2nd Risings by Provincial Grand Secretary

Tel: 020 8891 3300

E-mail: office@pglm.org.uk

Post: Province of Middlesex, 148 London Road, Twickenham TW1 1HD

Many members of our team of volunteers have remote access to all incoming voicemails and e-mails.  Incoming voicemails are sent as attachments to our communal e-mail inbox.  These enquiries are typically handled by team-members on a ‘whoever gets to it first’ basis.  We aim to respond on the same day and invariably do.  It will ring several times before the voicemail commences, this gives sufficient time for anyone present in the office to answer it in real time.

If you are unsure of who is the best person to deal with your query or if you aren’t quite sure what the problem or issue is, or who deals with it at our end, then these generic contact points are a good start.  However, some of our team members have expertise in certain areas and it is always a good idea to deal with the same person about the same query.  I include my personal mobile number on all e-mails.  Please feel free to use it.  However, e-mails to me on the e-mail address listed below are the most effective means of communication.

If you want to meet any of us face to face, then we can arrange to be at the Twickenham office (or elsewhere) by appointment.  ‘Drop-ins’ at Twickenham, are more likely to work on a Tuesday or Thursday.

• Michael Lavender – Contact via office@pglm.org.uk, or contact this member on their individual PGLM email address.
• David North – Technical IT support and liaison with UGLE – first contact via Hermes Support.
• Steve May – Chapter Summonses, Quarterly Communications and support across all areas – contact via office@pglm.org.uk, or contact this member on their individual PGLM email address.
• Michael Dean – Executive support – contact via office@pglm.org.uk, or contact this member on their individual PGLM email address.
• Stephen Heynes – Hermes support and liaison with units – first contact via Hermes Support.
• John Keith – Lodge Summonses – contact via office@pglm.org.uk, or contact this member on their individual PGLM email address.
• Peter Edwards – By-law amendments (Craft and Chapter) and 50–60 year certificates – contact via office@pglm.org.uk, or contact this member on their individual PGLM email address.
• Keith Gregory – 50–60 year certificates – contact via office@pglm.org.uk, or contact this member on their individual PGLM email address.
• Jim Owens – Chapter Summonses – contact via office@pglm.org.uk, or contact this member on their individual PGLM email address.

Please see below the links to the Provincial Craft and RA Fee Schedules for the year beginning 1st September 2026.  The good news is that yet again there is no increase in Provincial Fees.

I have sent these to lodge and chapter treasurers.

• Provincial Craft Fees 2026/2027
• Provincial Royal Arch Fees 2026/2027

Please continue to contact the Provincial Office for Initiates and Exaltees Packs and Mentors Guides.  I am currently exploring the opportunity of retaining stocks of these at each of the four Centres.  I will let you know when this is rolled out.  Please do not forget that Mentors Guides and Year in Review books are also available for Passings and Raisings.

There had been a delay in the award of 50-60 year certificates.  We believe we have substantially addressed the backlog.  Secretaries, Scribes Ezra and Visiting Officers will be informed very shortly of those members of their lodges and chapters who have qualified or who will qualify for receipt of certificates in the forthcoming masonic year.  Please liaise with your VO to fix a suitable date for presentation.  I am currently exploring the opportunity of also retaining these at each of the four Centres.  If you believe that a member of your unit is entitled to receive a certificate but has not been the subject of a communication from me, then let me know.  There may be a good reason for this, such as a break in membership, BUT ADelphi is only as good as the information it has been given, and sometimes data going back 50 or 60 years may not be complete.

A reminder of how the Hermes Halt system works and how we can assist each other in speeding things up whenever a Halt occurs.  All of what follows applies to Lodges, however much of it is relevant to Chapters as well.

1. You will know that when a candidate for initiation or joiner (the ‘Applicant’) is contacted via Hermes they are asked to answer certain questions on-line.  There are preferred answers.  Whenever an Applicant does not give a preferred answer then the application will go into a Hermes Halt queue.  Most of the time this cannot be avoided, but sometimes it can be avoided where the preferred answer could and should have been given.
2. Please either during the interview stage or before the Applicant has to engage with Hermes, explain to the applicant the Hermes process, please take him through the questions he is to be asked.  This can anticipate any queries being raised during the process, ensure that documentation has been sought, where required and avoid questions being answered incorrectly.
3. Certain questions such as ‘Do you believe in a Supreme Being?’ must be answered in the affirmative.  A negative answer will go into the Hermes Halt queue and if not corrected then the application will after a short period be rejected.
4. Certain questions are capable of different answers and I wanted to touch briefly on a few of the most common on these:
   • Foreign Applicants – where an applicant has neither a residence nor place of business within England and Wales, it is for the Grand Secretary to satisfy himself that the Grand Lodge in the jurisdiction in which he lives and works (if recognised by UGLE) has no cause to doubt the applicant is a fit and proper person and thereby to satisfy himself the reason for the initiation or joining within this jurisdiction.  Where the applicant is a joiner, UGLE will require a copy of the Grand Lodge Certificate and a clearance certificate relating to every lodge or chapter of which the applicant is a member.  Clearance certificates must not be more than a year old.  The procedure for obtaining these certificates differs in different jurisdictions.  UGLE will provide guidance as to what it expects to see.  Please therefore brief the Applicant about these requirements before he completes the Hermes application.
   • Other Units and Organisations of which the Applicant is already a member. Please do not include the lodge the Applicant is joining or into which he is being initiated.  Where another organisation is disclosed, please alsi insert the date on which the Applicant joined.  If you have any concerns about whether another organisation is compatible with freemasonry, please send me an e-mail.
   • Criminal Convictions – not all criminal convictions need to be disclosed on the Hermes application.  Rather than me setting out detailed guidance here, if any Applicant has a criminal conviction, then let me know the date and nature of the conviction and the sentence passed by sending me an e-mail.  I will then confirm whether it needs to be disclosed.  Please be aware that once any conviction has been disclosed then UGLE will examine it.  ULE will require details of the date and nature of the conviction and the sentence passed, they will require brief details about the offence and if a fine was imposed that it was paid.  They will require confirmation that the lodge members are aware of the full details of the conviction and are supportive of the Applicant.  Furthermore, they will require confirmation that the Province is likewise aware of the full details of the conviction and is supportive of the Applicant.  This can be a very time-consuming process and is best avoided where the conviction need not have been disclosed on the Hermes application in the first place.
   • DNC (Did Not Continue) –  Whenever an Applicant has been the subject of a previous application that did not proceed, including where there has been a previous Hermes rejection, the application will go into a Hermes Halt.  This may require communication with the secretary or Scribe Ezra of the unit into which the Applicant was previously trying to be initiated or exalted or wished to join.  UGLE is interested here in assuring itself that where a decision has been made by a unit not to proceed with an application that the Applicant may not be considered to be a fit and proper person and is ‘forum shopping’.
5. The Process: Hermes, having identified that action needs to be taken before approval, will send an automated e-mail to both the secretary and to the provincial office identifying the question to which a non-preferred answer is given.  Provincial office will proactively look at the Halt and send an e-mail to the lodge secretary or chapter Scribe Ezra explaining what we believe the issue to be and how to resolve it.  The automated e-mail from Hermes will identify the question of concern but not always be as helpful in explaining how to resolve the issue.  UGLE will also contact the provincial office if there are any specific requirements.   Provincial office will then act as the interface between the lodge secretary and UGLE registrations department in forwarding any documentary evidence that is required.  There is no need in these circumstances to seek assistance from the provincial office via the Hermes Help facility.  This will result in the matter being handled on more than one platform, with the information on each potentially being incomplete.
6. UGLE will either release or reject the applications within a short period of time.  This avoids the Hermes Halt queue being long and containing stale applications.

Provincial Office aims for there to be fewer than five outstanding Hermes Halts at any one time.

It is no longer a requirement to make enquiries of other provinces or of Met where a candidate lives or works outside of the province of Middlesex.  However, it remains the case that UGLE must be satisfied of the reasons for the application for initiation in Middlesex where the applicant has neither a permanent residence nor a regular place of business or employment in England and Wales or country where a Lodge under the Grand Lodge meets.  This includes Scotland and Ireland.  A candidate coming within the provisions of this Rule shall not be proposed in open Lodge until the Grand Secretary shall have confirmed that there is no objection to the candidate.  It is for this reason that such applications are Halted by Hermes.

It is possible for candidates for initiation to be proposed, ballotted and initiated other than at regular meetings or for the process to be accelerated.  However, the procedure set down in rule 160 must be followed strictly.  Furthermore, a dispensation must be sought from the Province in such circumstances.  Whereas most dispensations are granted without the need for further enquiry, the purpose of the requirement for a dispensation in these circumstances is for Province to satisfy itself that the procedure is not being abused.  We will explore with the secretary all other avenues to avoid the need for such matters to be handled otherwise than at a regular meeting or by an accelerated process before deciding whether to grant the dispensation.  The grant of a rule 160 dispensation is not automatic.

Unless required by UGLE following a Hermes Halt, there is no longer a REQUIREMENT for sight of a clearance certificate before permitting a member to join a unit.

Before the ballot is taken the candidate must produce to the Secretary of the Lodge his Grand Lodge Certificate.  However, it is for the Secretary to satisfy himself that the candidate is in good standing in each of the Lodges of which he is a member and that all dues have been paid.  He must also ascertain whether the candidate is indebted to any Lodge of which he has ceased to be a member and (unless he shall have resigned in good standing) the circumstances in which he left such Lodge, and whether at that time all dues were paid, or have since been paid. If any of such Lodges has ceased to exist, the Secretary shall ascertain from the Grand Secretary all relevant facts so far as they are known.

Please note rule 163(d), namely that if a Lodge accepts as a joining member a Brother who has been excluded from a Lodge or who has resigned without having complied with its by-laws or the general regulations of the Craft, it shall be liable for any arrears that may be owing by him to the Lodge or Lodges from which he has been excluded or has resigned. The circumstances of such exclusion or resignation shall be stated to the Lodge before the ballot is taken, the better to enable the Brethren to exercise their discretion as to his admission, but the failure to make such a statement shall not exonerate the Lodge from its liability for such arrears, unless the Secretary shall be able to demonstrate that prior to the ballot he had taken all reasonable steps to satisfy himself in accordance with paragraph (c) of this Rule that the Brother was not at the time of the ballot indebted to any Lodge of which he was or had been a member.

Given that under rule 175, a Brother is entitled to receive a clearance certificate free of charge from his unit, and the consequences that can follow under rule 163(d) if he is in arrears, it is quite reasonable for a secretary or Scribe E to continue to require clearance certificates in these circumstances rather than rely on the self-declaration by the applicant.

From time to time, Lodges and Chapters query why certain members do not appear on the monthly Middlesex 2031 Festival reports.  In the vast majority of cases, this is due to historic data consent settings held within Adelphi.  Where a member has not given consent for their information to be shared between authorised Masonic systems, the Festival Committee is unable to include their details in the monthly reports.  This can be resolved by contacting the Middlesex 2031 Festival Secretary, who will provide the appropriate consent form.  Once completed and processed, the member’s consent record will be updated, allowing their information to be included in future Festival reports.

• Book of Constitutions | United Grand Lodge of England
• Book of Constitutions Index
• Information Guidance Members Craft UGLE (PDF)
• BOC Rotal Arch Regulation July 2026 (PDF)

Please see below the links to the Secretaries and Treasurers Guides.  There have been no updates to the guides from last year, though some of its content may have been superseded by the content of this e-mail.  Currently, there is no date fixed for the next unit management conference.  I am waiting for detailed guidance from UGLE regarding the roll out of Portal and then any conference will focus on that topic.  If, however, there is anything about which you require guidance or support in the meantime, or which you would like covered in a future unit management conference, please get in touch by e-mail.

• Secretaries Guide
• Treasurers Guide

Please see below links to guidance notes.  Please also contact us if you believe any other guidance note would be useful and we will prepare one.

• By laws – Amendment Policy
• Model Craft By laws
• Model Chapter By laws
• Craft By-law amendment form
• Chapter By-law amendment form
• Closure Guidance
• Amalgamation of Lodges
• Banner and Jewel Design Approval

Please use the opportunity of cutting and pasting the following links into your communications to your members, particularly to those who may not be aware of what the Province has to offer, particularly newer members and light blues.

• Home – Middlesex Freemasonry
• Middlesex 2031 | Festival 2031

A reminder to those few of you who have not yet registered on Portal.  Please do so.  UGLE will begin transferring functions from ADelphi and Hermes to Portal, the first function that is intended to be transferred is Annual Returns.  We still do not have timescales for this transfer.  If it is impossible for you to register for Portal please ensure that Hermes lists a secretarial or treasurers contact who is registered on Portal.  Please contact me if you require more details about this.

PORTAL IS LIVE – SIGN UP NOW

• SIGN UP ON YOUR DESKTOP
• SIGN UP ON YOUR MOBILE