On the last weekend in July 2022 the Widows Sons held their annual National Rally in Bishop Auckland where we The Quarrymen received their Charter. Our Charity Officer WBro Tony Collins attended this rally and received our Charter on behalf of our late President WBro Graham Taylor and the rest of The Quarrymen. It was at this rally he came across WBro Alan (Sinbad) Chinn of the Wyvern Chapter and they exchanged contact details.
WBro Alan (Sinbad) Chinn then gave a presentation to his lodge about the Widows Sons. It is here that a member of WBro Alans lodge approached him to give a speech at his wife’s Women’s Institute in Motcombe on the 12th of October 2022 to which he agreed.
Once WBro Alan had agreed to do this presentation he kindly informed WBro Tony Collins of his intentions to do this presentation in Motcombe which is in Dorset which is The Quarrymen’s area. This is standard procotol for all Widows Sons Chapters should they wish to visit another Chapters area.
WBro Tony Collins then invited the Officers of The Quarrymen to attend and show their support to WBro Alan. Bro Tony Pereira, Secretary of The Quarrymen accepted this invitation and on the night of the 12th of October met up with WBro Alan at Women’s Institute Meeting in Motcombe.
Both WBro Alan and Bro Tony received a warm welcome by all the ladies in attendance and some of their partners who also came along to see what Freemasonry and the Widows Sons were all about.
WBro Alan started the evening by greeting them all and giving them a brief explanation about Freemasonry before then moving on to speak about the Widow’s Sons.
He spoke about the amount of money we raise each year for charity and how we do it by collecting money from members and not rattling a bucket in public in order to generate our funds, and they do all this privately.
One of the examples WBro gave was after the Grenfell Fire in London the London Fire Brigade needed an appliance that had a rotating, raisable platform to assist in any future incident such as this unfortunate disaster. Knowing this the Freemasons then went on to provide funds for two of these appliances for the London Fire brigade. Link: https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/news/2021-news/november/london-fire-brigade-to-bring-in-uk-s-tallest-aerial-ladder-into-operational-use/
It was then explained that Freemasonry to provides funds for other International, National and local charities
One such international disaster that has benefited was the earthquake in Haiti: https://mcf.org.uk/2022/02/haiti-earthquake-survivors-supported-by-freemasons/
With regards to our funding of local Charities these can be from a couple of £100 to £1000’s of pounds for local charities to help out the less fortunate within our local communities. This includes providing schools with funds to help disadvantaged children access the required materials they need in order to help them get the best education they could get. Other charities such as the BloodBikes benefit from Freemasonry in particularly the Widows Sons as numerous BloodBike groups have received funds to enable to buy additional bike to allow them to carry out their vital work they do by providing the NHS with a reliable and free service which saves lives and helps the most desperate in our society.
Below is a picture of a Yeovil Freewheelers BloodBike that was funded by Dorset Freemasons.
WBro Alan then went on to explain that there are also a Women Freemasons. At this point there were a lot of surprised and intrigued faces.
We then took questions from the Ladies in attendance who were all really grateful and had a better understanding of what Freemasons do. WBro Alan and Bro Tony were then thanked and had numerous attendees come and thank them and even provided them with a cup of tea, coffee and some biscuits.
Overall it was a fantastic evening for all in attendance and WBro Alan did a fantastic job. Bro Tony thanked WBro Alan on behalf of The Quarrymen for the effort as he put in to making this a wonderful evening and wished him well. The Quarrymen look forward to meeting up with WBro Alan and the Wyvern Chapter in the near future.
The Quarrymen