from the early days of Knights Templar Masonry. If your Preceptory needs assistance or indeed if you would be interested in joining the group, they have their own website at Coeur-de-Lion.org.uk or there is a link from the Provincial website.

There can be few Provinces that don’t have a Past Preceptors’ Preceptory. In Surrey it is the Emmaus Preceptory. Its purpose is to further the knowledge of the history, precepts and aims of the Order. Lectures, and sometimes demonstrations, are given by the Eminent Preceptor and other members of the Preceptory and by specially invited guests.

Emmaus meets only twice a year, both times at Surbiton. The fourth Monday in April, which is the Installation meeting, and the third Friday in September. This latter meeting includes the Province’s annual Malta meeting, when the Provincial Officers of the year in that Order are appointed and invested by the Provincial Prior. There is also a full working of the ceremony of Installation of a Knight of Malta for a small number of selected candidates. This ceremony is usually conducted by the Provincial Sub-Prior assisted by the Preceptory Officers and, where required, by the active Provincial Officers. Brother Knights, from the moment that you are Installed into the chair of your Preceptory, you should be thinking about joining Emmaus and not just thinking, joining. It completes and provides the icing on the cake of your Knights Templar experience!

We seem to have done particularly well this year in Surrey as far as Great Priory appointments are concerned. First of all, V.E.Kt. Rev.David Allonby, our Provincial Prelate for so many years, was promoted to the very high office of PGtPrelate: V.E.Kt. Trevor Brodrick was promoted to Past 2nd Great Constable for his many years of service to the Province: for the same reason V.E.Kt. Ted Smith was promoted to PGtReg. First appointments saw our Provincial Treasurer, E.Kt. Graham Best, getting PGtAdeC as also did E.Kt. Garry Lewis who organises our social events. E.Kt. David Thompson, the Registrar of Sacryham, was appointed to PGtWReg as was E.Kt. Tony Harverson but this was for his work at Great Priory. Lastly, but certainly not least, E.Kt. Glyn Harvey was appointed active Deputy Great Organist whilst the Great Priory of France have gone one better and made him Great Organist. I am sure you will join me in saying well done to them all. Without fear of contradiction I can say they have all well and truly earned their preferment.

One last point, before I close, everything we do in Knights Templar Freemasonry is for charitable reasons. Most of the money we raise, certainly as far as the Province is concerned, goes to the Eye Hospital. Our last event this year is the Garden Party and BBQ at our house next Sunday. It’s not too late to book in if you haven’t already done so but please do it as quickly as possible. There will be a booking slip at your dining place. Come and have a lovely, sociable afternoon in the country with an excellent BBQ and cream tea thrown in and do your bit to boost our charitable contributions. It looks as though the weather is going to be fine and warm.

Brother Knights, thank you for listening. I wish you all a very enjoyable summer break and an equally enjoyable Knights Templar year for the 12 months starting in September."

The Provincial Prior then thanked the members of Kyngstun Preceptory who had helped with stewarding the meeting and accepted and offer from Nutfield Preceptory to do the same for next year’s meeting.
To the singing of the Templar’s Hymn, a charity collection was taken in aid of the Jerusalem Eye Hospital which raised a substantial sum.

The Provincial Prior closed the Chapter of Provincial Priory, The National Anthem was sung and the Provincial Prior, accompanied by the active Provincial Officers and the Guests of the Province retired from the meeting under an Arch of Steel formed by the Bodygaurd.

All present then retired to the Bars for liquid refreshment, followed by the dining hall for more substantial sustenance.