The headline-stealer in this round of funding from the Freemasons Charity Yorkshire North & East Ridings has to be the Barnardo’s Toy Appeal. This was a multi-lodge application from Hazelgrove, Marwood, Wyke Millennium & Old Hymerian Lodges and it resulted in a grant of an additional £1,200 for the Christmas Toy Appeal. The Appeal provided an incredible number of toys for children who, otherwise, would have woken up on Christmas morning with nothing to open, so well done to all the Lodges, Chapters and individuals involved in this mammoth fund-raiser.

Another larger grant was awarded to the WISH charity (Working Independently to Support Hull Hospitals) as a result of a joint petition from Kingston Lodge & Chapter. WISH wanted to purchase a set of very specialist scales with ultrasound height measurement and wireless printing. These scales are used to help to identify cancer and, perhaps more importantly, to determine the exact quantity of chemotherapy drugs to treat each individual patient. The Lodge and Chapter had managed to raise £1,425 already and the FCYNER were happy to contribute a further £1,500 towards the purchase.

Minster Lodge submitted three petitions in the latest round of funding and all three were supported by the FCYNER. The Lodge wanted to help fund the York branch of MIND with a contribution of £250 towards the provision of adult counseling services in the York area and their petition resulted in a grant of an additional £250. The Lodge also supported two charities in need of musical instruments; they donated £250 for the choir at Accessible Arts & Media and £320 to The Hut, a charity providing musical therapy for adults suffering from mental health in and around York. These last two petitions were matched by FCYNER with £250 and £320 respectively.

In the December round of funding, toys seemed to be a recurrent theme! The White Horse Lodge of Installed Masters had contributed £750 towards the cost of toys and furniture for a charity called Community Works. They wanted to set up a children’s nursery to offer a safe space for vulnerable children and their families living in and around Thirsk. The Lodge had provided a detailed “wish list” of specific items the charity wanted to buy and the FCYNER trustees decided to grant them a further £768 to complete those purchases.

Finally, just a couple of reminders for Charity Stewards: the FCYNER trustees do like to see detailed “wish lists” of items required by the charities you are supporting, the more detailed and specific the better and, secondly, the grants are paid fairly quickly after the trustees’ meeting by BACS but several of the grants mentioned above were delayed as there were no BACS details included in the application forms. Please keep your petitions coming in but please complete the application forms in full.