An Extract from the Grand Superintendent's Address

Most Excellent, Your Excellencies, Companions

I am delighted to be the one presenting tonight’s Long Service Award to E Comp Bryn William Barton, and I will say a little more about why later.

E Comp Bryn, you were Initiated into the Strumble Lodge no 4351 on 8th March 1978 and Raised on the 14th of February 1979. That was very quick progress in those days.

You served Strumble Lodge as Worshipful Master in 1988 and in 2009 you took on the role of Charity Steward. An Office in which you served with distinction until the Installation meeting in the Autumn of 2021, a full 12 years. You are rightly very proud of your record as Charity Steward, and I think you have been the most successful at getting support from the province for your favourite charities. I have very much enjoyed accompanying you to various events and good causes.

You joined Kensington Lodge of Installed Masters in September 1999. You served that lodge as Junior Warden in 2000, as Charity Steward in 2010 and finally as Worshipful Master in 2011. In 2012 you Installed your great friend W Bro Sid Clench as Worshipful Master and he in turn Installed RW Bro Eric Mock as the Worshipful Master of Kensington Lodge for the centenary year in 2013. You were a key member of the Kensington Lodge of Installed Masters Centenary Committee and put in a huge amount of work to make that year such a success.

You joined Cleddau Lodge no 6952 in February 2000 and whilst you never held office, you were a regular attender and always very keen to help in any way you could.

In the Province of West Wales, you were first appointed to Provincial rank in 1985 and if my memory serves me correctly you were given the rank of Provincial Grand Registrar an extremely high rank to start at. You were obviously singled out from an early stage, because in 2002 you were appointed as Provincial Junior Grand Warden with Sid Clench being Provincial Senior Grand Warden in the same year. In 2003 you were promoted to the rank of Past Provincial Senior Grand Warden.

In the Royal Arch, you were Exalted into the Abergwaun Chapter no 3152 on 28th May 1980 and served the Chapter as Most Excellent Zerubbabel in 1996 and you served the Chapter again as Haggai in 2005.

In the Royal Arch Province, you served as Principal Grand Sojourner in 1997. In 2013 you were appointed as Second Provincial Grand Principal, which is generally a two-year appointment. When you finished as Second Provincial Grand Principal in 2015, you were promoted to be Deputy Grand Superintendent by my predecessor. An office you held until 2018 when E Comp David Rayson took over from you.

You and I shared a very happy year on the Provincial Executive together and I know we both enjoyed representing the province at our neighbours Provincial Meetings. I especially remember our trip to Llandudno in the autumn of 2017.

In Supreme Grand Chapter you were appointed to the rank of Past Grand Standard Bearer in 2006 and promoted to the rank of Past Grand Sword Bearer in 2016. I was fortunate enough to be at the meeting where you received your promotion because I had been appointed as Assistant Grand Pursuivant the afternoon before.

E Comp Bryn you qualified as a doctor in Sheffield, where you met your lovely wife Ann who is also a doctor. You have 4 children, Jane, Adam, Judith, and Andrew. Both Adam and Andrew are also distinguished freemasons. Your children have produced at least 10 grandchildren. There are also at least 3 great grandchildren.

Your son Andrew was my Proposer into Freemasonry and you and I first met at Andrew’s wedding to Tracy in 1990, a full decade before I became a freemason. I remember a very happy afternoon in your beautiful garden in Millin, which is your pride and joy.

E Comp Bryn you have been a very good friend and role model for me for over 30 years. It is an honour and a privilege to be the one making this evening’s presentation to you. You have combined a successful career serving the community in General Practice, with a distinguished masonic career, whilst raising what can only be called a dynasty of Barton children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

You have worked tirelessly to raise money for good causes, and you have done all this despite having had your own health concerns. E Comp Bryn, you have been a shining example to us all for more than 40 years. I congratulate you on all that you have achieved. I thank you for your wise counsel and friendship and I wish you well for the future.

Many congratulations.