December 2007
THE BUCKS MASONIC CENTENARY FUND
BMCF Grants Support Our “Care in the Community” Programme
The grants awarded at the BMCF Committee’s meeting held on 24th September 2007 (see last BMCF report on this website) were all disbursed satisfactorily, except for the £2,700 provisional grant to Chiltern & South Bucks Dial-A-Ride. This was withdrawn because the charity failed to obtain the major funding required for the project. That money is now available for distribution at the next BMCF Committee meeting to be held on 15th January 2008. It is not too late for lodges and individual brethren to stimulate new applications for BMCF grants in time for the January Committee meeting.
BMCF and the Ladies at Provincial Grand Lodge
Unusually, five ladies were present when the 2007 Provincial Grand Lodge was called off. Debbie Hutchinson, wife of W Bro Les Hutchinson Secretary to the Council of the Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys, gave a very moving account of how the RMTGB had enabled her to fulfil her educational potential. Four other ladies were privileged to hear Debbie’s contribution to publicising the Province’s 2010 Festival for the RMTGB. Later they too had to “sing for their supper”!
The PGM had invited four ladies, representing Bucks Charities, which had received grants from the BMCF, to attend the meeting and afterwards to address the brethren at the festive board banquet. The ladies seized their moment with great authority, clarity and zeal. Mary Stacey (the Castlethorpe Village Shop Project), Angela Hart (the Age Concern Buckinghamshire “Befriending Scheme”) and Heather Last (Expansion of the PACE Centre Parent and Child facilities at Chesham) described how BMCF grants had made a difference to all their charitable endeavours, whilst Claire Acworth, Director of the Thomley Activity Centre at Worminghall, Bucks was able informally to tell of her work during the PGM’s Reception and at the festive board. On behalf of the PGM, Founding Secretary of the BMCF, Ian Chalk, and the current Secretary, Alan Watkins, hosted the ladies’ table at the festive board. Ian Chalk had been instrumental in arranging one of the very first BMCF grants, to the PACE Centre in 1993, and was particularly pleased to meet Heather Last again. It was a most interesting and unusual occasion and all the ladies greatly enhanced our understanding of the charities we support. In addition, the PGM was very much practising what he had been preaching - he had held a very special “White Table” at Provincial Grand Lodge!
BMCF Grants:
- Make a very real contribution to our community
- Support local charities that are soundly managed, offer services relevant to their community and need new funding for specific projects or facilities
- Are targeted to make a real difference to such local charities by focusing on specific projects or facilities, complete in themselves, rather than responding to general appeals or requests to fund outine activities
- Are targeted to pay for a complete and identifiable facility or project, not as general contributions to a charity
“Top-up” grants by the BMCF are available to augment donations by lodges to local charities. Lodges might wish to use this method during the next few years of the 2010 Festival Appeal.
Lodge Subscription
The (voluntary) annual subscription was confirmed at the Fund’s Annual General Meeting on 22nd October 2007 and is still only £2.00 per lodge member. The BMCF Treasurer, John Mould, would appreciate payment of subs – and any arrears - as soon as possible.
More Information
- Look on this website (www.buckspgl.org for “BMCF” under the ‘Charities’ and the ‘Masons/Freemasonry in the Community’ sections) for more information about the Fund and submission of applications to the Fund Secretary
- The new Provincial Directory 2007-2008 contains further information on the BMCF
- Contact the BMCF Honorary Secretary - W Bro Alan R Watkins (Tel: 01844 291275)
- Or e-mail alanwatkins590@btinternet.com