Last Updated on Wednesday, 02 September 2009 13:13 Tuesday, 01 September 2009 17:15

Almoner's Reflections

September 2009

YOUR LOCAL SUPPORT

I have just been writing about a small body of Masons with a curious job-title.  I have written about them for the Provincial Grand Lodge Programme in October and they get what I hope is a good billing in the next edition of the Provincial Directory.  They are the six Assistants to the Provincial Grand Almoner.  At this point I had better name them and list where they mainly operate:

• Phil Blacklaw, North of the Province
• Ian Brown, Beaconsfield and Marlow
• Peter Cranmer, Centre of the Province
• Ernie Harvey, Slough
• Mike Pavier, Slough
• Derek Watts, Beaconsfield and Marlow

You can find their contact details in the Provincial Directory. 

What do they do?  They help me with all aspects of my work as Provincial Almoner and deputise for me when necessary.  They are a constant source of advice and experience. 

Each Assistant is a reference and support for around twenty Lodge Almoners.  The distribution of our 120+ lodges between the various Centres means that this system works out quite neatly.  The first, perhaps most important, part of this is to know when a Lodge changes its Almoner and to meet the new Almoner designate.  We don’t always know of these changes and Ernie Harvey and Mike Pavier are currently working out ways to make this better.  The new Almoner will need to be given a copy of the latest Lodge Almoners’ Handbook and, in an hour or two, informally inducted into the nature of the work he has undertaken.  Then, his local Assistant can be a continuing source of help, advice, encouragement and knowledge whenever called upon.  This initial induction is best done one-to-one or in a small group as and when the needs arise, and will be in someone’s sitting room or, perhaps, a quiet corner of a local pub.

A Lodge Almoner can sometimes identify a case that he feels might qualify for the aid of one of our four big national Masonic Charities.  But he’s not sure.  Here is the opportunity for a phone call to his friendly local Assistant to go over some of the big questions and to clarify applications procedures before the formal stage is reached.

As well as informal induction training, the Province organises evening training seminars with senior staff from the National Masonic Charities at both Beaconsfield and Bletchley.  Each Lodge Almoner is invited by letter and is asked to reply to his local Assistant.  This is a means of keeping the link alive and can sometimes alert us to a missing or disillusioned Almoner.  We don’t realistically expect 100% attendance at the seminars but we do seek to have contact with everyone at this time, one way or another.  Attendance, incidentally, is very good and, last June, Lodge Almoners travelled from far-flung Salisbury and Lincolnshire to hear Roger Freeman, Grants Manager of the Grand Charity.  Seventy-five were there in all.

We are, of course, a source of help, advice, and encouragement, and in no sense are we ‘line-managers’ or ‘controllers’.  We simply say that, although the office of Lodge Almoner is deeply rewarding, it can bring confusion, bafflement and frustration.  And we can help with those things, not least because we have all experienced them.

A number of the Masons, Masonic widows and dependants we assist in Bucks have moved in from other Provinces.  They have no link with a Buckinghamshire lodge.  We are asked by their ‘native’ Province to visit, assist and, from time-to-time, assess them for financial support.  This is a role for the Assistant who lives nearest and he is invariably a great source of comfort.  The Masonic link of friendship is an important reassurance when settling into a new home in a strange part of the country.

Each Assistant brings his own personality and style to his role and each has a particular strength and interest.  To take just two examples, Phil Blacklaw manages a highly successful loan scheme for electric scooters, wheel chairs and other mobility aids and Peter Cranmer takes a pastoral interest in Prebendal Close.  Although the seven of us are widely spread around the Province, we have an in-depth daytime meeting twice a year to share ideas and raise questions.  This combines with a meeting of the Bucks Masonic Benevolent Fund Committee, of which we are all members.

The increase in life expectancy, poor returns from pension and investment funds, the recession, bankruptcy, unemployment and shorter-time working and the growth in family breakdowns are all making the Lodge Almoner’s work evermore demanding and complicated.  The support you can derive from your local friend and mentor can make all the difference to meeting these challenges in the way to which we, as Masons, have all pledged.

Peter Carey
Provincial Grand Almoner