Rainbow Brownies
Beginning the year with a £500 presentation under the Matched Funding Scheme, the Erasmus Wilson Lodge No.1464 enabled the Rainbow Brownies to purchase some much needed equipment. Being located in an often overlooked community between Gravesend and Rochester, the group were delighted with the money, which was presented by Lodge member WBro Reginald Walter PSGD,APGM.

McMillan Nurses, & the British Heart Foundation
In the spring time, a buffet lunch was held at the Masonic Hall when further Matched Funding Scheme donations were made by a number of Lodges to various charities, including £700 from Portcullis Lodge No.8268 and Gordon Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners No.364 to McMillan Nurses, and £1,772 to the British Heart Foundation from Beamish Lodge No 3869.

Multiple Sclerosis Society
‘Erclei’ was an old name for the village of Hartley Green as originally recorded in the Doomsday book. The Erclei Lodge No.7436 celebrated its fiftieth anniversary earlier this year, and WBro Kelvin Curtis was Installed as its 50th Worshipful Master. The £500 donated on the night to the Multiple Sclerosis Society was a far cry from the Lodge’s first ever charity box collection, which realised the sum of £4-7-0d (£4.35). The annual membership subscription in 1956 was five shillings (25 pence).

Demelza House Children’s Hospice
The Demelza House Children’s Hospice was pleased to see members of the Portcullis Lodge No.8268 who called to hand over a cheque for £1,000. Like many Lodges in the Province, Portcullis makes an annual donation to the hospice, and on this occasion had raised £514 from its ‘envelope scheme’ and £486 from a brace of raffles.

Bro Simon Hart,
Information Officer Gravesend area

Ed45, p12