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Mentoring of our Members |
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Welcome to this the new Education &
Mentoring Committee web page. It has been specially created
for the purpose of providing reports on mentoring and
membership within the Province of Devonshire as well as
being a forum for the exchange of ideas, concerns and best
practice. We hope that it is useful as a medium for Lodge
Mentors and Membership Stewards alike as well as for members
interested in increasing their understanding of these two
vital aspects of Craft Freemasonry.
Mentoring
The last years of the twentieth century sadly witnessed a
decrease in the membership of Freemasonry throughout England
& Wales. This was partly due to many younger brethren
leaving within 5 years of initiation, for a variety of
reasons and significant numbers of Past Masters ‘fading
away’ after leaving the Chair. It was this situation which
prompted Grand Lodge to assemble a committee of provincial
representatives to discern the causes of this decline and to
identify ways to resolve the problem. The resultant report
entitled “The Rulers’ Forum – Working Party Report on
Mentoring”, highlighted the problem areas and recommended
the implementation of a 3 Rs policy [recruiting, retention &
retrieval] focusing initially on Masonic mentoring as a way
of rectifying the situation.
Mentoring in its most basic form is the informal
transmission of information and/or support from a mentor (a
“wise and supportive guide”) to a mentee [protégé]. It is an
ages old, tried and tested method of support and guidance
which is widely used throughout commerce, education and
beyond and it is intended that this system be utilised to
benefit Freemasonry. This would be achieved by the
appointment of lodge mentors who would be responsible for
implementing their lodge’s mentoring scheme.
This new scheme was rolled out throughout the provinces and
in 2009 the Provincial Grand Master formed an Education and
Mentoring Committee [EdMenCom] to devise and implement the
policy here in the Province of Devonshire. The committee as
formed consists of a chairman [currently W Bro. Tony
Banbury- Provincial Grand Mentor] and x members to acting as
area representatives charged with liaising with and
supporting the individual Lodge Mentors.
In early 2010 the Education & Mentoring Committee introduced
a programme of mentoring seminars to guide and instruct
Lodge Mentors in their duties. This programme was repeated
successfully in 2011 with Spring Conferences where Lodge
Mentors were provided with mentoring resources for use with
their brethren. The Spring Conference pattern will be
continued in the future years, allowing Lodge mentors to
meet, share ideas, concerns, best practice and resources.
Masonic Mentoring is now established within Devon and is
widely recognised as an integral element in the development
of Freemasonry within this province.
Membership
The education & mentoring committee is also responsible for
recruiting new members and retrieving former members. To
this end a sub-committee called the RAT [Recruiting Advisory
Team] under the directorship of APGM W Bro. Derek Webber has
recently been formed for the purposes of advising and
informing lodges on ways to increase their membership. The
methods of increasing membership are varied and the RAT will
not proscribe methods - it will however offer suggestions to
aid the process of recruitment. So if any lodge is
experiencing difficulties attracting new members please
email pgldrarcom@aol.com
and we will be pleased to help.
Lodge secretaries will shortly be receiving a recruiting
policy letter to be read out in open lodge outlining the
Provincial strategy for attracting new members. The contents
of this letter will in due course be posted on this web page
to allow absent brethren to catch up.
The focus and main liaison point for all aspects of the 3Rs
policy is currently the Lodge Mentor. However expecting him
to organise recruiting events may be a step too far. It is
therefore suggested lodges appoint a Membership Steward – to
work with the Lodge Mentor - who would be responsible for
implementing his lodge’s recruitment policy.
W Bro Anthony Banbury: PAGDC, Provincial Grand Mentor
01752-402371For more Mentoring
information please go to the Secretaries page
here
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