A statement on the Provincial Grand Lodge of Berkshire website reads as follows:

The Most Worshipful The Grand Master, His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent, has appointed V W Bro Martin Peters to succeed R W Bro Michael Hooton as Provincial Grand Master for Berkshire with effect from 1st August 2011.

Bro Martin joined Berkshire Freemasonry in 1986 when he joined the Ashley Hill Lodge No 7861, of which he was Worshipful Master in 1995. He was initiated into the Harlowbury Lodge No 7795 in the Province of Essex in 1968 and was Worshipful Master in 1976. He joined the Old Radleian Lodge No 5200 in London in 1972, being Worshipful Master in 1978 and again in 1997. In 1988 he joined Berkshire Masters Lodge and in 1990 he joined Berkshire Provincial Grand Stewards’ Lodge, becoming Worshipful Master in 1999. He is also a Past Master of Castle Lodge of Harmony No 26 and a member Methuen Lodge No 631 in Buckinghamshire and of Grand Stewards’ Lodge.

He was appointed a Provincial Grand Steward in Essex in 1977, being promoted to Past Provincial Senior Grand Deacon in 1980. He received London Grand Rank in 1988. In 2002 R W Bro Digby Woods appointed Bro Martin as Assistant Provincial Grand Master and in 2005 R W Bro Michael Hooton appointed him Deputy Provincial Grand Master.

The M W The Grand Master appointed Bro Martin to Past Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies in 1994 and promoted him to Past Senior Grand Deacon in 2003. In 2006 he invested him as Grand Sword Bearer and in 2007 as Grand Steward.

Bro Martin was exalted into the Royal York Chapter of Perseverance No 7 in 1980, serving as MEZ in 1986 and again in 1996 and received London Grand Chapter Rank in 1998 and Senior London Grand Chapter Rank in 2008. He is also a member of Mark, Royal Ark Mariners and The Ancient and Accepted Rite.

RW Bro Mike Hooton said “I am delighted that VW Bro Martin Peters is to succeed me, having given me so much support as my Deputy since 2005 and I am sure you will all join me in wishing him well in his new responsibilities.”

© 2011 Grand Lodge Berkshire

Our next meeting is in April, where we will be Initiating a new member.

Shortly after our next meeting two of our members will receive honours at the annual meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge. W Bro D. C.  Allen will receive an active first appointment of Provincial Grand Pursuivant, and W Bro D. A. Burden a promotion to Past Provincial Senior Grand Deacon. Congratulations to them both.

We hope you all have an enjoyable year ahead.

However the sheer number and quality of the prizes we had to offer, together with our persuasive skills, meant that we were able tempt the customers to buy our tickets to such good effect! We would not have been able to do this without the donations of bottles from lodge members.

Tuesday 8th June saw our Installation. It is the second time Bro W. C. Hurley PPAGSuptWks (Middlesex) has been in the Chair of Ashley Hill Lodge No. 7861.

The evening was well attended, including the Assistant Provincial Grand Master of Berkshire, W Bro John W Nixon, PSGD.

A first for Ashley Hill, a photograph was taken after the Installation of our new WM, and lodge members. Our new WM, W Bro Hurley, is pictured on the right and we all wish W Bro Hurley a great year ahead. You can see a larger picture by clicking the image.

Our list of Officers has been updated, which can be accessed through the menu above.

Ashley Hill meets again in September, the start of our new Masonic year, where we will be Initiating a new member.

The meeting will take place at the Berkshire Masonic Centre, Sindlesham, at 5pm on Tuesday 8th June. Masons wishing to attend should get in touch with our Secretary.

Wednesday 16th December saw our last Class of Instruction before Christmas, where we did a First Degree.

The next Class of Instruction is Wednesday 6th Janauary 2010, with the next full meeting being Tuesday 2nd February for a Second Degree.

Until then, from the brethren of Ashley Hill, we wish you a warm and merry Christmas.

As in previous years, this evening is open to family and friends of members, both Masonic and non-Masonic. An email containing full details have been sent to members. Those wishing to attend should contact the COI Secretary, W Bro Lashmar.

Freemasonry inevitably appears rather complicated and esoteric to the new mason and he is immersed, from his first experiences, in unfamiliar terms and actions which mean very little without explanation.

To remedy this deficiency – not on the part of the innocent Initiate, but in the organisation he has joined – a movement started in the earlier part of this decade which is termed Mentoring. The concept, simply put, is to ‘inform’, by an orderly progression, aspects of Freemasonry which might defeat the most intellectual or enquiring of minds – unless guided. Too many masons were feeling isolated or neglected by this exclusion, but were given little advice for enlightenment.

Berkshire Province, under the leadership of our present Deputy Provincial Grand Master, VW Bro Martin Peters, was an earlier player in the field, and held instructional classes for every lodge’s newly- appointed Mentor, under whose guidance programmes have been developed in each Lodge.

In Ashley Hill, the undertaking of this task was put in the hands of W Bro John Harper, who had long held the view that more had to be done to assist the new mason in his baptism of fire, which included much which was incomprehensible not only to Initiates but, indeed, Fellowcrafts and Master Masons. Personal Mentors were appointed for each new mason, to put sense into the masonic ‘fog’.
Supplementary lodge booklets have been developed and it is believed that, in partnership with each Initiate’s proposer, real progress has been made in making the principles and practices of Freemasonry more immediately clear.

The feedback clearly indicates that the policies have been successful.

W Bro John Harper