Members of the Forest of Knaresborough Masonic Lodge have been able to support The Brigades of Starbeck in replacing their well worn camping equipment and musical instruments.
The Boys and Girls of The Brigade have been marching with patched up equipment for some time. The granddaughter of one of our Lodge Members wondered if the Lodge might be able to help with a donation. Brigades organiser Mark Wheatley said “Our focus is on helping the young people in our care to grow and develop, to make friends, have fun, make memories, learn skills and independence, discipline and self control. A lot of our staff team are former members and can testify to the impact that being involved in Brigade has had on their lives”. The Knaresborough Freemasons were able to support this worthy cause with a donation of £2500.00. A cheque was presented at The Starbeck Methodist Church in front of friends and family, in appreciation The Band struck up some lively tunes for all those present to enjoy and presented The Lodge with a framed photo collage of Brigades member’s recent activities in appreciation of the donation. Charitable Giving Brethren, if you were at Harrogate for the Provincial AGM you would have seen the pleasure that the Provincial Grand Master had in giving away £123,000.00 to six very worthy recipients and the elation on the faces of those dedicated people was a joy to behold. All of this and the minor grants given every quarter is only possible because of the work you do and the generosity of our Brethren. So may I thank you all for the continued support you give to West Riding Masonic Charities as Lodge Charity Stewards. Just in case there are those who are unaware of who the recipients were, they were as follows:- Major Grants:- 2 Rokeby Old Earth School Sports Pitch Elland £20000 3 Knars Priory Martin House Hosp Special mini bus Boston Spa £38000 3 Chevin Green Meadows Schl outdoor play Guiseley £25000 5 Stability Bramley elderly Action mini bus Bramley £20000 4 Aire & Calder Mission Trinity food bank Goole £10000 4 W R Fairways Paces Sheffield School equip Sheffield £10000 Minor grants :- Area Lodge Beneficiary Cause Town Grant 1 Mirfield Thornhill Rugby U14 New kit Thornhill £700 1 Felicity St Joseph CP school laptops Bingley £2750 1 Kirklees Upper Batley H school laptops Batley £1000 1 Peace 3rd Bingley Sea Scouts Powerboat Bingley £2500 1 Zetland Fairfield School Sensory room Batley £2500 2 Concord Crowlees CE school marquee Mirfield £2925 2 Concord The Bridgewood Trust IT equipment Huddersfield £1460 2 Holme Valley Thongsbridge C Club New toilet Thongsbridge £2000 2 Holme Valley Calderdale Stroke Supp. Laptop Brighouse £750 2 Mexborough Sikh Soldier Org Bronze statue Huddersfield £1000 2 Huddersfield Ravensknowle Gala H&S items Brighouse £500 3 H&C Harrogate Homeless Tablets Harrogate £1700 3 H&C Harrogate hosp radio Wi-Fi Harrogate £3000 3 Frst of Knars Girls Brigade Camp equip Harrogate £2500 3 Calcaria St Mary’s Church Tables/Chairs Tadcaster £2000 3 Mawsis Paediatric Systic Fibrosis Xbox & ipads LGI £2250 4 Hall Cross The Ridge College Camping gear Doncaster £1000 4 Holgate Barnsley Sea scouts defibrillator Barnsley £1000 4 Fitzwilliam Headway brain injury sup. Photocopier Rotherham £2000 All very worthwhile recipients I am sure you will agree. The submission date for the next round of applications has now passed so good luck to all that have applied. When presenting cheques locally please ensure you take photographs and submit them with details for publication either on the website or within the White Rose magazine. Donations to Charity Could I please ask a favour. Instead of keeping your donations in your bank account for 12 months and handing over a cheque to the Provincial representative, would you please process the donations on a two or three monthly basis. This will have two distinct benefits; firstly the monies can be put to immediate use looking after our sick Brethren and secondly it is much simpler for the office to process your payments on a quarterly basis rather than 12 monthly. Could I also ask that you use the returns document sent out with the payment acknowledgement. This will have all the names of your subscribing members, will identify whether they have signed a gift aid declaration and make it simple for you and the office to process. Should you not have such a document please ask the office to send you one. Lifelites Simone Enefer-Doy, CEO of Lifelites, a children’s charity very close to Masonic hearts, visited Yorkshire West Riding on her tour of the Provinces, raising money for the charity as she passed through. W Bro Stuart Cadman, Chairman of WRMCL presented her with a cheque for £1000 whilst riding on the footplate of a steam engine at Elsecar Heritage Railway. My thanks to Richard, Commercial Director of Elsecar Railway and Michael Cooper, one of their senior drivers, both YWR Freemasons, for making it happen. Charity accounts During this quiet time of recess is a good time to prepare your accounts in readiness for the year end. Getting rid of old records can ease the burden and anything older than 7 years can be discarded. Masonic Charitable Foundation The Following grants have been made to organisations in the Province:- Depaul UK - £56,962 over 2 years Across South Yorkshire Depaul UK supports young people aged 16-25 years whose wellbeing and life chances have been severely impacted by disadvantage and homelessness. The grant will help fund the Safe@Last project, which provides a range of integrated prevention and support services across South Yorkshire to reduce the incidences of children and young people running away from home in the region, and improve the safety and wellbeing of children who have run away from home. Families are assigned a Family Support Worker who provides practical and emotional help and advice for the whole family. Yorkshire Youth & Music Halifax - £15,000 over 3 years Yorkshire Youth & Music works with disadvantaged children and young people including those with disabilities, in care or in the youth justice system. They provide high quality adapted learning opportunities in music making to engage beneficiaries and overcome challenging behaviours, with SkillForce - £150,000 over 2 years The grant will help to fund two veteran instructors for the Prince William Award to provide personal development and life skills training to children from disadvantaged backgrounds. This will be delivered in partnership with schools in Derby and Bradford to disadvantaged young people aged 8-11 years. SNAPS (Special Needs and Parent Support Yorkshire) - £3,000 per year for 2 years SNAPS is a Leeds charity that delivers regular physiotherapy and support to children with additional needs and their families. SNAPS delivers high quality hydrotherapy, swimming and rebound therapy sessions to children with a range of needs to help them improve their muscle tone, increase their core stability, increase their stamina and help them to sit/stand or walk unaided. Alongside the vital physiotherapy, SNAPS offers hall activities where the children, siblings, parents, carers and grandparents can all enjoy time together, playing with toys, taking part in music therapy, playing Boccia or making friends and supporting one another. A substantial amount of Grand Lodge Charity (MCF) being fed back into Yorkshire West Riding. Two additional items to the recently issued Newsletter. New Area Charity Committee Chairman I am pleased to advise that W Bro Edward Morris of Loyalty Lodge No 4971 has taken up his post as Chairman of Area 5 at the PCC meeting on 4th June. Ed is an experienced PCA and remains Charity Steward of his Lodge. His enthusiasm is already in evidence. Sadly, with Ed’s appointment we must bid farewell to W Bro David Gray who has served on the PCC for the past 3 years as Chairman of Area 5 and has been a hard working PCA for many years before that. MCF Hospice grants The formal presentation of the cheque to Wakefield Hospice has now been made by the PGM together with representatives from area 5 when we were made very welcome by all of the staff during a tour of the hospice. Thank you once again for all your efforts. Keep up the good work. Michael J Holmes ![]()
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