Province of East Kent

More Information about Mentoring and the Rollout

The mentoring framework was designed after a great deal of research to understand what other Provinces and Grand Lodges were doing to address the issue of supporting new freemasons, but most importantly, to understand what was required to meet the specific needs of this Province. W Bro John Baker, who carried out the initial work commented, “A lot of thought went into designing the scheme but we still needed to make sure that it was fit for purpose and that’s where the pilot came in, the feedback from the Lodges taking part was really important. We needed to make sure that before the scheme was rolled out to the whole Province we learnt as much as possible about its effectiveness and could make any necessary changes”. He added, “Mentoring is probably already taking place in most Lodges in the Province with varying degrees of formality because people are always likely to talk to each other and develop informal relationships and friendships. We’re not trying to teach people to suck eggs, we’re trying to build on that type of culture by creating a more structured framework which sets out the key stages in the mentoring process and equips everyone involved to ensure that every new freemason receives the best possible support”.

The mentoring framework is now being rolled out across the rest of the Province and in order to make the process as effective as possible each Lodge has been allocated to one of 18 regional clusters. The first phase of the rollout involves 8 clusters based at the Masonic Centres in Ashford, Chatham, Cranbrook, Dover, Gillingham, Gravesend, Maidstone and Wigmore. The Second phase, which is planned to start in April, will involve a further 8 clusters based at the Masonic Centres in Canterbury, Faversham, Folkestone, Ramsgate, Sheerness, Sittingbourne, Margate and West Malling. Co-ordinators are already working with the Lodges in the first 8 clusters and a further 8 co-ordinators are currently being recruited for the second phase.

The initial meetings for the Lodges in each of the first eight clusters have already been scheduled and will be taking place over next few weeks. The first two clusters at Deal and Gundulph have obviously already been picked up as part of the original pilot, but details of the remaining sixteen clusters are shown below.



Phase 1

The roll out is being overseen by the members of the Provincial Development Group who are keen to point out that mentoring is not just confined to new freemasons. W Bro Peter Brooshooft, DepPGM, summed up the group’s views by saying, “Mentoring is something that affects everyone of us in this Province, wherever we sit and whatever we do, it’s as valid for new appointments at every level as it is for new freemasons, and the Provincial Development Group has already begun to plan how we can support these wider needs”. On a personal note he added, “I’ve been delighted at the level of response we’ve received during the pilot of the mentoring scheme and the enthusiasm being shown for mentoring in general, I can assure everyone involved that the Provincial Executive is fully behind it”.

More Benefits from the Mentoring Pilot

The mentoring pilot has already spawned a number of other events including a lecture and buffet evening for new freemasons held at the Gundulph Centre in Rochester, on the 31st January and a mentoring feedback evening for those involved in the mentoring pilot, which was held at the Sittingbourne Masonic Centre on the 9th November last year
 

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