James Cropper, CMLJ

We are pleased to announce that James Cropper, Lord Lieutenant of Cumbria, has been made a Knight Commander (KCVO) of the Royal Victorian Order in the Queen’s New Year's Honours 2011. James has been an honorary member of Cumbria Commandery within The Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus for a number of years being a Commander in the Companionate of Merit (CMLJ).The Royal Victorian Order was founded in April 1896 by Queen Victoria as a way of rewarding personal service to her, on her own initiative rather than by ministerial recommendation. The Order is entirely within the Sovereign’s personal gift and we send James our congratulations and very best wishes on receiving this new accolade.

We are delighted to publish Christmas messages to members of the Order from the Grand Master and the Bailiff of England and Wales. Please click on the appropriate line to read the message.

Message from the Grand Master

Message from the Bailiff

Message from the Spiritual Protector

Following the succesful completion of this year's National Investitures at Arundel and Grappenhall, a selection of photos is now available for viewing in the Gallery.

For the Northern Investiture, a further selection of photos, including individual photos with the Bailiff, is available on David Green's Blog page.

At the end of October, a delegation from the Commandery of Londinium undertook a "twinning" visit to Malta, with some guests from the Commandery of John of Gaunt. Photos from the visit can be found on the following Commandery page.

On behalf of the Grand Bailiff and Grand Prior of England and Wales respectively, The Bailiff, H.E. Chevalier Charles Holloway GCLJ, has been pleased to make the following appointments:

25/06/2011  Commandery of Rose d'Or: Chancellor - Confrere Jonathan Charles Whitaker CLJ

06/08/2011  Commandery of King Offa: Commander - Confere John Anthony Reid CLJ 

06/08/2011  Commandery of King Offa: Chancellor - Chevalier Peter Barry Whalley KLJ

17/09/2011  Commandery of Edward the Confessor: Commander - Dame Maria Louise Landragin DLJ

17/09/2011  Commandery of Edward the Confessor: Chancellor - Confrere Michael Leslie Doak CLJ
 

A report of this pilgrimage can be read here

Pictures of the recent Investiture can be found at

Confrere Donald William Thomas Watson, CLJ

It is with deep regret that we report that Confrere Donald Watson passed away on 23rd April 2011.

Please click here to read the full obituary, written by H.E. The Chevalier Dr Geoffrey Thompson.

The Executive Council have produced a new promotional leaflet for use by Commanderies and members in promoting the Order to prospective new members.

A supply will be sent to each Commandery, and your feedback on the leaflet would be really helpful so that we can take account of any comments before requisitioning a further supply. You can do this by making a comment below this news item.

Ignorance is our greatest enemy. Please read this article here

The Grand Master's letter to the Order on the death of His Imperial & Royal Highness Archduke Otto von Habsburg may be read here

***IMPORTANT***

Please read Grand Magistral Degree 64/11, issued on the 30th June 2011, here

The Celebratory events at Oxford on 13th and 14th May went extremely well.Over the next few days we will publish various reports, photos and videos as they become available, so please do continue to return to this page to see what is new. The links below will become active once the items are ready.

• Report 
• Ecclesiastical Grand Prior's Homily
• The Reverend Prebendary Norman Wallwork's sermon
• Photos from the Service of Reconcilliation and Investiture and Gala Dinner. (note - if you require high resolution images to print, go to the photographer's website)
• Videos of the Investiture and Awards as follows - these are viewable in YouTube. Note that you can make the screen full size and change the resolution to HD using the small buttons in the bottom right hand corner of the video when it appears.

- Investiture of Earl Shrewsbury

- Presentaion of Gold Medal to the Grand Bailiff, The Rt Hon Lord St John of Fawsley

- Presentation of Gold Medal of Merit to the Grand Prior, The Rt Hon Earl Ferrers

- Presentation of 20 Year Meritorious Service Medal to Chevalier Dr Michael Waters

John Douglas Mitchell, 1951 - 2011

We are saddened to report the passing away of Chevalier John Douglas Mitchell, KLJ.

Please click here to read a full obituary.

Following the Grand Magistral Council meeting on 26th March, 2011, in London, the Grand Master has written to all members. His letter can be read here.

Photographs of the recent Quiz Night can be downloaded at: http://demgreen.blogspot.com/2011/02/john-of-gaunt-quiz-2011.html

It has come to our attention that another St Lazarus Organisation has also registered for easyfundraising. When registering please ensure that you type St Lazarus Foundation, and not just St Lazarus, so that your donations support the correct cause.

We are delighted to announce that the commission raised by our members through our easyfundraising link has now reached the £300 mark. This is a fantastic achievement considering that we have been in the scheme for only twelve months.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with easyfundraising, you can find out more by clicking here. Essentially, though, it is an incredibly simple way of raising funds for our charity every time that you purchase goods on the Internet.

At the end of January we had 37 people registered on our easyfundraising page, but it easy to become forgetful, and we need to remind those 37 to keep using the site for their shopping, and to ask other members to consider registering. There is nothing dodgy or suspicious about this - the retailers are happy to pay a small commission in return for shoppers using their site.

You can now help us without doing any shopping yourself simply by referring other organisations. Surely everybody knows a church, scout group, charitable organisation, etc, which is constantly holding fundraising events. If you refer them to easyfundraising using our unique reference number and they sign up (free of charge), then St Lazarus Foundation will receive 20% of all their commission! (They still receive the full commission). So don't delay, refer today! Click here to find out our reference number.

A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM THE BAILIFF
Chevalier Charles Holloway, KCLJ

I thought that I would write a few words to all members as we approach this Christmas, and the New Year of 2011. I hope that it will be a happy one for all of us in the Order of St Lazarus worldwide and, in particular, for our own Jurisdiction of England and Wales.

We will at last be fully united as from the 1st January 2011 as the “Grand Bailiwick & Priory of England and Wales”. As you know, the whole process of coming together will be officially celebrated with a Church Services and a Gala Dinner to be held at Oxford on the weekend of 13/14 May 2011. I do hope that as many of you as possible will support this very special occasion at which our Grand Master, H.E. Don Carlos Gereda de Borbón, Marqués de Almazan, will preside.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your hard work in 2010. Both Lynne and myself have enjoyed meeting everyone, and sharing happy times at the many Investitures and Events that took place this year. Please continue to support your Commanderies in fulfilling the main aim of our beloved Christian Order, which is to raise funds for our Charities and people less fortunate than ourselves.

I will be thinking of you all on Christmas Day as we celebrate the Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ whose life gave hope and salvation to the world.

So may we all go forth in Faith, Hope and Charity into this coming New Year.

With my very best wishes to you all for a Very Happy Christmas.

Charles Holloway
 

The Grand Master's Christmas Message to the Order may be read here.

We are delighted to announce that during the first six months of operation, our agreements with easyfundraising and thegivingmachine have raised over £140 for our charitable causes, even though only a handful of members are supporting them.

This scheme costs those using it nothing more than a couple of clicks of the mouse when shopping online, yet generates a donation for every item purchased. Please promote the scheme not just to fellow members, but to friends and businesses that are known to you. There are over 2000 retailers taking part in the scheme, and everybody knows somebody who uses, for example, trains, planes, hotels and computer equipment, to name just a few.

To find out more, just visit the Charitable Work section of our website.

David Haywood (Webmaster)

At the AGM of the Mersey Commandery, Chevalier Sab Losy KLJ retired after nearly five years as Commander. The Chancellor has been pleased to appoint Dame Lesley Martin-Wright DLJ as his successor.

Lesley writes: “I am both delighted and honoured to be the new Mersey Commander.

"By way of background information, by birth I am a native of Northumberland, and one of my ancestors was the highly regarded romantic painter, engraver and illustrator, John Martin. Sadly, I do not possess any of his paintings. I left the North East in my early twenties to spend 12 months working and living in Singapore, which was a wonderful experience. After my return I spent 10 years living and working in London, during which time I got was married and had two children (Alexander Martin-Wright, now 23, who joined the Order in the rank of Esquire in 2008). Approximately 20 years ago the family had the opportunity to relocate to Liverpool, which we now call 'home'. I have recently changed career, from head of marketing in a commercial law firm, to become Chief Executive of Knowsley Chamber of Commerce.

"The North West offers huge potential, and, of course, immense challenges. In my new role as Commander of Mersey I will be continuing the excellent work commenced by Dr Andrew Zsigmond and continued latterly by Sab Losy. St Lazarus has an international remit and sphere of influence; the Mersey Commandery will continue to play an important part in raising funds and supporting the Order's charitable works across the globe. We will also strive to make an impact on those less well known charities within our borders, which, during these difficult economic climes, are also in great need. Mersey Commandery is drafting a programme of events for 2010-2011 which will be circulated and advertised shortly.”

We offer our congratulations to the following members of the Companionate of Merit, and of the Order, in the Grand Bailiwick & Priory of England and Wales who have been honoured in Her Majesty the Queen's Birthday Honours List:

Norman Stoller, OBE, CStJ, KMLJ, Don2LJ, DL has been made a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE).

Norman has been an honorary member of the Commandery of John of Gaunt for many years, and, through the Stoller Charitable Trust, makes regular and significant donations towards the charitable work of the Order. He is consistently supportive and attends our events whenever possible. We are enormously grateful to Norman and his wife, Sheila, for the unstinting and often anonymous work they do for our Order.

Sir Christian Bonington, Kt., CBE, CMLJ, DL has been made a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO).

Sir Chris was admitted to the Companionate of Merit in the rank of Commander at The Guards’ Chapel, Wellington Barracks, in October 2005. His distinguished achievements are well known and we are very grateful for his support for the work of our Order, especially in Cumbria Commandery, of which he is an honorary member.

Dan Clayton-Jones, TD, KStJ, KLJ, MMLJ, DL has been made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE).

Major Dan Clayton-Jones (brother of the late Major Huw Bartle-Jones TD, GCLJ, CMLJ, sometime Chancellor of the Grand Priory of England & Wales) has been a long-standing member of the Commandery of Wales in which he was for some years Commandery Hospitaller. Among the many distinguished offices he holds, he is Deputy Chairman of the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund, Chairman of the Committee for Wales. A former High Sheriff of the County of Glamorgan, he is currently also Chancellor of the Venerable Order of St John in Wales.

Following The Revd Gareth Powell's promotion to a senior administrative post at Methodist Church House in London, the Chancellor of the Grand Prory, Chevalier Vincent Keaveny KCLJ, has been pleased to appoint Professor Norman Doe OLJ as Commander of the Commandery of Wales.

Norman was admitted to the Order at the investiture at Llandaff Cathedral, Cardiff, in May 2009. Having experienced the hospitality and fellowship of the Order on numerous occasions before investiture, his admission was stimulated in large measure by the dynamism and potential of its ecumenical character, the value of its traditions of spirituality, and the importance of its charitable work to combat leprosy. Over the coming three years, he hopes to serve the commandery through the recruitment of new members (so that it enjoys a presence throughout Wales), the development of its liturgical life (in ecumenical celebrations of the days of obligation, and in exploring the possibility of retreats, pilgrimages and the formation of a rule of life for members in Wales). The promotion of hospitaller activities at home (particularly with regard to palliative care for children) and overseas (in support for institutions which work with leprosy) will be the prime focus of his commandery's charitable work.

Professor Norman Doe is Director of the Centre for Law & Religion at the Law School, Cardiff University.

The Bailiff of the Grand Bailiwick of England & Wales, The Chevalier Charles Holloway KCLJ, has been pleased to appoint Chev. David Haywood to the position of Commander of John of Gaunt with immediate effect.

David will be well-known to most people in the Grand Bailiwick as he has been Receiver-General of the jurisdiction since 2007. His tireless work for the Order has earned him many awards, and the respect of his colleagues, not only in the Grand Bailiwick, but in the Grand Priory too, where he has recently been appointed a trustee of the St Lazarus Charitable Trust. He is a member of the Joint Implementation Commission, and was responsible for supervising the construction of the much-praised England & Wales website, of which he is webmaster.

David's genial nature makes him a popular and pleasant person with whom to work and I have no doubt that he will be a committed and inspiring Commander of the John of Gaunt Commandery.