The Furness and South Lakeland Group Masonic Fellowship is a monthly get together for retired Masons, their wives and the widows of Masons. Each year Peter While and friends organise the monthly programme of events for the fellowship and to organise a special speaker for the open meetings.
One of the highlights of the year is the December meeting when everyone sits down to a traditional Christmas dinner and then enjoy a sing-along to favourite carols.
Open meetings mean exactly that and the fellowship welcomes visitors to join the afternoon meetings; some for just the subject matter, some to find out what the fellowship meetings are all about and some just to fill an afternoon in convivial company.
On a bright breezy day in Barrow-in-Furness the Furness and South Lakeland Group Masonic Fellowship committee set up their stalls at Fairfield Masonic Hall for the annual fund-raising fete. 57 people came along to try their luck at the super draw, raffle, pick a number and tombola.
They bought cakes, crafts, bric-a-brac, books and jigsaws and then enjoyed the refreshments. The current economic climate had an impact on the day as takings were down on most stalls. However, the new game ‘wheel of fortune’, devised and run by Terry Ridal was the fun highlight of the afternoon.
At 3pm the draws were made for the raffle by group chairman, Chris Gray and the super draw by Assistant Provincial Grand Master Peter Schofield. The total raised was £1,393 with the super draw (£5 envelopes) being almost half at £590. Ticket sales were a welcome £172 and Albert Saunders ran a stall which made an amazing £170. The raffle, which consisted of donated prizes, made £166.
Although the main fundraising was for fellowship expenses throughout the year, other smaller donations were made to other local charities after the fete.
Many thanks were extended to all involved for their hard work and donations of any size. The fellowship now remains on a steady financial footing and will hopefully continue for years to come.
For details of the fellowship’s activities and how to attend, please contact Janet Ridal on her email address, janetridal@boretree.co.uk
