Charity

Appeals:

With the donations to the lodge relief chest, Royal Leopold are able to donate £1200 to the Air Ambulance Appeal. This was voted on at the April meeting and has winged it's way to the fund.

The relief chest scheme provides a way of donating to the lodge relief chest online, which is available and easy to use by clicking on the link: DONATIONS. Alternatively, you can send donations to our treasurer or the charity steward, made out to Royal Leopold Lodge 1669. These will be gratefully received and faithfully applied.

London Freemasons reach £2 Million in their ongoing pledge to support the Up Against Time Appeal, as of 18 APR 2024

We’re thrilled to announce that the London Freemasons have officially reached £2 million in their fundraising efforts, following their pledge to raise £3 million for our Up Against Time appeal in March 2023.

London Freemasons have a proud and enduring partnership with this charity. Their latest commitment aims to raise £3 million for the Up Against Time appeal, contributing a fifth of the £15 million needed to replace the ageing helicopter fleet by September. This is the largest single pledge ever received by the charity, bringing us significantly closer to our goal. Every donation made through this partnership helps ensure we continue flying and saving lives across London.

Matthew Christmas, Chief Operating Officer of London Freemasons, remarked:
“This is the fastest we have ever raised such a substantial amount, and I am confident we will reach the remaining £1 million by year-end. London Freemasons understand how vital it is for London’s Air Ambulance Charity to have state-of-the-art helicopters.”

London’s Air Ambulance Medical Director, Dr Tom Hurst, expressed heartfelt thanks to all contributors:
“Thank you for your hard work, dedication, and commitment – it’s an amazing achievement to reach the £2 million mark in just 12 months as you support our crucial Up Against Time appeal.”

Special thanks also go to Sir Michael Snyder, Head of London Freemasons, who is stepping down from his role. Under his leadership, London Freemasons have consistently supported us when needed most, including funding our emergency response cars and providing £2.1 million for the launch of our second helicopter in 2016. This legacy of generosity means we can be there for five seriously injured patients every day, delivering life-saving care where it matters most.

Freemasons mainly collect money for charity in lodge meetings, from Lodge social events, and from Masonic events. We do not normally go out and collect money from the general public but will accept any donation offered.

All Lodge meetings include a charity collection and most will also hold a raffle or similar event where all the profits are given to charity. As raffle prizes are usually donated, this can be 100% of the proceeds!

The Worshipful Master for the year has the privilege to choose any charity for his year and all money raised, except certain small collections dictated by the lodge, go to this charity/charities. The Master's chosen charity for this year is The Richard House Trust, children's hospice .

Some of the charities the Lodge has donated to are: The Richard House Trust children's hospice, Cystic Fibrosis, St Thomas Hospital cancer unit, St Joseph Hospice, Teddybears, and many more.

2016-17: £375 was collected for the Master's charity, which was The Richard House Trust.

In 2023, £250 was donated to the Ukraine Appeal and £250 to the Orient Lodge 4085 Chaplains Challenge for their local Cancer centre, in memory of Josie Holland, wife of WB John Holland. A total of £4000 was raised by this lodge to purchase two special treatment chairs for the centre.

It has been stated that the Masons are the second biggest charity givers after the National Lottery.

Extracts From Freemasonry Today

The MCF Logo

The Freemasons' Grand Charity

The Freemasons' Grand Charity is a grant-making charity, which is funded by Freemasons and their families. In one year it gave grants totalling nearly £7 million to support people in need and fund the work of charities helping the wider community.

London Fire Brigade Appeal

This took place at the annual London Grand Rank Investiture meeting of Metropolitan Grand Lodge, where a party from London's Fire Brigade were welcomed into the Grand Temple, led by Steve Apter, London Fire Brigade Director of Safety and Assurance, and Dr Fiona Twycross, Chair of London Fire EPA. They were presented with the first instalment of a cheque for £375,000.

These appliances will be in addition to the extra resources for extended height aerial vehicles already requested by the Commissioner as part of a Mayoral review into the Brigade's resources in July. London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton thanked Sir Michael Snyder for their generosity: 'We are very grateful to Sir Michael Snyder and London Freemasons for this first donation and their commitment to raise the significant sum of money to buy such important equipment. It's important that we have the most effective resources for the city environment in which we serve, so we not only have to consider the reach of our aerial appliances but whether they are agile enough to move around the capital's narrow streets. This has been an incredibly busy and emotional year for everyone connected with London Fire Brigade and we welcome this recognition.

To read more see the Freemasonry Today web site.

First of the 'Super Hi-Lift' (64m) turntable vehicles parked outside Freemasons' Hall and liveried with the square and compasses and the words; 'Donated by London Freemasons'.

This was the fruits of the hard work of many brethren in response to the challenge set by the Metropolitan Grand Master, Sir Michael Snyder two years ago to raise £2.5 million for the purchase of two of these vehicles for the London Fire Brigade..Metropolitan Grand Master Sir Michael Snyder surprised a packed Freemasons Hall on 2nd November 2017 when he announced the launch of a £2.5 million appeal to purchase two extended high rise aerial vehicles for London Fire Brigade

London Fire Brigade Fast Responce

On a particularly joyous note, in addition to the two super aerial platforms the money raised also paid for six fast response vehicles for the London Fire Brigade.

Donations to the London Ambulance Service

Thursday (12th March 2020) we will also hand over a further three fast response vehicles to London Ambulance Service to add to the five purchased awhile ago.

Australian Bush Emergency:

People who have lost everything in the catastrophic Australian bush fires will be among those to benefit from a grant of AUS $150,000 (£79,000) from Freemasons to the Disaster Relief Funds set up by Freemasons in Australia.

The grant comes through the Masonic Charitable Foundation, which is funded by Freemasons, their families and friends, from across England and Wales will see AUS$50,000 given to the Australian Freemasons’ Disaster Relief Funds in each of the three states most affected by the blaze: New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

The Masonic Charities

The Masonic charities are briefly outlined below. Please click on the links for more information about each one.

The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution assists older Freemasons and their dependants. It established its first home in 1850 and now runs 18 homes in all areas of England and Wales.

The Grand Charity helps poor and distressed Freemasons and their dependants as well as being the primary interface to non-Masonic charities. It dates its origins from the Committee of Charity set up in 1725. The Charity also operates the Relief Chest Scheme, helping the Craft to donate to charity easily and tax-effectively.