The Investment of our new Assistant Provincial Grand Master

Clinton Eliot Leeks, OBE, was invested as the new Assistant Provincial Grand Master at the regular meeting of Universities Lodge, his mother lodge, which meets at Old Elvet in Durham. A select Deputation lead by the Provincial Grand Master, John Arthur, paraded into the Lodge to conduct the proceedings for the evening.

The Master of Universities Lodge, Jamie Goodwin, offered the chair to John Arthur before Clinton Leeks was then escorted into the lodge by a small team carrying his chain. John Arthur then invested Clinton Eliot Leeks, as his new Assistant Provincial Grand Master.

Clinton was Initiated into Universities Lodge No2352 in 2002 becoming their Master in 2008, he is also a member of Durham Lodge of Installed Masters and Harriers Lodge, which meets in the District of Hong Kong. In Royal Arch, he was Exalted into Universities Chapter in 2010 becoming their First Principal in 2014. Clinton was appointed Provincial Senior Grand Warden in 2015 and was in recent years promoted to Past Assistant Grand Standard Bearer.

Clinton holds a BA and MA from Oxford University in Modern History; is a Fellow of the Historical Association; has been a Justice of the Peace in Hong Kong from 1992 to 1997 and in England from 2005 to date; is a Freeman of the City of London, and was awarded the OBE in 1999.

Professionally, Clinton is an experienced consultant advising a wide range of UK and international businesses, especially those involved in infrastructure development, at senior level on strategy, government relations, procurement, business development, corporate PR and community relations issues.

He is also an established trainer and public speaker in the UK and Hong Kong. In recent years, Clinton held the positions of External and Parliamentary Relations Director for High Speed 2 Ltd, the UK’s new national rail network, and Corporate Affairs Director for Crossrail, London’s new underground rail system. He was also formerly a Director at the Hong Kong Airport Authority where during the construction and opening of the new airport he led the authority’s external relations team in its relationships with Government, the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group, the business, travel and tourism sectors, and political and community groups from 1992 to 1998.

He has also held various senior roles within the Hong Kong Government, and in the UK’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office, and has paid frequent visits to the PRC in these and his business capacities. In between hiking around the world, he advises businesses on infrastructure and is a JP in Sunderland. Clinton has been married to Victoria for 34 years and they have two sons Edward and Simon.

The evening proceeded with the presentation of a substantial donation from Universities Lodge of which another article will follow relating to this. After the Lodge was closed a packed festive board continued for the celebrations of our new Assistant Provincial Grand Master.