A new annual grant initiative has been announced at The Freemasons’ Grand Charity - £250,000 to a major national charity. ‘Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) Forces Help’ is to receive the first grant. The money is to be divided and distributed to branches throughout the country, providing funding at a local level.

Over the past year The Grand Charity has received numerous requests from individual members asking us to donate to charities supporting the Armed Forces. The Council selected SSAFA Forces Help as the first recipient of a grant under the new initiative to support their excellent work in helping current and former members of the Armed Forces and their families.   

The members approved the grant of £250,000 for SSAFA Forces Help at the Annual General Meeting of The Freemasons’ Grand Charity on June 9 2010.  The aim of this grant is to support local branches, allowing them to decide how they spend their money. We believe that the people on the ground know best where to direct these funds, which will assist hundreds of servicemen and women past and present, and their families. The Freemasons’ Grand Charity is dedicated to finding new ways of grant-making, in order to provide maximum benefit to people in need.

The Herts Air Ambulance made a quick dash to a Chesfield Down golf club near Stevenage on Friday  April 30 – but this time it was not answering an emergency call.

Instead the helicopter crew had flown from their base at North Weald to collect more than £6,000 donated by Hertfordshire Freemasons. The funds were topped up with another £4,000 from the Freemasons’ Grand Charity.
Of the funds, a £1,000 share came from members of Corinthian Lodge and another £600 from Samson Lodge. The Hertfordshire Mark Benevolent Fund’s £1,000 cheque was handed over to representatives of the Air Ambulance by Mark PGM Chris Radmore (left) and the other funds, including £4,000 from the Craft PGM’s discretionary fund were presented by Assistant PGM James Young (right).
Our other picture shows W Bro Ted Long trying out the stretcher – purely from the comfort point of view, fortunately.
The event coincided with the annual Mark golf day.

Welcome to the website of Hertfordshire Freemasonry.

The United Grand Lodge of England was founded in 1717; it now presides over some 300,000 Masons in England and Wales. Outside London, this large organisation operates at the County level – we call them Provinces. Hertfordshire is about the tenth largest of these with over 7000 members belonging to its 200+ Lodges.

What appears in the press about Freemasonry rarely veers towards fact. Freemasonry is open to men of all religious persuasions; it expects of its members an approach to life which emphasises thoughtfulness for others, kindness in the community, honesty in business, courtesy in society, and fairness in all things. It encourages and practises concern for people, care for the less fortunate and help for those in need.

We never ask the public to contribute to our charitable giving but rely entirely on our members, supported of course by their families. I am told that only the Lottery routinely gives more than we do. And we give to non-Masonic charities as well as those we run to help our members and families in hard times.

I hope that you enjoy browsing the pages on this site.

Colin Harris