Rough Ashlars head south to St Pega Lodge
January 29, 2025
New companion and a Grand Chapter certificate presented at Lumley Chapter
January 31, 2025
Festival Chairman Jez Hyland highlights what Lincolnshire and its Freemasons get back from giving to the Festival
There’s no getting away from it – Lincolnshire and its Freemasons get more from the Freemasons’ charity the MCF than we put in.
That’s the message from Festival Chairman Jez Hyland, who has set into context the raw numbers in the graphic below.
He says the key figures to look at are the £182,000 and £281,000. “Added together they come to almost £464,000. That’s what the MCF has put into Lincolnshire in one year alone. Similar sums are given to our members and our communities every year.
“And since we have a five-year Festival once every 11 years, if that same level of support was to come our way every year, then we’d be getting back double what we’ve been asked to raise with the £2.25m figure set by the charity.”
Jez said that numbers didn’t necessarily tell the whole story. “It’s possible that the most important number in the graphic is the smallest – the 11 people given mental health support. We don’t know who they are, or how helpful the MCF has been to them, but if their story is anything like Chris Jones’s, then it has been a life saver.
“That shows what’s really important; not the giving itself, but the outcomes achieved through that giving. Who would have thought that a few pounds in a gift aid envelope at a Festive Board could be so powerful?”
Although this is the last year of the Festival, with the big reveal of our final total happening on September 13th, it’s not to late to contribute – Great North Runner Jamie Foulsham, featured on Page 6, will be completing his challenge just days before then. And the final date for receipt of funds, or promises, at the MCF is 1st August.
