Wiltshire Freemasons presented a cheque for £30,000 to a south Wiltshire based charity to expand a service trialled locally to help families affected by substance abuse.

East Knoyle and Cloud's House is home to local charity Action on Addiction which has been given the cash to put towards their M-PACT scheme, working with children and parents who have drug and alcohol issues.

It's hoped this money, which has come from the Freemasons' Grand Charity, will mean the charity can roll the service out across the country.

Nick Barton is Action on Addiction's chief exec and says that without it, an expansion wouldn't be possible:

'All these things unfortunately cost money. It's complicated and important work and requires very skilled people to do it. We do need the resources in order to develop the work and we're trying now to spread it around the country.

'We started it here in Wiltshire, tested it out and had very good results, so now we've set out to spread it around.'

Peter Winton, Deputy Provincial Grand Master of Wiltshire representing the Freemasons' Grand Charity said:

'The Freemasons' Grand Charity is dedicated to supporting organisations such as Action on Addiction, which repeatedly demonstrate innovative ways of helping the people they seek to assist. Freemasons in Wiltshire are community-minded and therefore we are delighted that we can provide this support for local children and their families.'

At an emotionally charged 125th anniversary meeting the White Horse Lodge No. 2227 installed W Bro John Moorehouse as Master.

RW Bro Francis Wakem, Provincial Grand Master for Wiltshire, presided at the special meeting held by special dispensation on the very day on which the White Horse Lodge No. 2227 was consecrated in October 1887. The same year, in which Queen Victoria celebrated the fiftieth year of her reign, the Prince of Wales was Grand Master and the second Lord Methuen was Provincial Grand Master for Wiltshire.

The meeting, held in the Laverton Hall, was attended by the Deputy Provincial Grand Master, the Assistant Provincial Grand Master, who is a subscribing member of the Lodge and by RW Bro Byron Carron, Past Provincial Grand Master. 

The meeting was conducted in an excellent manner by the Installing Master, W Bro Mike Allen. 

To universal acclaim two stalwarts of the Lodge received the special attention of the Provincial Grand Master. W Bro Bob Aitkenhead, PJGD, was presented with a Masonic Samaritan Fund 2017 festival jewel, and W Bro Bruce Chisholm was promoted to the rank of Past Provincial Senior Grand Warden. 

There were two presentations made to the Provincial Grand Master, with cheques for the Masonic Samaritan Fund 2017 festival being presented by the Lodge and the Westbury OSM Conclave.

At the celebration lunch held in Warminster Civic Hall the Provincial Grand Master related how 'The Lodge is still a vibrant and living part of Westbury life and community which is testament to the tenacity and energy of the founding members and their successors'. 

Not that it has been an easy journey; in terms of members the Lodge was quite small but always well supported and in the first hundred years of its history the minutes were recorded by only eleven Secretaries. 

It was said that on production of the summons, Freemasons could purchase return tickets on the Great Western Railway for the price of a single fare.   

It is interesting to note that between 1915 and 1935 one past Master initiated 20 candidates – a task never likely to face the new Master. 

The Provincial Grand Master for Wiltshire, RW Bro Francis Wakem, concluded his short address by reminding everyone present that while 'The White Horse Lodge is a small Lodge it has a big heart which beats strongly through the tenacity and interest of like-minded men. Since the first meeting of the Lodge it has served to unite, maintain and uphold the three great but simple ideals of Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth, or rather in the words which I much prefer to use, and which accurately describe what we are all about: Live Well; Laugh Often; and Love Much. The White Horse Lodge and pure antient masonry in general will continue to give future generations the pleasure that we and those who have gone before us have found in it.'

The Lodge of Rectitude, No. 335, has celebrated its bicentenary. The lodge by-laws state that membership is limited to 60, and as far as practicable be recruited equally from among lodges meeting in Wiltshire and Somerset.

In addition, at the June installation, the new Master must also provide the strawberries and cream at the Festive Board. During the meeting a cheque was presented to Wiltshire PGM Francis Wakem for £1,500 towards the 2017 Festival for the Masonic Samaritan Fund.

The Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre in Chippenham has become the repository of lodge records dating back hundreds of years. Three lodges from the Province of Wiltshire became the latest to place their records in the hands of Tom Craig, Head of Heritage and Arts, and Claire Skinner, Principal Archivist at the Centre.

Wiltshire Lodge of Agriculture No. 9090 has again organised the local Voices for Hospices event in support of the Dorothy House Hospice near Bath. The Concert raised £2,500 to which Provincial Grand Master Francis Wakem added a further £2,000 from the Provincial Charity Fund. 

The concert was hosted by ITV West Country presenter Peter Rowell and featured the City of Bath Male Choir. The concert included specialist items by local young soprano Rhiannon Lambert and violinist Lizz Lipscombe 

Voices for Hospices is a series of simultaneous concerts around the globe which takes place on World Hospice and Palliative Care Day every two years.