The Provincial Grand Lodge of Devonshire

Charity Matters

WAKE Fund gives £27,500 to local Charities On Friday 29th May, the Freemasons of Devonshire made a series of donations to local charities and youth organisations. Over 100 people were present at the Mount Edgcumbe Masonic Hall, Citadel Road, Plymouth where the Provincial Grand Master for Devonshire, Right Worshipful Brother Michael Penny, presented 38 charities with cheques totalling £27,500. The Devonshire Freemasons have, over the years, accumulated monies into the William Alexander Kneel Endowment (WAKE) Fund, the income from which is used to make annual disbursements to local charities and organisations based within the county of Devon. A total of £50,000 will be distributed in total this year, with a second presentation evening to be held at Crediton on Friday 18th September. The recipients of the Charities holding their cheques with the Provincial Grand Master are shown below. Please place your mouse pointer over a picture to pause the slideshow.


On the same evening, Worshipful Brother George Evatt OBE (on behalf of the Western District United Services Lodge No 2258) presented a cheque for £1000 to Michael Penny (on the right below) in respect of a separate appeal that the Devonshire Freemasons are currently making for the Royal Masonic Trust for Girls & Boys, a national children’s charity. To date an impressive £1.9 million has been raised for this Appeal. Conrad Donaldson, Provincial Charity Steward 13/06/09
The full list of recipients and their sponsors were:
Childrens Hospice South West - Felicity 5336 / St Thomas 4198 / Earl of Mt.Edgcumbe3924 RD&E Baby Care Unit - Northcote 2659 Ricky Grant Trust Fund - Dart 2641 The Childrens' Diabetes Trust - Dundas 1255 Ford Park Cemetary Trust - St John the Evangelist 4405 Lifeline Resources - Brunswick 159 Tavistock Girl Guides - Bedford 282 The 'Enable' Campaign for South Brent Primary School - Dartmoor 4604 Courtlands Special School at Crownhill, Plymouth - Earl of Mt Edgcumbe 3924 Torbay "Moving Hearts" Appeal for British Heart Foundation - Miles Coverdale 5069 SSAFA Forces Help - Plymouth Branch - Lodge of Prudence 1550 The Lodge Cancer Support & Information Centre - Churston Ferrers 8779 Friends of Dawlish Hospital - Lodge of Union 444 Primrose Breast Care Centre in Derriford Hospital - Fortitude 105 6th Torbay Britannia Sea Scout Group - Courtland 6706 Vranch House School Centre - Ashburton 2189 SEEING - St John the Baptist 39 Alzheimer's Society - Exeter Branch - St Thomas 4198 Brixham Youth Enquiry Service - True Love & Unity 248 St Margarets Church Topsham - St Margarets 6128 / Brent 1284 / Bishop Surtees 8497 Dartmoor Search & Rescue Team - OPM 6279 Plymouth Age Concern Elspeth Sitters House Centre - OPM 6279 Bovey Tracey Youth Café - Direct St Petrocks Centre - Prov Scribe E HRA Guide Dogs for the Blind Torquay - Three Pillars 2806 Exeter Homeless Action Group - Scout Lodge 9783 Kingsteignton Open Air Swimming Pool - Newton Lodge 6129 Elizabeth Svensen Trust - Metham 1205 Tipton St John Playing Fields Association - St Peter in Exeter 5806 Rowcliffe Hospice - 1980 Masters Club Stoke Gabriel Village Hall - Pleiades 710 Connections Skills Challenge - Plymouth Hoe 4235 Crownhill Ward Trust - Victory 4189 Boys Brigade - Haytor - Harmony 156 Plymouth Hospital & Outreach School - Lord Roborough 5789 Plympton Brownies - Sir John Hawkins 3704 Friends of Derryford Hospital - Philammon 3226 St John's Ambulance Cullompton Branch - St Andrew 4097
	The current main focus of charitable fundraising in the Province is, and will be over the next five years, the 2012 Festival in aid of Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys. What are Festivals? Festivals are happy occasions at which Brethren and Ladies meet one another in a convivial social environment. They are held to celebrate the completion of a Province's appeal on behalf of the festivals beneficiary. In most cases this will have lasted for several years and involved a great deal of hard work on the part of the Brethren of the Province - especially Lodge Charity Stewards. The Festival begins with a reception at which the Brethren, wearing Masonic Craft regalia and, of course, the Festival Jewel, are received with their Ladies and greeted by the Provincial Grand Master, and his lady, after which there is the opportunity of circulating in the bar area and meeting members of other Lodges. The reception is followed a little later by the Festival banquet, at which the principal guest could be either the Pro, Deputy or Assistant Grand Master, representing the Grand Master.

The 2012 Festival in aid of the Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys (RMTGB) Devonshire will host the 2012 Festival for the Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys (RMTGB). The Festival will be officially launched in January 2007 at three venues - one each in Plymouth, Torbay and Barnstaple W. Bro Colin Davies PSGD, Assistant Provincial Grand Master has been appointed Festival Chairman and W. Bro Conrad Donaldson Provincial Grand Charity Steward will act as Festival Secretary. Material (booklets, posters, Report & Accounts, videos etc) will be available, together details of jewel honorific levels at the Official launches. A special jewel for the Festival has been designed and it incorporates the arms of Provincial Grand Lodge. It is a most pleasing design and it is hoped that every Brother (and their wives/partners) will wear with pride. The RMTGB is the oldest of the main national Masonic Charities (for history see below) and aims to relieve poverty and provide an education and preparation for life for the children of a freemason and where funds permit, for any children. The trust is very proud that for over 200 years it has never had to turn away any Masonic applicant for lack of funds. The last few years have been difficult financially for the Trust with an annual deficit of some £2-3m between its income (includes festivals such as ours) and its expenditure. Grants have had to be reduced and expenditure trimmed. Grants to full beneficiaries have been, and will continue to be, honored. Devon's Festival will be key to supplying much-needed funds for the RMTGB and we must aim to raise as much as possible. Brethren will be strongly encouraged to direct their Masonic charitable giving for the period up to the Festival to the RMTGB, particularly through Gift Aid Declarations which enables the Trust to get a 28% in tax relief where the donor is a tax payer. This is a small return for some of the tax that we have all paid in our lifetimes so we should aim to maximize it! There are some 6400 Freemasons in Devonshire and if each Mason were to contribute a minimum of £5 per month - a little over a £ 1 per week - for 5 years and 50% complete Gift Aid Declarations then we will raise over £2m from individual donations alone.

History of The Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys. Girls In 1788 Chevalier Ruspini formulated a scheme for establishing a school for the daughters of deceased and distressed Freemasons. Fifteen girls between the ages of 5 and 10 were admitted to a school in a rented house near Euston Station. The school was called Royal Cumberland Free Mason School for Little Children where daughters were under the protection of HRH The Duchess of Cumberland. In 1795 a new, larger school was built at St George's Fields to accommodate 65 girls. 1852 saw another move, to even larger premises at Wandsworth Common. The name The Royal Masonic Institution for Girls was adopted in 1868. By this time secondary education was taking most of the places, and continued to do so until a Junior School opened in 1904. During the First World War the Junior School moved to Weybridge in Surrey, and in 1926 further building doubled its size. The Senior School moved to a 400-acre site in Rickmansworth Park in Hertfordshire in 1934, from where it still operates. The Junior School closed in 1973 as a result of falling numbers. An important aspect of girls' education occurred in 1906 when the principle was accepted that a girl who for reasons acceptable to the RMIG was not admitted to the school might receive financial help to enable her to attend a school near her own home. The Royal Charter of 1952 made it quite clear that only 'daughters and female children legally adopted' could benefit from the RMIG by being clothed, maintained and educated. Fee-paying pupils were allowed to fill vacancies from 1965 (if they were daughters or legally adopted female children of a Freemason). Day-girls were admitted in 1972, and finally the doors were opened to any fee-paying girl. Click here girls photo archive. Boys From 1798 there were two Masonic charities for clothing and educating sons of indigent Freemasons. The charities operated separately for nearly 60 years, each providing for the education of sons by sending them to the nearest school to which they resided. Wood Green in North London was the first boys' school, where 25 boys started in 1857 following an amalgamation of the two charities in 1852. A new school was built in Bushey in Hertfordshire in 1903 with an adjoining Junior School added in 1929. By 1939 there were 800 boys aged 8 to 18 at Bushey. In the late 1950's and 1960's numbers declined and the two boys schools merged in 1970 and accepted boys from the age of 11. The privilege of the title 'Royal' was granted in 1832, and the name 'The Royal Masonic Institution for Boys' was adopted. It was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1926. A supplemental Charter was granted in 1958 that allowed fee-paying pupils when space permitted, and a further Supplement Charter granted in 1966 allowed day-boys. However, the RMIB did not exercise either of these options, and in 1977, due to a severe decline in numbers, the School was closed and sold. Click here boys photo archive. GRAND MASTER'S COMMITTEE OF ENQUIRY HRH the Duke of Kent, as Grand Master, set up a Committee of Enquiry that reported in 1973 under the Chairmanship of the Hon Mr Justice Bagnell. The enquiry was into the rationalization of Masonic charities. At that time there were five Masonic charities operating for the poverty-stricken: Royal Masonic Institution for Girls RMIG Girls' welfare and education Royal Masonic Institution for Boys RMIB Boys' welfare and education Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution RMBI Annuities for the aged, and some accommodation Royal Masonic Hospital RMH In- and out-patients, on a means-tested basis Fund of Benevolence - Donations to any charitable purpose Eventually the first two became the RMTGB; the Hospital was sold and care for the sick was vested in the Masonic Samaritan Fund, the last mentioned became the Grand Charity, leaving only the RMBI as it had been. Girls and Boys In the early 1980's the RMIG and the RMIB were merged with the Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys, which was given the overall aim of relieving poverty and advancing education of children of all ages. The girls' charity was set up in 1788. The trust deeds allowed for legitimate daughters of, and female children legally adopted by, Freemasons who, from some unexpected calamity, were driven into poverty, to be educated at the School. All girls were boarders and educated free, unless it was deemed that a parental contribution was required in accordance with the income of the parent(s). The boys' charity followed in 1798 along similar lines to those for the girls. The Boys' School was sold in 1977, and the money realised was, and still is, used for supporting boys at whatever school is best suited to their needs. The Girls' School was not sold, but set up as a separate foundation as a Girls' Independent School (The Rickmansworth Masonic School) operating in the private sector in competition with all others in the area. Two injunctions were laid upon the School: any girl placed there by the newly formed RMTGB would be accepted, and that if no Petition child were at the School, the Endowment would revert to the RMTGB to support Petition girls elsewhere. A girl would be sent to RMS or supported at any other school, according to the needs of the girl. In 1997 the name of the school reverted to The Royal Masonic School for Girls, by the gracious permission of Her Majesty the Queen. In September 1982, the Trust Deed establishing the RMTGB was signed but it was not until January 1986 that the RMTGB became active. It then assumed the duties and became responsible for the Trusts of the former Charities, the RMIG and the RMIB. The merger created one new body having wider terms of reference and able to give greater assistance to the children of distressed Freemasons and, when resources permitted, to give relief to children outside the Craft. By gracious permission of Her Majesty The Queen the Trust adopted the name 'Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys' on 1 May 2003. Report of the Provincial Grand Charity Steward to Provincial Grand Lodge 25th April 2008 I shall restrict my remarks to the 2012 Festival, since the work of the Benevolent Fund and the William Alexander Kneel Endowment (WAKE) Fund is covered in a separate report by its Secretary, W. Bro. Frank Handscombe. Two years ago saw the formal launch, in January 2007, of the Province of Devonshire’s 2012 Appeal for the Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys (RMTGB). The main aim of the RMTGB, one of the largest UK poverty charities, is to provide education and life preparation for the children of Freemasons, usually in circumstances where one or both parents may have died or deserted the family home. At the end of 2008, some £1.7 million has been donated by Lodges, brethren, the Holy Royal Arch, and the other Masonic orders and Charities - a magnificent achievement. The Appeal has also benefited from over £110,000 of interest being allocated to the Appeal by the RMTGB. Some 1,450 Brethren have qualified as Festival Stewards and we hope many more of our 6,600 Brethren will emulate their example. To be a Steward requires a commitment of either £5 per month for 5 years or a cash donation of £300. In either case, the Appeal further benefits if Brethren are willing to Gift Aid their donations since this adds another 28%, courtesy of the Inland Revenue! Thanks must be recorded to those who have helped in this splendid effort - individual Brethren, Lodge Charity Stewards, the members of the 2012 Festival Committee and in particular the Area Managers and Chairman W. Bro. Bill Daw and Assistant Secretary Frank Handscombe. Mention must also be made of the website (www.devonfestival.org) Manager, W. Bro. Alan Cockman and W. Bro. John Smerdon who manages the Festival Merchandise Stall and produces the Lodge Certificates. It is most pleasing to record that 14 Lodges have attained Grand Patron status (donated at least £20,000) and a further 19 Lodges have attained Patron status (donated at least £15,000). In all, 62 Lodges have each raised in excess of £10,000. Many different fund raising ideas have been implemented from walks to climbing mountains to skittles evenings to sales of merchandise such as wine and cufflinks - every effort is to be congratulated and thanked. Many different fund raising ideas have been implemented from walks to climbing mountains to skittles evenings to sales of merchandise such as wine and cufflinks every effort is to be congratulated and thanked. Special mention must be made of the visit of the Caldicot Male Voice Choir organised by the Per Mare Per Terram Lodge under the enthusiastic direction of W. Bro. Mike Cane. The Choir gave a magnificent concert at Holy Trinity Church in Exmouth an event which raised £1,500. Also, a very big thank you to W. Bro. Keith Evans and his team who organised a Festival Ball at the Riviera International Conference Centre in Torquay an even larger sum of £7,000 was raised on that splendid evening. Turning to 2009, the Lodge “Powerpoint” presentation has been updated and completely re-written by W. Bro. Robin Willis-Fleming and will be available for use in Lodges and elsewhere from the Spring of 2009. A series of Festival Seminars has been organised for January and February. These will give attendees opportunities to discuss the Festival, the WAKE Fund and Charitable Giving generally and to share experiences. The Caldicot Male Voice Choir will be returning in July for another “sell out” concert. A Garden Party is to be held on Sunday 21st June 2009 at Ugbrooke House, courtesy of Lord and Lady Clifford. This is one of the finest stately homes in Devon and it is hoped that Brethren will support this event with wives, families and friends - it will be an open day when we can once again demonstrate “freemasonry in the community”. The Country is in the deepest recession many of us can remember and it is appreciated that money will be tight. It is a fact, however, that in such times as these, the demands on the RMTGB will not lessen and regrettably will increase so I appeal to you all to be generous in your support of this Appeal. Finally, can I thank the Provincial Grand Master and his executive for their continued support and encouragement. May I conclude with the words of V.W. Bro. Mike Woodcock, the President of the RMTGB, addressed to the Freemasons of Devon when he said: “On behalf of the 1,800 children that we currently support, I thank you most sincerely for all the work that you are doing. Keep up the good work which is helping so many disadvantaged children of our Masonic family”. Conrad Donaldson Provincial Grand Charity Steward