PGM's Focus - June 2008

At the beginning of March we announced the great advances that we had made in both recruitment and retention during 2007. That success has continued in the first five months of 2008 and I thought it would be useful to focus on two areas that are assisting us to drive that success.

2010 RMTG Festival appeal

At the end of May we were half way through our appeal, and we have now passed the £1.5 million milestone. Thanks to all those who have put so much effort into the success of our appeal to date.

Now it may surprise you to know that I feel the appeal is assisting our retention rates in three key areas:

• It can be said that the appeal has given Lodge members a real collective focus and it is great to see the enthusiasm generated in the majority of our Lodges.
• Lodges are organising far more social fundraising events as a direct result of the appeal. In our 2005 survey the Ladies clearly indicated that they were seeking social activity and this festival has certainly provided just that.
• There are of course a minority of Lodges and their members that for whatever reason are either just not trying or succeeding in helping us achieve our appeal objective. All I can say is they do not realise the opportunities that they are missing.

Freemasonry in the Community

There is no doubt in my mind that a major contributor to the vast increase in the number of Initiates and Joining members is our exciting and successful Freemasonry in the Community Programme. Below I comment on some of our successes:

• Since 1991 the Buckinghamshire Masonic Centenary Fund has been supporting local non-Masonic Charity at the rate of £30,000 per year. This now includes donations to each of our ‘local Mayors Charities’ as well as supporting Bucks community charities.
• In addition our Lodges directly contribute circa £125,000 per year to local charities via ‘Masters Lists’. Clearly members get great satisfaction in knowing the assistance that they are giving, but we do need to identify ways of better communicating the assistance we give if our local communities are to know of the good we achieve.
• Thee years ago we introduced Fly fishing for special needs children. The work done by our amazing volunteers and their partners is truly unbelievable and hundreds of young people have taken part in our events. The following quote is from the Deputy Head of a large secondary school whose special needs unit attended a fishing day with the team in May. ”One of our boys arrived at my office on Friday with a Tesco’s bag to show me his catch- he said it was the best day ever, delight was written all over his face! Later one of our TA’s, Karen, came down to tell me that the day had been absolutely superb. Karen said she had never known the children so happy, communicative and engaged. Thanks so much for organizing this for us; I am so glad so many people got so much out of it. I can’t wait to see the photos”.
• This year we have a number of new initiatives. In June there is a very special event taking place at Bletchley Centre where ‘young carers’ are being entertained for an evening. Believe it or not there are hundreds of ‘young carers’ in our Province, these are young people who are still at school but have to spend all their spare time looking after a parent, or grandparent. We can also look forward to the ‘Blood donor’ sessions at the Slough Centre, another important event in our community calendar. Please get your name down to give blood. In June the Marlow Centre team are taking a group of special needs children, all under ten years of age, on Thomas the Tank Engine’ at Quainton. Another very special event in our calendar.
• Of course I must draw attention to our Town, County and Village show team. With the magnificent marquee the team have worked wonders in the public arena. A vast number of people visit the Freemasonry in the Community Marquee and find it fascinating to learn about the many outstanding aspects of the craft. Indeed perhaps the most interesting public observation is ‘why have you not shared your success previously’. A bye product of taking the Craft to the community has been the unexpected numbers that have attended our Marquee and been so impressed that they have been initiated into Freemasonry.

Our Freemasonry in the community project is not going unnoticed, the media, press radio and television have taken a keen interest in many of our projects and reported on them in a most positive manner. Through our many programs our local communities are becoming much more aware of the ‘value’ that Freemasonry brings to the community at large.

In all instances the barriers are beginning to come down and not before time. Our success has also brought an unexpected bye product in the numbers that have been so impressed with what we stand for that they have been initiated into Freemasonry.

Perhaps the most important lesson being learned is to value ourselves and the benefits that we have brought to society throughout the ages. There is no doubt that all our teams, which add up to hundreds of Masons and their partners, have benefited from the Freemasonry in the Community program themselves. They know and feel the value of what is being achieved, they can and do talk freely to non Masons about the Craft and that in itself is raising awareness within our communities.

With such success no wonder our numbers are increasing and we are retaining members, the future is both bright and exciting.

Ray Reed