There is a particular energy on Liverpool’s streets when the sun is out, the pavements busy, the mood open-handed, and strangers happy to stop and share a moment for a worthwhile cause. On two Saturdays in June 2026, that energy was put to fine use as Freemasons from the Mersey Valley Group joined volunteers from the Northwest Air Ambulance Charity (NWAA) for a pair of street collections in the heart of the city.
The result was a combined £1,066.47, every penny of it destined to help keep the region’s air ambulances flying. The first collection, on 6 June, set the tone. Under bright skies and in the best of spirits, Jonny Edwards of Hardshaw Lodge No 8722 in St Helens, stood shoulder to shoulder with NWAA’s own volunteer Rihanna McDermott, and the Air Ambulance mascots in the L1 district, exchanging a word and a smile with passers-by as the tins slowly filled. By the end of the day, the good people of Liverpool had given £632.32, a fine reward for a few hours of friendly persistence.
Two weeks later, on 20 June, Paul Bosworth, member of the Lodge of St George No 6048 and Jonny Edwards returned to the same streets. The weather again favoured them, and so did the public, whose steady generosity added a further £434.15 to the total. On both days the same picture emerged: warm engagement, genuine conversation, and a shared sense that this was a cause worth backing.
It is easy to forget when you are simply shaking a collecting tin on a sunny morning, just how much rides on that loose change. The Northwest Air Ambulance flies three helicopters and a fleet of critical care vehicles across the region, bringing hospital-standard emergency care directly to the roadside, the hillside, or wherever it is needed most. Each mission costs an average of around £3,200, and every one of them is funded entirely by public generosity the charity receives no day-to-day government funding.
The scale of that work is sobering. In 2025 the NWAA flew a record 3,862 missions, and 2026 has been busier still, with more than 2,100 call-outs by the start of July, including 366 in May and 343 in June alone. Behind each of those numbers is a person having the worst day of their life, and a crew arriving in minutes to change the outcome. Set against that, the sum raised over these two Saturdays represents a meaningful contribution toward keeping those aircraft in the air and those crews on call.
Days like these are Freemasonry at its most straightforward and most rewarding: no ceremony, no ritual, just members giving their time freely alongside their neighbours for the good of the wider community. It is one of the quieter ways in which the values we hold, integrity, friendship, respect and service, translate into something real on the streets where we live.
Warm congratulations and heartfelt thanks go to all the volunteers of the Mersey Valley Group who gave their Saturdays to this effort, and to the people of Liverpool who, once again, proved so ready to give.
The Province of West Lancashire’s members contribute £1,000,000s each year to Freemasons and non-Freemasons causes, and this year alone have performed over 56,000 hours of voluntary service in their local communities. If you would like to know more about Freemasonry in West Lancashire, click here, or make a membership enquiry by clicking here.