Provincial Grand Lodge of Renfrewshire East raise funds for Erskine

03-February-2012

The veterans’ charity Erskine was one of six charities invited to attend the Annual Meeting of the Province held on Saturday 28 January at Lodge Prince of Wales No 426 in Renfrew, where each received a welcome boost to funds when they were presented with cheques in the amount of £1700.

The generous donations were raised by members of the 37 Lodges that form the Provincial Grand Lodge of Renfrewshire East. The donations are part of the £43,000 raised for non-Masonic charities throughout the Province in the past year in a special fund to mark the 275th Anniversary of the founding of the Grand Lodge of Scotland.

In the unique ceremony the cheques were handed over by Provincial Grand Master David Reid, who along with his office bearers wore their colourful full Masonic regalia. Following the ceremony, the representatives of the charities were invited to join in an evening of music, songs and poetry with a Rabbie Burns flavour.

David Reid said: ‘Altogether Freemasons in this Province raised more than £50,000 for charity over the past year with £37,000 going to non-Masonic charities. The money for the six charities represented today was raised through sponsored walks, gala evenings and raffles. We are delighted that representatives of these charities were able to accept our invitation to be present to collect their cheques at our Annual Meeting and then join us for an evening of music, song and poetry on a Burns theme.’

Erskine representative Lesley Miller said: “We are absolutely delighted to receive such a generous donation from The Provincial Grand Lodge of Renfrewshire East. It was a privilege to take part in the ceremony and to see them in their regalia and I would like to thank all the members of the Lodge for all their efforts on behalf of Erskine’s veterans.”