Bury Freemasons, the East Lancashire Masonic Charity and the Masonic Charitable Foundation have come together to support Grace’s Place – a children’s hospice located in Radcliffe – with a grant of £5,000 to fund a cuddle cot and special cuddle blanket

This will helps families who have just lost a young child to spend precious hours, even days, together during the grieving process, taking after life care to another level.

The presentation was made by Chris Eccles, the Bury District Charity Steward, accompanied by the Provincial Grand Charity Steward Steve Clark. The Hospice has fantastic facilities to make this very difficult time for children and families as pleasant as possible.

With the final pieces of equipment now in place, the Hospice is proud to announce it has now opened its doors.

A spokesperson from Grace's Place said: ‘Over the last year the building has been transformed to make sure families feel comfortable here – we’ve got children’s and family bedrooms, a toy-filled play area and space for mums and dads to relax.

‘We’ve also got a state-of-the-art sensory room – fantastic for children to develop their motor and communication skills – or just to chill out in. And a Snowflake Room, a private and peaceful room where bereaved families can spend time together and say their last goodbyes.’

East Lancashire Freemasons have presented Burnley Football Club with a grant of £19,200 to help support their ‘Kicks’ programme

At the end of 2018, Burnley Football Club made a successful application to the Masonic Charitable Foundation, which came through East Lancashire Freemasons, for the grant. This was presented to the during half time at their home game against Cardiff City on 13th April 2019 by East Lancashire's Deputy Provincial Grand Master John Farrington and Provincial Grand Charity Steward Steve Clarke.

Kicks is one of Burnley FC’s flagship community programmes, part of BFCitC, and is designed to engage young people 11-19 who are at risk of being involved in anti-social behaviour and crime. It organises activities in a number of venues and these are predominantly football-based.

The grant will enable Burnley FC to introduce new sports such as cricket, dance and boxercise which it is hoped will also engage more girls.

East Lancashire Freemasons have supported Thomasson Memorial School with a £4,000 donation towards installing new carpets and stairs. As the pupils are deaf or hearing impaired, carpets are imperative to help in reducing echoes and reverberations within the school

Steve Clark, East Lancashire’s Provincial Grand Charity Steward, was delighted to accept an invitation from their Headteacher Lisa Lane to visit the school on 1st March where he was given a fantastic reception from the children.

Lisa had submitted a grant application to East Lancashire Masonic Charity to assist in buying new carpets for the halls and stairs within the school, which have now been installed.

Thomasson Memorial is a day school in Bolton for deaf children aged 4-16 and a nursery for hearing and deaf children age 2-4. It provides a caring, secure and supportive environment in which all children are respected and encouraged to develop their full potential.

The school was founded after Mr Thomasson, a local businessman who was hearing impaired, bequeathed money to provide a school for deaf children. Thomasson Memorial are one of a only a handful of schools for deaf children and have students from across the whole North West of the country.

East Lancashire Freemasons have donated £5,000 to the social mobility charity Leadership Through Sport & Business (LTSB), which comes through the Masonic Charitable Foundation (MCF)

On behalf of the MCF, East Lancashire Provincial Grand Charity Steward Steve Clark was delighted to attend a ‘speed interview’ session of the LTSB, which involved a dozen young people and business professionals. The space, and several interviewers, was kindly provided by Mazars in central Manchester.

These intelligent young people are at risk of becoming so-called NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training). With the help of LTSB, and working closely with local employers, they can find paid apprenticeships which are highly likely to result in full-time employment.

Although it was clear that the interviewees were nervous, the LTSB staff put them at ease and Steve did his part by sitting down with them prior to the session and giving them some friendly advice. He was very impressed with the professionalism and drive of these young people aspiring to greater things in their lives.

LTSB relies on growing relationships with local employers. Operating in London, Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester, the MCF grant of £5,000 will help them in their valuable work with disadvantaged young people in finding full-time employment through apprenticeships and professional development sessions.

On a snowbound and extremely foggy morning of January 30th 2019, members of three provinces came together to present a grant of £12,000 to North West Air Ambulance

David Walmsley, Assistant Provincial Grand Master in West Lancashire, Simon Palfreyman, Assistant Provincial Grand Master in Cheshire, and John Farrington, Deputy Provincial Grand Master in East Lancashire, ably assisted by provincial charity stewards from Cheshire and East Lancashire, all braved the snow to meet with staff from North West Air Ambulance to take a short tour of the facilities and learn a little more about what they do.

On this particular morning, the two impressive Eurocopter EC135 helicopters were grounded due to poor visibility. One of the pilots, Lee, took the opportunity of telling them that from the City Heliport (Barton Aerodrome) there is an easily referred to visual point which denotes the flying limit of 1500m; Barton Bridge.

North West Air Ambulance now have two rapid response cars which can take the place of the helicopters on days such as this should they be required, and are also able to carry blood supplies.

For the helicopters to operate it costs £9 per minute in fuel, while an average call out costs £2,500. The recent grant of £12,000 will go a fair way to providing fuel for one air ambulance for a month.

North West Air Ambulance operate three helicopters. two at City Heliport (Barton) and one over at Blackpool. A chart on the wall showed they can cover a fair proportion of the North West in 20-30 minutes travelling at up to 160mph, and 20 minutes to Lancaster and North Wales.

When Gordon Fielding, Charity Steward of Concord Lodge No. 1534 in East Lancashire, heard about the arson attack on Red Lane Primary School in Bolton, he approached the school to see if any help was needed

He learnt that, although much of the damage to the school property was covered by insurance, items such as nativity costumes, PE kit and take home bags, which had been purchased from funds raised by the children and parents, were not insured. The school was asked to prepare a list of what was needed which totalled around £4,600.

An application was made to the East Lancashire Masonic Charity Grants Committee who awarded a grant of £3,500 which was topped up with a donation of £500 from members of Concord Lodge. Red Lane Primary School is actually in the Bolton District but, as it is only some half a mile from Radcliffe Masonic Hall where Concord Lodge meets, it was decided that it was appropriate for Bury District to make the application. 

Unfortunately, on the day that the cheques were to be presented Gordon was unable to attend due to illness but Chris Eccles, the Bury District Charity Steward, was delighted to attend and present the cheques. The presentation was made at a school assembly when Chris was able to explain to the children where the money had come from and what is was for.

The school's Executive Head Lisa Whittaker and Headteacher Rhian Driver both expressed their most sincere appreciation to Gordon Fielding for the initial approach and to the generosity of Freemasons who had made possible the replacement of the damaged equipment. As a result of the masonic donations, the school had been able to stage its annual nativity play, in front of parents and guests.

Solidarity Lodge No. 7885 in Shaw, East Lancashire, has made a cash donation for the fourth year running to Playhouse 2 Youth Theatre at Shaw

PH2Youth, as it is known, have been running for over five years and boasts over 50 student members. The financial support has been well received and this year it will be used to help put the students through their LAMDA examinations (The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art).

Barbara Micklethwaite, Chairman of Crompton Stage Society, said: ‘We are so grateful to Solidarity Lodge for their donation to our youth theatre. As a charity we are always thankful for any external support we receive.

'We feel it is important for all of our students to get the best out of their time at our youth theatre and being able to take group LAMDA examinations at no extra cost is part of that.’

PH2Youth are extremely keen for their students to take group LAMDA examinations as it is something tangible for them to take forward on their journey through education. They are about to begin a new term and will soon start preparations for the LAMDA exams, which will take place in the summer.

A unique event took place on 22nd October 2018, as the Provinces of East and West Lancashire joined forces to create the fourth Chapter of the United Grand Lodge of England’s Universities Scheme

Palatine Chapter No. 2447, which is proud to have as honorary members the Grand Superintendents of both Provinces, Sir David Trippier and Tony Harrison, meets twice a year – once in East Lancashire and once in West Lancashire – and now has over 40 members from both Provinces.

This inaugural meeting of the Chapter worked an Installation Ceremony and then exalted into the Order three members from the Universities Scheme’s Craft lodge Old Mancunians’ with Mount Sinai No. 3140.

David Pratt, Provincial Grand Master of Yorkshire, West Riding, was a special guest at the consecration of the Britannic Lodge of Madeira No. 134 under the Grand Lodge of Portugal (Legal)

The consecration was held on 17th March 2018 at the O Lagar Restaurant in Câmara de Lobos by the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge (Legal) of Portugal  Julio Meirinhos, with around 70 brethren in attendance including visitors from local lodges, the Portuguese mainland, United Grand Lodge of England, Grande Loge Nationale Française, Regular Grand Lodge of Serbia and Grand Lodge of India.  This was followed by a sumptuous celebration banquet of local delicacies and wine where the brethren were joined by their families and friends.

The history of Freemasonry in Madeira goes back to 1767, and Britannic Lodge of Madeira No. 3683 was a lodge under UGLE which was consecrated in Funchal, the capital of Madeira, in 1913. The lodge moved to London in 1935 after Freemasonry had been banned in Portugal, and handed in its warrant after its last meeting in 2006.  It wasn’t until 2009 that a new lodge, Zarco Lodge No. 71, was consecrated under the Grand Lodge of Portugal (Legal) – 74 years after the ban.

The new Britannic Lodge of Madeira’s founders are mainly expats, and the lodge will work in English using Emulation Ritual and meet four times a year at the Masonic Hall in central Funchal. The lodge’s badge pays tribute to its predecessor with a similar design and they have adopted the former lodge’s motto: ‘Labor Omnia Vincit’ ('Work conquers all').

David Pratt’s involvement came about from both a passion for Madeira and an inquisitive nature to discover more about the former UGLE lodge, Britannic Lodge of Madeira No. 3683 at the request of the founders.

David said: ‘The history is fascinating and I've managed to track down some of the former members who are delighted that a new lodge bearing that distinguished name is being formed. I’ve been the ‘go-between’ to research information about the former UGLE Lodge.

'The consecration was a wonderful event, and it’s fascinating that a number of the former members of the UGLE lodge travel to Madeira on holiday frequently and had no knowledge of the local masonic activity.

‘I pay tribute to the founders from UGLE lodges who are keen to promote Freemasonry as full participating  members of the family of the four lodges now on the Island. Ed Barrow, Past Provincial Junior Grand Deacon (East Lancashire), the Founding Master, and Stuart Condliffe, Past Provincial Assistant Grand Superintendent of Works (Cheshire), the Founding Secretary, have worked tirelessly to create the new lodge. Octavio Sousa of the Grand Lodge (Legal) of Portugal also provided excellent support and guidance to bring about this momentous achievement.’

The lodge welcomes visitors from UGLE – please remember to contact the Grand Chancellor’s Office before visiting any foreign Grand Lodges.

An East Lancashire Masonic Charity (ELMC) grant of £4,650 is the first contribution to a million-pound appeal by East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust’s ELHT&ME charity

Launched at a breakfast reception, the appeal will focus on improvements that are above and beyond normal NHS provisions, such as specialised medical equipment. It also aims to enhance the patient environment at ELHT’s five hospitals.

The ELMC grant will provide static and mobile video conferencing technology and equipment that allows young people to access speedy support for mental health issues from medical professionals without the need to travel.