2011 – 2012 Antony R. Baker

Was born in Welshpool, Powys in 1953, and educated at Shrewsbury School, Cambridge University, and St. Thomas’ Hospital. After training in Leicester, where he gained an MD, he moved to Bristol where he practises as a consultant vascular and general surgeon.

He was initiated in Powis Lodge, No. 7355 in Welshpool in 1984 and was exalted in Welchpool Chapter (No. 998) in 1986. He was WM of The St. Vincent Lodge No. 1404 in Bristol in 1999, and First Principal of Jerusalem Chapter again in Bristol in 2004. He loves the Bristol Ritual in both the Craft and the Royal Arch. He served as PrGChap in 2005, and as PrSGW in 2008 and is currently Provincial Grand Orator and Mentor in Bristol. He was also honoured with the rank of PAGDC in 2011.

He has also occupied the following Chairs: WM of Goodwin Mark Lodge, No. 1563 (2002); EP of King Richard I Preceptory Knights Templar, No. 341 (2003); MWS of Sympathy & Grace Rose Croix Chapter, No. 947 (2005) and TIM of The Wessex Council of Royal and Select Masters, No. 41 (2006); MPS of Rose and Lily Conclave of Knights of the Red Cross of Constantine, No. 387 (2007); WM of the Installed Mark Masters Lodge, No. 171 (2009); Commander of Dunckerley Royal Ark Mariners Lodge, No. 630 (2009); SR of St. Hugh Conclave Order of the Secret Monitor, No. 115 (2010). He is also a member of: the Allied Masonic Degrees; Knights Templar Priests; the Operatives; and SRIA. In the Royal Order of Scotland, he was Founding PrSGW of the Province of Gloucestershire and Herefordshire and was promoted to Substitute Provincial Grand Master in 2009.

He is a member of the Lodge of Living Stones (No. 4957 in the Province of Yorkshire West Riding) which was founded by W.L. Wilmshurst and where he is currently Senior Warden. He is also a member of The Masonic Study Society, which was founded by J.S.M. Ward and still meets in London, and where he is now Transactions Editor. His main interest is in the interpretation of what the masonic ceremonies might mean, what they might be trying to tell us, rather than the history of the origins and administration of Freemasonry. Nonetheless, he was elected a member of Quatuor Coronati Lodge (No. 2076) in 2006 and is now Worshipful Master. He was President of the Bristol Masonic Society for two years, 2004-6, during which time he began the publication of Annual Transactions of which he is still the editor.

 QC INSTALLATION ADDRESS – SYNOPSIS. 10th NOVEMBER 2011.

 The new Worshipful Master reviewed the original stated aims of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge and then analysed the 123 volumes of its Transactions (Ars Quatuor Coronatorum) covering the 125 years of its existence. This showed that the original broad aims of the Lodge to study all aspects of Freemasonry had, after some fifteen years, become narrowed down to the study almost exclusively of Masonic history.

 He then outlined the recent change of direction in the English Constitution taken under the guidance of the Marquess of Northampton. Mention was made of the Cornerstone Society and its Conferences, the Mentoring Programme and the Orator Scheme, as well as Freemasonry Today, all of which are promoting a deep philosophical approach to Masonic ritual and ceremonies.

 The Worshipful Master concluded by encouraging the Lodge to return to a broader approach, to embrace the study of Masonic symbolism and the interpretation of our ceremonies, as well as Masonic history. This would allow the Lodge, he said, to fulfil its important role for the whole of English-speaking Freemasonry in the 21^st century and beyond.

 

2010 – 2011 Thomas Vallance Webb now Immediate Past Master

Thomas Vallance Webb (‘Tom’) was born in England but taken as a child to Cape Town, South Africa, where he received his education and qualified as an accountant. As a young man he was at various times involved in mountaineering, rally driving and camping which developed a yen for travel, mostly to unusual areas of the world. He was for some ten years involved in commerce and industry before returning to practise his profession. Tom was initiated in Rondebosch Lodge, No. 3141, Cape Town, in 1957. Once through the Master’s chair he was quickly appointed as District Grand Registrar for the District of South Africa (Western Division) and then from 1980 to 1994 was Assistant District Grand Master. Since then he has been a member of the District Board of General Purposes, and is now the President of the District Board of Benevolence. First appointed to Grand Rank as PAGDC in 1983, he was promoted to PJGD in 1984 and to PSGD in 2003. He also holds Grand Rank in the Royal Arch and a number of other orders. For some 15 years he has served as the local secretary of Quatuor Coronati Correspondence Circle, and in 2002 he was elected as a joining member of Quatuor Coronati Lodge itself.

The Little Man

‘The Little Man’ was the title used respectfully and affectionately by most Freemasons of the Western Division of the District Grand Lodge of South Africa (EC) when referring to their District Grand Master, RW Bro. T. N. Cranstoun-Day, a man small in stature and slimly built, but one who exhibited great authority, wisdom and knowledge. It appears appropriate some 42 years after his death that a record be made of his 40 years as District Grand Master, a time spanning world depression, social difficulties, World War II and the subsequent recovery, church attacks against the Craft, political antagonism (including a Judicial Commission of enquiry), and the crisis of the Grand East of the Netherlands which culminated in the founding of the Grand Lodge of South Africa in 1961. These and other incidentals will be covered in the address to serve in some measure as a memorial to a great Freemason.

Visit to South Africa

In September 2011 the Lodge will hold a meeting in South Africa. This is the first time that the Lodge has met, as a Lodge, in another country. Members of the Correspondence Circle (QCCC) are cordially invited to accompany members of the Lodge on this historic occasion. Should you be interested further information can be downloaded by clicking here or on previous links. Please note that this is a pdf. file which requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to open and read the file. This is free software and if you do not already have this installed on your computer you can download it from the Adobe site by clicking here.