Warrington Group hosted its annual Charity Giving Day at Warrington Masonic Hall, attended by the Mayor of Warrington, Councillor Steve Wright, representatives from the charities, Warrington Group officials, Assistant Provincial Grand Master Barry Jameson, Provincial Grand Charity Steward Paul Shirley and Past Assistant to the Provincial Grand Principals Colin Rowling.
During 2023, the lodges and chapters of the Warrington Group made donations to charities of approximately £24,130 of which £16,246 was donated to local, non-Masonic charities.
The Giving Day provides a platform for the charities to come together and share an insight into how the charity works and explain how the donations are used. It also allows the charities to meet other charities with a shared interest in the services and support they offer, for example, Jump and Zoë’s Place work with terminally ill children.
The morning started with an introduction by the Warrington Group Charity Steward David Eccles who explained what the day was about, followed by the Warrington Group Chairman Andy Barton and Barry Jameson. The introductions were then followed by a short talk by each of the attending charities.
Listening to the amazing work these charities do does hit home about the extent of the incredible work they are all delivering each day, week and month of the year. Below is a selection of quotes from the charities that provided information on the day to share some further information about the work they do.
The Mayor’s Charity. “Sometimes we tend to forget the good work that the leaders in our community do. For some years now the Freemasons of Warrington have supported and have been part of local community life. In Warrington this year we have again been pleased to be associated with the Mayor of Warrington’s choice of charities. Earlier in our giving period the Warrington Group of Freemasons was happy to present a donation to support their efforts. Today Ladies and gentlemen, we are indeed honoured by the presence of the Deputy Mayor Councillor Graham Friend to whom Andy Barton our Warrington Group Chairman presented £250.”
St Elphin’s Church. “A small donation of £287 was made as a thank-you for hosting our annual re-dedication service attended by all Warrington lodges, including the Lady Freemasons and associated Masonic Orders.”
Warrington Foodbank, Ben Pennell Trustee Inclusivity Lead. “Nobody in our community should have to face going hungry. That’s why the Warrington Foodbank provide three days of nutritionally balanced emergency food and support to local people who are referred to them in crisis. During 2023 £1,250 was made available for the Foodbank. Plus, almost £2,000 of food in December 2023 from Freemason charities.”
St Rocco’s Hospice. “Provide quality care and promote social, psychological and spiritual well-being for patients with life-limiting illnesses. All of the care they provide is free, for both patients and carers. They don’t even charge for car parking. The NHS provides less than a fifth of their funding, the rest comes directly from the community and the Warrington Group of Freemasons collectively from a number of lodges have been delighted recently to provide funds to the value of £1,300. We were delighted to welcome Sue Donley (Head of People and Culture) and Guy Hindle (Chair of the Trust Board), from St. Rocco’s Hospice.”
Zoë’s Place represented by Aimee Miller. “Zoe’s Place Baby Hospice Liverpool, is a registered charity providing palliative, respite and end-of-life care to babies and infants aged from birth to five years suffering from life-limiting or life-threatening conditions. This care will be provided in a caring, safe, home-from-home environment. £1,150 was donated to Zoe’s Place in 2023.
Whittle Hall Girls FC. Steve Pennington the Treasurer and Graham Noble, a coach, were in attendance. “The club hosts some 11 girls’ teams from U8s to U16s. with 3-year groups having 2 teams. The club hosts the largest number of girl’s teams in Warrington. In 2023 £700 was donated to the club.”
Radley Common Luncheon Club, Elaine Taylor. Here is a review by one of the luncheon club volunteers that gives you a flavour of what it provides for those of a certain age; “I enjoy my time volunteering at Radley. Elaine and her team do an amazing job for the community allowing people to come together in a safe comfortable environment. This opens up opportunities for people to come together and socialise and gives carers and families respite. The luncheon club is a lifeline for those that attend. Families can rest in the knowledge their loved ones are looked after loved and cared for. Continue to do an amazing job.” The Club received £1,000 in donations during 2023
Warrington Talking Newspaper, Jonathan McMurtrie. “The Talking Newspaper was the brainchild of Jonathan McMurtrie, the founder, here with us today. If you are a loyal reader of the Warrington Guardian, but begin to lose your eyesight, how can you keep up to date with the news? Since 1977, the Talking Newspaper has been recording articles from the Guardian for visually impaired readers. 40 plus years on, they have almost never missed an edition of the newspaper. There are a lot of Warringtonians who still take the Guardian and when they no longer can read it, they really do miss it,” Jonathan says: “Many of our listeners are ex-teachers and have read books and magazines avidly all their lives, the oldest recipient was 104.” The charity received £700 in 2023.
Walton Lea Partnership Project, Sharon Harris. “£775 was donated to support the project last year, which provides a variety of activities and supported learning opportunities for adults and young people with learning disabilities and complications. The partnership provides a variety of activities and learning opportunities across our two sites at Walton Lea Victorian Walled Garden and Walton Gardens Conservatory Range. Many of these activities can be described as ‘horticulture’ because they involve plant care and propagation, other initiatives are bicycle recycling and furniture up-cycling.”
JUMP Children’s Charity, Christine Bentham. “JUMP received £200 from Warrington lodges in 2023. The charity supports children with terminal and life-limiting illnesses across the North West of England and in Clwyd County, Wales. Its ambition was and continues to be, to support children with life-threatening health conditions, enabling them to make unique memories with their loved ones and have them captured in photo or film.”
The Joshua Tree Children’s Charity, Dai Hill. “The Joshua Tree provides bespoke programmes of support to improve the emotional well-being and mental health of all immediate and extended family members who are affected by childhood cancers, for as long as they need it. The charity’s interest in clinical research continues with the development of links with surrounding universities to better understand the effects that childhood cancer has on a family emotionally, cognitively and physically. The charity continues to offer support to the whole family, from diagnosis, through treatment and beyond. We hope that the £500 from Warrington Freemasons will have helped in some way in achieving these aims.”
Armed Forces Community Support, Arnie Arnold. “Their programmes deliver outreach services throughout Cheshire, Halton and the Wirral. They also run several projects at our location, for example, bike maintenance and ownership, green bowling, and external trips. They also hold functions within their building and have an on-site commercial café. The Armed Forces Community Support Hub in Warrington is a ‘one-stop shop’ to support the Armed Forces community in Warrington and Cheshire. This includes all former armed forces veterans, early service leavers, current serving personnel, reservists and their families. £900 of Masonic donations, in total, to Armed Forces Charities were made in 2023.
Room at the Inn, Kerry Peniston. “Room at the Inn is the charity that was launched after the closure of the old Warrington YMCA. £350 was donated in 2023. They provide daytime services to homeless and vulnerable people and have 22 bedded accommodations. Their ethos is to help people to access the services they need to go forward with their lives. Their dedicated staff and volunteers support people through very difficult times and help them to find a better future. Not everyone, without help, is be able to move forward because of the challenges that they have.
Kidney for Life, Victoria Thompson. “Kidney for Life provides starter-level funding for research projects which focus on improving dialysis, ways to make transplanted kidneys last longer and also, crucially ways to detect early-stage kidney disease. They also fund training and education of North West based renal staff, all to make life better for kidney patients, of all ages, in our area. £300 donated.
Woody’s Lodge (Veterans/Emergency Services). “Supporting, mentoring and signposting veterans, emergency services, reservists and their families. £250 donated
The Cheshire Children’s Adventure Farm Trust, represented by Hannah Graham. “The Trust is based at the beautiful Booth Bank Farm, a 17th-century farmhouse set in the heart of the Cheshire countryside. We provide a variety of programmes for terminally ill, disabled and disadvantaged children from all over the North West. £450 was donated in 2023.”
Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospital Trust. “Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals’ Charity, ‘WHH Charity’, raises funds to provide additional comforts, care or experiences for the direct benefit of patients and their families beyond that which the NHS can provide” Steve McGuirk Chair of the NHS Trust said. “The support of donors and fundraisers money is raised to improve patient environments, fund additional equipment or facilities, or provide important complimentary services to enhance our patients’ overall experience. The WHH Charity can only continue its work by gaining the support of our local communities and they have a mission to create as many different ways as possible to forge new partnerships. They do this by fundraising and appeals.” Last year £700 was donated by the Warrington Group.
Blood Bikes. £300 was donated in 2023 and Paul Shirley will give a little more detail about this charity. “A Blood Bike is a specialist motorcycle modified for use as a courier vehicle for the prompt transportation of urgent and emergency medical items; primarily including blood, and also including X-rays, tissue samples, surgical tools, human milk, spinal fluids, drugs, and documentation between hospitals and other healthcare facilities. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a network of largely independent registered charities, whose members are all unpaid volunteers, provide blood bike courier services in collaboration with their local healthcare authorities.”
Masonic Charities. Paul Shirley, Provincial Grand Charity Steward gave a short talk on Masonic charities. “The Masonic Charitable Foundation is based in London, but distributes large grants all over England and Wales and international crises. All of the money that is raised for charity comes out of Freemasons’ own pockets and those of our family and friends through our social activities.”
We also have our own West Lancashire Freemasons Charity based in Huyton, Liverpool, which covers the whole of the Province. It’s the largest charity of its kind in the country and provides assistance for distressed Freemasons and also continually makes contributions to non-Masonic causes
Other charities that could not attend on the day; Clatterbridge Cancer Centre – £250. North West Air Ambulance – £250. Ukrainian Relief Fund and Ukrainian Children’s Fund – £835. Crosfield’s Girls Football – £200. St Thomas’ Church – £175. MND Association – £250.
The Warrington Group Vice Chairman, John Tyrer gave the final speech of the day before all the visitors were given a tour of the hall, lodge rooms and recently extended museum.
Story and photographs by Neil Thomas.