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The Freemasons’ Imp that will eventually grace Lincoln’s Imp Trail was due to have been revealed for the first time at our Provincial Grand Lodge and Chapter meetings today – but thanks to technology and the efforts of artist Lissie Hollis we can show you its creation on line.
Lissie painted two Imps, working in the former Lakeland premises in Lincoln City Centre, and produced a time lapse of her work. You can watch the magic happen by clicking on this link. They’ll form part of a trail of 30 Imps dotted around the city in a promotional event that will raise not only the profile of Freemasonry in the community and of Lincoln as a tourist destination, but also much-needed money for St Barnabas Hospice.
Provincial Grand Master Dave Wheeler said sponsorship of an Imp was appropriate since the trail, being organised by the Lincoln Business Improvement Group – LincolnBIG for short – was in support of St Barnabas Hospice, and Freemasonry was a long-term supporter of the hospice movement both nationally and locally. What’s more, the sponsorship arrangement was due to co-incide with the first year of our current five-year Festival.
Dave said: “We were one of the earliest to commit to Imp sponsorship, and we have done so because we believe people aren’t generally aware of the financial support Freemasonry provides to the wider community. It’s time for us to share that story more widely, and as the statistics from earlier trails clearly demonstrate, this is a high-profile way to do it. The public will be able to see, through our own donations and our work with the Freemasons’ Charity the MCF, that every year Freemasonry gives substantial sums of money to worthwhile causes in our Province.
“We’re also working on where it will be sited, and what information about Freemasonry will be included in a leaflet and an app about the trail,” he added.
This sponsorship has been jointly funded by the Province and the Freemasons Charity the MCF. Had Covid-29 restrictions not forced a change to plans, the Imp would have been on display at our Provincial meetings at the Epic Centre today, before being sited in the city ready for the launch of the trail on July 4th. Instead the trail will be ‘rolled over’ into next year, when it’s hoped that life will have moved back closer to normal.
Lincoln Trail numbers
- 210,000 Barons Trail visitors
- 67,694 people reached on Facebook
- 88,000 website views
- 280,000 Knights Trail visitors
- 247,842 people reached on Facebook
- 140,000 website views
- £344,800 raised for charity through auction sales of the figures
