Freemasons earn honour from Ministry of Defence for support to the Forces community
September 12, 2025
‘Thank you from the bottom of my heart’, says PGM as he reflects on our Festival achievement
September 15, 2025
Five years of charity fundraising by Lincolnshire Freemasons has collected a colossal £3,013,302 – completely smashing the original £2.25m target, and making it the highest-ever total raised per head of membership in such a campaign.
More than 400 Freemasons, family members, and friends gathered for the Big Reveal event to learn the total from its 2025 charity Festival – and this video, introduced by Rod Whiting, shows how the total was announced:
The sum raised for the Freemasons’ charity the MCF has come from members’ donations. The charity will use it to support individuals and good causes in the community – with the charity giving more than £50,000 to non-Freemasons and non-Masonic organisations EVERY DAY. Over the next decade the MCF will channel even more than the £3m back into Lincolnshire, to organisations such as the Lincolnshire Emergency Blood Bikes Service, the Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance, Samaritans, the hospice movement, and Carers First.
The £3m total has been a magnificent performance, according to Lincolnshire’s top Freemason, Provincial Grand Master Dave Wheeler. He said the achievement of such a figure was made all the more impressive by the fact that Covid had struck only a matter of weeks after the Festival began in January 2020, significantly hampering fundraising efforts.
But Dave brought his thanks down to a personal level, saying to the members: “Together, we absolutely smashed it – but I want to add a note of personal gratitude to every Lincolnshire Freemason who’s helped us along the way to a truly magnificent final total for our 2025 Festival.
“I had no doubt Lincolnshire’s Freemasons would meet and beat the MCF’s challenge of raising £2.25million. From the very start I believed that was achievable. I had faith that Lincolnshire’s family of Freemasons would not simply reach the goal, but smash it.
“My faith wasn’t misplaced, and it’s reassuring to know that the MCF will be able to carry on its work thanks to the generosity our members, for which I thank you most sincerely. Always remember that the outcomes achieved thanks to our members’ donations can’t be measured in mere monetary terms; they’re priceless to the people and organisations we support. And because of the way our members rose to the challenge, the MCF will be able to help even more of them.”
Dave said the amount raised compared to the number of Freemasons in Lincolnshire was the highest from any such campaign, which involves almost 50 Provinces throughout the UK – amounting to £1,001 per head of membership.
Some of those who’ve been given money by the Freemasons have been able to say thank you in this video:
Some Lodges raised more than £40,000 – Doric in Grantham, Lumley in Skegness, Lindum in Lincoln, St James in Grimsby, and St Peter in Cleethorpes. St Pega’s contribution, in Deeping, was the highest, with more than £50,000.
Jez Hyland was Festival Chairman, and was presented with the Certificate of Merit by Dave Wheeler.
Below is a collection of the thousands of pictures taken over the last five years showing people enjoying themselves at events that have helped Lincolnshire Freemasons reach the record-breaking total.
Principal guests from the MCF and Lincolnshire Freemasons
