King Arthur of Avalon Preceptory No. 551
Meetings
Installation Meeting
First Wednesday in March
Regular Meetings
Third Wednesday in June
Fourth Wednesday in September
All Meetings start at 5.30 p.m
Officers Appointed 2023
Eminent Preceptor
E.Kt. Graham C Chipperfield - Installed March 2023
Principal Contacts
- Registrar: E.Kt. Rod Deane
- Almoner: E.Kt.
Officers
- Chaplain E.Kt. Christopher R Fox
- 1st Constable E.Kt. Roger W Morss
- 2nd Constable Kt. Julian S Brown
- Treasurer Kt. Michael Wright
- Registrar E.Kt. Roderick F Deane
- Marshal E.Kt. William Whitehead
- Deputy Marshal E.Kt.
- Almoner E.Kt.
- 1st Herald Kt. Robert W Paice
- 2nd Herald Kt. Richard M Hibberd
- Standard Bearer (B) Kt. John C Rook
- Standard Bearer (VB) Kt. John H Morgan
- Captain of Guards Kt. Walter A Antonello
- Guard E.Kt. Glynn S Derrick
March 2024
On Tuesday 6th March 2024, the Provincial Prior accompanied by the Provincial Sub-Prior, attended the Installation of E.Kt. Graham Chipperfield as Eminent Preceptor for the second consecutive year of King Arthur of Avalon Preceptory No. 551. Two Knights Templar Patents were also presented to Kt John Morgan & Kt Micheal Bidwell by the Provincial Sub-Prior. In total of 26 Eminent and Brother knights attended the meeting, including 3 knights from the Province of Devonshire and Cornwall.
On Tuesday 20th March 2024 at a Special meeting of the Preceptory, Bro.Kt. Clive Loxton was installed as a Knight of the Temple at the King Arthur of Avalon Preceptory No. 551. The ceremony was conducted by the Eminent Preceptor E.Kt. Graham Chipperfield with the Accolade being conferred by the Provincial Prior, and with a total of 21 Eminent and Brother Knights present.
History - 1989 to ....
It is not always easy to select an appropriate name for a new Preceptory, but the title King Arthur of Avalon is most appropriate for one meeting at Glastonbury.
The story of King Arthur is such a tangle of history and folklore that it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. The name, however, not only conjours up visions of the Knights of the Round Table, the Holy Grail, Excaliber and the days of chivalry, but it leads our thoughts to Avalon. In Celtic mythology “the island of the blest or paradise” and in Arthurian legend “the island of heroes to which the dead King was conveyed.” In pre-history, before the Somerset marshes were drained, flooding would, have turned the area around Glastonbury into an island, and there are many who believe Glastonbury to have been the mysterious Isle of Avalon. Known as “Avalonia” by the Romans and “Glaestin-ga-byrig” by the Anglo Saxons this links the names Glastonbury and Avalon.
The establishment of the Preceptory was first suggested by the Right Eminent Provincial Prior who thought the location central to several Royal Arch Chapters which might prove an adequate source of recruitment. In the event 22 knights signed the petition and the Preceptory was consecrated on the 1st March 1989, by the Most Eminent and Supreme Grand master, Harold Devereux Still, G.C.T., assisted by officers of Great Priory and of Provincial Priory.
The ceremony was, in fact, carried out in Taunton as it was recognised that the Temple at Glastonbury would be too small to accommodate all those wishing to attend. Following the consecration, the Provincial Prior, Right Eminent Knight David Palmer, K.C.T., installed Eminent Knight T.C.M.Stock as the first Eminent Preceptor.
The new Preceptory lost no time in establishing fraternal relationships outside the Province and, in June 1990, it was host to a party of knights from Middlesex led by their Provincial Prior, Right Eminent Knight Dennis Padmore, K.C.T. Later that year the Preceptory banner, which had been donated through the generosity of its first Eminent Preceptor, was dedicated by the Right Eminent Provincial Prior.