Another glorious summer day (rare in 2007) heralded the Provincial Priory of Malta Meeting held on Tuesday 11th September 2007 at The Cloisters, Letchworth. The Provincial Priory was held under the banner of the Temple Dinsley Priory number 283.

Just under one hundred Knights assembled for this, the third "stand alone" Malta meeting of the Province.

Twelve Candidates, including the Representative Candidate, Kt. D.J. Emerton of Temple Dinsley Preceptory were given the Mediterranean Pass by the Provincial Sub Prior, V.E.Knight Tony King PGt1stLt.. Whilst he was occupied with this the Provincial Prior, R.E.Kt. Brian Blanchard, appointed his officers for the coming year and announced the promotions and first apppointments for the year.

The Provincial Sub-Prior re-entered the Priory and the Candidates were admitted and made Knights of Malta by the Provincial Sub Prior whose performance of this ceremony is usually superb, but on this occasion was unsurpassed. Those listening being enthralled by his presentation, which gave a complete insight into this wonderful order.

The R.E. Provincial Prior then addressed the assembled Knights:-

Bro.Knights,

I welcome you all here to this Provincial Priory of Malta meeting, and in doing so may I start by congratulating my Sub-Prior, V.E.Kt. Tony King, PGt1stLt, on his performance this afternoon in entertaining us so royally. I also, of course, offer my congratulations to those Knights, who this evening were made Knights of Malta. I am sure none of them will forget their Installation into the Order.

This meeting has seen a bit of a departure from our normal arrangement, in that all those Knights appointed to Provincial Malta Rank have been individually presented to me and invested with the authority of their office, and I naturally congratulate them also on their preferment. We were told by Great Priory that as the Grand Master himself greets all of his many appointments individually at his Great Priory of Malta meeting, then there was no reason for us not to do so. Indeed, with the Great Prior of Malta himself paying us a visit, I thought it prudent to follow those guidelines.

This means that instead of addressing you all as a fill-in whilst the Mediterranean Pass was being conferred elsewhere, the time was taken with the investiture of the new Officers, and I now have a designated slot in the agenda, and conscious that this is an extra item, as it were, I will not detain you long.

Bro. Knights, at this meeting last year I launched, as it were, an appeal to support the Craft 2009 Festival for the next three years, ever bearing in mind that our first consideration must still be the Ophthalmic Eye Hospital in Jerusalem. Bro. Knights, I am delighted to say that in the first year, according to the latest figures I have been given, the KT Order in Hertfordshire has donated somewhere in the region of £1500 towards the appeal. This has been lodged in a Charity Chest and is accumulating interest, so that at the end of the Festival in 2009, if we continue to donate the same sort of figure for each of the next two years, then there is no reason why I will not be able to present the PGM with a cheque for at least £5000. I thank my Preceptories and you all individually for this effort, particularly bearing in mind that through your support of our fund-raising exercises, the Province alone has been able to give £1500 this year to the Eye Hospital, which is in addition to any monies sent by individual Preceptories.

As you probably realise, Bro. Knights, no ‘official guests’ are invited to attend our Malta meeting, but it would be most improper of me not to welcome and to introduce to you personal guests of the executive. I have already mentioned the Great Prior of Malta, R.E.Kt. Eddie Goodwin, and of course while he is here ostensibly in that capacity, he is also the Provincial Prior for London. Equally, I am delighted to have join us on this special occasion, R.E.Kt. Geoffrey Hewitt, Provincial Prior for East Anglia, our near neighbours, together with his Sub Prior, E.Kt. Richard Beardall and his Vice Chancellor, E.Kt. Kingsley Branch. Another good friend of ours is one half of that dynamic duo from Kent, the Provincial Sub-Prior, E.Kt. Peter Macintyre. Coupled with these, of course, I take this opportunity to greet any other visitor we may have in our midst today.

Bro. Knights, I promised I would not keep you too long from any liquid refreshment, but I reserve the right to have more to say at the Festive Board, and so in closing, I would like to thank my Provincial Mareschal and Provincial Chancellor for all their hard work in bringing this meeting to fruition and of course to thank you all for your attendance here today. I look forward to being in your company on my visits throughout the coming year.

Eighty Knights later dined together in knightly fellowship, where the R.E. Provincial Prior outlined his plans for 2008 being the 75th Anniversary of the Re-constitution of the KT Province of Hertfordshire