Page 18 - EssexMason (Issue 86) Online Version

Charity

Festival 2022 Update
Festival Thermometer
2022
Let’s hit that £6 million target
£5m By W.Bro Colin Felton ProvChStwd
£5m

£4m
e are just over half way through the Festival and at the time
Wof writing we have banked around £2.9 million towards our
revised target of £6 million – so thank you to everyone who has
£2.95m £3m
supported us so far, but as you can see – we still have a long way
to go.
£2m To achieve that target we need an average £682 from every Essex Freemason, a fi gure that has just been achieved by our neighbours
in Hertfordshire, so £6 million, hopefully more should be more than doable from a Province like ours, renowned for its generosity.
If you have not done so already please take out a regular payment promise. You can still spread the cost of £8.50 a month plus
£1m
Gift Aid over fi ve years and the full amount that you pay will still count towards our overall Festival total – and you will receive a
Festival Jewel.
Gift Aid
On my travels around the Province I can still see that many Lodges and Chapters are not using Gift Aid envelopes and there is no
reason or excuse for not doing this. It is your tax that we are claiming back, your money that can be used for good causes or simply
kept by the Government – your decision.
I hear excuses that people do not want the tax-man to know what they doing – well I have news for you, they already know and they are more than happy to
give your cash back to charities. Whatever you are told or think you have heard – there is absolutely no reason why your Lodge or Chapter should not be using
Gift Aid envelopes and claiming that extra 25%.
I or any member of my Charity Committee would be pleased to visit your Lodge and explain how this works and of course tell you more about the
Festival and what we hope to achieve.
As you should be aware Essex is raising money for the Masonic Charitable Foundation which in turn is supporting the Province of Essex to the tune of £1 million
a year with grants to local charities and of course to Freemasons and their families in distress – what’s raised in Essex stays in Essex.
This money continues to fl ow in even when we are not in Festival which is why the MCF need our help and need it now. Do not wait until the end
of the Festival, anything you donate now will attract 2% interest – helping to swell your Lodge and Chapter totals.
So thank you again for everything you have done so far – you are an incredible group of people who are helping to make a difference right across
Essex – now let’s hit that £6 million.

The North Essex & Suffolk Masonic Fellowship
The Tom Bowdidge Foundation

he NE&SMF recently held its Spring Luncheon at the Frinton Golf Club. Pictured is W.Bro. Russell
THowe, Chairman of the Fellowship presenting a cheque for £500 to Bro. Richard Bowdidge
Chairman of The Tom Bowdidge Foundation one of the local charities supported by the Fellowship.
The Fellowship was given a very interesting insight into the work of the Foundation which provides support
and facilities not otherwise available to young people & teenagers with cancer. The NE&SMF is focussed
on supporting local charities and has over recent times supported the Acorn Village, EACH Tree House, the
Scouts, Invicta Foundation, Magic Moments, Marie Curie, Horse Rescue, TLC, Holland on Sea Stroke Club,
Suffolk Punch Horse Trust and the Essex & Herts Air Ambulance.
The Fellowship holds a number of social events throughout the year and membership is open to all Masons (regardless of rank) and their wives/partners & widows
of past members who become Honorary Members. If you are interested in becoming a member (£5 per year) or would like to attend one of our events please
contact David Poppleton on 01206 570725.
West Essex Round Table Lodge 9310 est Essex Round Table Lodge 9310
W
Life Changing Cheque Could Lead to New Records in Charitable Giving
A n amazing £703,000 from West Essex Round Table Lodge 9310.
The donation, the result of a generous bequest from W.Bro Alan Helps, who joined WERTL in 1989 and
who passed to the Grand Lodge Above in 2015.
Such is the size of the cheque that the PGM RW. Bro Rodney Lister Bass OBE wanted to attend the meeting to acknowledge
such a charitable donation.
Receiving the money at a meeting of WERTL at the Chingford Centre on Tuesday May 7th, the PGM paid particular tribute
to W.Bro Helps, who was Master of the Lodge in 1998, by taking the unprecedented step of posthumously awarding
him the Distinguished Service to Essex Masonry award (DSEM) – a very rare accolade in recognition of his generosity in
support of charities both during and after his lifetime.
W.Bro Helps, who never married, left all of his Estate to charity with specifi c mention of the individual Masonic Charities that existed separately before being taken under the wing of the MCF.
His close friend W.Bro Bob Osborn, executor, supported by W.Bro Mike Jeffries of what proved to be a very complicated will, then realised that he could best deliver Alan’s wishes
by donating the money to the MCF, through his adopted Mother Lodge – some three years later history was made.
More than 90 masons were at the meeting to see W.Bro Bob Osborn hand over the cheque to the PGM who had previously processed into the Lodge accompanied by four APGMs,
the Provincial Chaplain, the Provincial Sword Bearer together with two Deacons and Two Standard Bearers to represent the historic nature and importance of the donation and
the occasion.
W.Bro Alan Helps was an Essex Mason for more than 30 years and was well known for his work in the community, particularly helping to raise money for charities and later via his support for his
mother, a local councillor in Rainham. Alan was initiated into Epping Oak Lodge 7346 in 1985 which sadly handed in its warrant in 2011. He joined West Essex Round table in 1989 which then
became his adopted Mother Lodge and was its Master in 1998.
Alan left an Estate in excess of £2 million and as well as his generous donation of nearly £703,000 to the MCF, he made further bequests to Hospices and charities such as the RNLI. At the time
of his passing, aged 72, he was a PPGSwdB and can now add the DSEM following the posthumous award by the PGM.
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