Charity

All Freemasons’ Lodges raise money for a variety of Charities.

One of the main fundamental roles within Freemasonry is our Charitable work. Our first goal is in supporting Masonic Charities but in todays society all forms of Charity are supported.  In the past we tended not to broadcast what we did for Charity  but this is changing and you will often find Lodges getting excellent publicity in local and national press regarding their work in the community.

From its earliest days, Freemasonry has been involved in charitable activities, and since its inception it has provided support for many widows and orphans of Freemasons as well as others within the community. All monies raised for charity are drawn from amongst Freemasons, their families and friends, while grants and donations are made to both Masonic and non masonic charities.

Freemasons within The United Grand Lodge of England provide regular financial support to individual charities over long periods while at the same time making thousands of grants to local charities each year.

Part of the fees we pay to the United grand Lodge of England (UGLE) goes directly to the Masonic Charitable Foundation (MCF). This is currently £17. MCF has taken over the administration of most of the former separate masonic charities and is now a much more streamlined and effective organisation. A similar, smaller, amount goes to the Provincial Charity and then individual lodges support many smaller, local charities. Many of these are causes close to individual members personal experiences.

Every ten years or so each Province has what is referred to as “A Festival” with the aim of raising larger sums for the MCF. Derbyshire is currently “in festival” as has a target of £1.5 million over a period of 6 years. This is in addition to the large sums already raised.

In 2020/21 Freemasons in England and Wales raised in excess of £50 million.

Hope Valley has recently been part of a Dore wide group raising money for Woodland View, a care home that specialises in those with Dementia or Alzheimers, to provide a “Magic Table” which helps stimulate those with this disease. Also we have made donations to “Support Dogs”. A Sheffield based charity which provides and trains assistance dogs for Children with Autism, Those with Epilepsy, and those with certain physical disabilities. It costs £20,000 to train a dog with additional annual support costs of £2,000.

Each Christmas we make grants to a couple of local charities which offer support to young people leaving the care system and the homeless.

We also made a grant to 1890 (Dronfield) Squadron of the Royal Air Force Air Cadets.

Pictured are Worshipful Brother Tony Le May a Past Master of the Lodge and Flight Lieutenant Steve Broomhead the Officer Commanding Dronfield Squadron.

Before his recent retirement, Tony had served the Air Cadets for 57 years in a variety of uniformed and civilian roles.  Tony also made a personal gift of a “spotting telescope” to assist the cadets during their training for target rifle shooting.

For all local charity requests please go to the Contact Us page. National charities should contact Grand Lodge or Provincial Grand Lodge from our Links page.