Angela Phipps from the Canterbury Oast Trust receiving a cheque for £25,000
On Saturday 28th of October 2017 the Cornwallis East Kent Freemasons’ Charity held its annual Charity Awards Celebration event. This year it was held in the splendid setting of the St George’s Centre at the University of Greenwich Medway Campus in Chatham.
200 people attended to see over £44,175 being donated to fifteen local charities. Charities today provide amazing opportunities to so many people for a vast amount of different reasons. These opportunities are often life-changing.
During the event, representatives of the charities were invited to tell their stories. This provided a truly unique and moving insight into the services that they provide. It was a humbling and uplifting occasion which also provided an opportunity for the charities to network over lunch.
The Head of East Kent Freemasons, Provincial Grand Master Geoffrey Dearing, said: “The aim of the Cornwallis East Kent Freemasons’ Charity is to invest in a brighter future. It does this by helping the vulnerable and disadvantaged in our local communities by providing funding opportunities. In so doing it helps these local charities to continue their excellent work and make a difference to people’s lives. It is on occasions such as this, that we are proud to be able to play our part.”
Geoffrey also presented eight further grants, totalling £79,000, provided by the Masonic Charitable Foundation (MCF) – Freemasons’ national charity. This year, Freemasonry is celebrating its 300th anniversary and the MCF held a public vote to decide how to distribute £3 million of charity funding. This money was awarded to 300 charities throughout the UK, including grants to eight local charities.
The charities receiving grants on this occasion were as follows:
- 1st Larkfield (Holy Trinity) Scout Group
The Recipients Group Photo
- East Kent Masonic Fishing Charity
- MS Society
- Oasis Domestic Abuse
- Leybourne Grange Riding School
- Demelza
- St John Ambulance
- Zone Youth Club
- Slide Away
- Heart of Kent Hospice
- Beach Within Reach
- Macmillan Cancer Support
- Care for Connor
- Sands
- Romney resource Centre
- Kent Kidney Patients
- Home Start Sittingbourne and Sheppey
- Porchlight
- Dover Sea Cadets
- Ellenor Hospice
- Blackthorn Trust
- Canterbuty Oast Trust
- Young Lives Foundation
Report: Richard Carney, Photos: Richard Wingett