Chapter Profile

History

Progress Chapter celebrated its Centenary in 2013. The Chapter was orignally a London Chapter who ventured down to the wilds of Sutton once a year for their Summer meeting. They made the move permanent during WW2 and remained at Sutton until 2019 when the Chapter moved to its present home at Chertsey. The primary reason for the move was to make the Chapter more accessible to members of our feeder lodge. A strategy that has been succesful.

In its earlier incarnations, the Chapter was strongly supported by Companions from the Surrey Library Services. Today we have Companions across a wide spectrum of ages and professions. If you wanted to sum up the Chapter in a word, it would be welcoming.

Today

The Chapter meets on the 3rd Friday of the month in February and May (Installation) and the 4th Friday in October. Convocations typically start at 17:00 with a rehearsal for the meeting commencing at 15:00.

We have very succesfuly adopted a 2 course dining package. Rather than the classical 3 course Masonic dining, along with the sainted Cheese and Biscuits which many of us were finding to be far too much, we now have an ‘enhanced’ menu of two ‘better’ courses chosen by the MEZ. Vistors and Country members: £35.00 includes wine. The reduced number of courses also means our Festive Board does not drag on into the night and Companions are typically away by 21:00 having enjoyed a good meeting, good company and a better than average meal.

The Chapter currently uses Domatic Ritual and we are blessed with several excellent ritualists.  It has long been a principal of the Chapter that we involve everyone to the best of their ability and the Chapter is considering introducing the Savage Ritual which is typically shorter and uses simpler language to convey the story.

Work is shared between Companions, especially those recently joined. The new Domatic ritual encourages longer pieces, such as the PS work to be handled by several voices. The Chapter holds a ‘Lecture Festival’ each year, typically in February, when all 3 Principals Lectures are delivered along with appropriate Royal Arch readings.

We encourage everyone to participate and ask only that they do their best – we know that ritual does not come easily to everyone. The Chapter holds 3-4 Classes of Instruction prior to each meeting and senior Companions will often provide additional home support where required.

The Chapter has had a very successful membership drive and was awarded Second place in the 2024 MEGS Membership Challenge. The award was collected at the Annual Convocation by our newest Companion.

As many Companions are also members of Priory Gate Lodge, we tend, wherever possible, to join with them for social functions. Companions who are not members of the Lodge are always welcomed to joint functions as part of the Chapter.

Our Companions

Historically, the Chapter had members from the Library Service, today, our Companions come from a wide range of professions and ages.

Retired military – Army and RAF
Retired and serving police officers
Retired Graphic designer
Company director – Healthcare
Retired mariner, now managing a Thames liesurecraft fleet
Retired IT consultant
Engineers
Wine importer
Retired banker and our Deputy Grand Superintendent

Hobies include:

Inland Waterways
Fishing
Aviation
Motoring
Car restoration
Travel – cruising

Charity

In non Festival years we have previously supported the Fountain Centre at St Lukes Cancer Centre. Several current and past memebers and their family members have received treatment at St Lukes in recent years. Otherwise the Chapter supports the current Festival and we are proud recepients of a Bronze award for the 2030 Festival.

Summary

Progress is a relaxed, friendly Chapter whose members focus their attention on developing recent Exaltees to get the best out of their Freemasonry. We appreciate and admire good ritualists but not at the expense of newer and less proficient Companions whose skills it is the Chapter’s responsiblity to nuture and develop.

While we have been successful in meeting our membership challenge we, deliberately, do not have the aggressive approach to intake which some other Chapters at Chertsey can demonstrate. Progress comes with the advantage of early progression to the Prinicpals chairs and a fuller participation in the Order.