Every year, Coquetdale Masonic Lodge holds its annual Christmas Social and apart from it providing a great night of Christmas fun, it has a more serious side as they raise much needed funds for local charities.
On this occasion the raffle raised £153 and the Lodge then made this up to a total of £300 which meant they could give £100 to each of the first schools in the Coquet Valley for them to use for the children. The schools involved were Harbottle Church of England School, Rothbury First School and Thropton Village First School.
We as an organisation are committed to raising funds and with these funds help local charities and organisations with donations to assist them in providing a service for those whom they represent.
Lodge Secretary Robin Murray
Their longest serving Brother, who lives in Leicestershire, heard of these donations, and sent a personal cheque of £100 to be used for charity, and as he used to be a pupil at Harbottle school many, many moons ago, it was agreed by the Lodge that his very kind gesture should also be presented to Harbottle First School making a total of £200.
He informed the lodge that when he was at the school, there were only 2 classes – 5yrs to 9yrs and 10yrs to 15yrs – and there was only one other child of his age from the Harbottle village. A few more were at the school, but from surrounding areas and he recalls a Miss Martin was the teacher. He said “this old boy owes much to his formative years in such a wonderful school”
Earlier in 2019, the lodge were also made aware of a need at Rothbury first school. They required some new waterproofs for their Forest Schools activities, and some balance bikes for the younger ones. They applied to our Provincial office and the school received a very kind donation from the funds of The Richard Henry Holmes Masonic Benevolent Fund which enabled them to purchase all the waterproofs and 5 balance bikes.
This is the latest of their efforts to help in the valley. In the past they have helped Rothbury Bowling Club, Rothbury Christmas Lights, the proposed new bike park in Rothbury, UCCT community transport and the Drop in Centre to name but a few.
This article was kindly provided by W.Bro Robin Murray.
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