The West Lancashire Freemasons’ Charity Autumn 2014 newsletter Officer

The West Lancashire Freemasons’ Charity
Autumn 2014 newsletter
Message from the Chief Executive
Officer
Dear All
On 31 July this year, W.Bro. Tony Harrison became
Provincial Grand Master of our great Province and
thereby became President of WLFC. He replaces
R.W.Bro. Peter Hosker who has been our President for
the past six years.
Peter was instrumental in the formation of the Charity
by the amalgamation of the seven West Lancashire
Masonic charities. He undertook much of the legal work
necessary for the Charity to be established and successfully persuaded the Trustees
of the divergent charities that it would be of great benefit to the Province to
operate as one cohesive unit. A review of the Charity’s activities since its
establishment is ample evidence of the merits of this assertion. During his time as
President, Peter offered much valuable advice and help to the Charity and as
Provincial Grand Master of the Province, worked closely with the Charity to bring
the two bodies closer together, for the benefit of all those who we support. I wish
Peter a long, happy and healthy retirement.
Since our last newsletter, there have been several changes here at Huyton. John
Dutchman-Smith has stood down as a Trustee and the Craft Cabinet have appointed
Michael Collins as a replacement. Michael is a solicitor by profession and a past
acting Senior Warden of the Province. He brings a wealth of legal expertise to the
board.
Continued on page 12
Notice of Annual Meeting
The Annual Meeting will be held at Wellington Park, Leyland on Thursday, 20th
November 2014 commencing at 11.00 a.m. The meeting which will last
approximately one hour will include several presentations by beneficiaries. Please
endeavour to attend and witness first hand, how your Charity is helping those in
need.
The West Lancashire Freemasons’ Charity
2 Paramount Business Park, Wilson Road, Huyton Liverpool L36 6AW
0151 482 4750 ● enquiries@westlancscharity.org.uk
Registered Charity No. 239313
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Provincial Grand Charity Stewards Comments
In April of this year I had the great honour of being
invested as the Provincial Grand Charity Steward of
our wonderful and diverse Province and what a
summer we have had: Masonic generosity teamed
with excellent weather produced many successful
lodge and group events: bowling days to barbeques.
The Furness and South Lakes Group joined forces
with the Province of Cumberland and Westmorland
to marshal the famous Brathay Marathon allowing
them to raise in excess of £100,000. The Leyland and
Preston Groups are to be commended for the
manner in which they marshalled the Rosemere
Cancer Foundation’s Walk in the Dark for the 4th
Glynn Wrennall, Provincial Grand year running helping them to raise over £50,000. The
Charity Steward
most exciting news was the increase in take-up of
Group Giving Days and I welcome the North Fylde
and Wigan Groups to this initiative. These events are one of the best ways of
getting our message across, exemplifying the generosity and caring that we conduct
quietly in the community. It is also gratifying that we seem to be coming out of the
dark ages with the local press willing to publicise our commitment to local society.
Hot off the press donations totalling over £1.2 million this year have been
announced from the four national Masonic charities including donations going to
Alzheimer’s Research UK (£181,723), Fight for Sight Age related Macular
Degeneration (£91,500) and £200,000 for Pancreatic Cancer Research at Bart’s
Cancer Institute for Cancer Research UK.
And for our own Masonic Giving - Assistant Provincial Grand Master David Winder’s
Cross Bay Walk was a great success with money still coming in from sponsorship – it
is hoped that we will top £5,000 to go to our own West Lancashire Freemasons’
Charity.
The giving to WLFC continues throughout the Province with the success of the Gift
Aid Envelope scheme playing a major role. This year sees the return of the
Provincial Draw in favour of WLFC which will be held at Bryn Masonic Hall on
Saturday 1st November. Tickets are still available from your Group/Lodge Charity
Steward. Prize winners and results will be announced in the Spring edition.
With so much happening within the Province what a great time to be a West
Lancashire Freemason.
Our grateful thanks to The St Helens and Prescot Group who have sponsored this page.
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News from the Treasurer regarding grant criteria
The Charity has introduced policies for grants for relief
which are consistent and uniform, relate to individual
circumstances and are applied irrespective of gender etc. As
an all embracing charity serving both Freemasons and their
dependants, as well as the wider community, it recognises
that the equality of treatment between applicants is of
fundamental importance.
Grants will be made purely on the basis of need and the
Bob Lewinski
policies are designed to provide higher levels of assistance
Treasurer
to those most in need. This means that a sliding scale of
relief will be applied which is intended to produce a fair and commensurate level of
support to all qualifying applicants. The sliding scale does not apply to one off
applications for specific assistance.
1 A single householder needs an income surplus of £215 each week (£11,180 pa)
. and a married couple need £320 each week (£16,640 pa), after they have paid:a. rent or mortgage interest on a first mortgage
b. council tax
c. water rates
These limits are an increase of 5% over the previous year.
2 Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance and similar allowances not
. treated as income because they are given for a specific purpose.
3 With the exception of the main residence, no single applicant should have more
. than £13,000 in capital and a couple should not have more than £18,000.
In cases of Income support there will be a minimum grant of £250 which will apply
to all qualifying cases. For grants due in 2014-15 there will be a maximum grant of
£2,600 an increase of 4% compared with 2013-14 and which represents the seventh
consecutive year of increase for the most needy applicants. We believe that these
policies will result in a further overall increase in support and will increasingly target
that support on those most in need.
Our grateful thanks to The South Eastern Group who have sponsored this page.
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Provincial Grand Almoners column
How things change from year to year, the care
team spent the summer of 2013 learning new
skills as we tried to hit the ground running with
our various initiatives. This summer the
months have shown life to be a little easier for
the Provincial Care Team although we still have
many people in need of help from the four
central charities and our own West Lancashire
Freemasons Charity.
We will again continue giving our presentation
‘How do I get Help’ throughout this masonic
season, at present we have given this to over a
hundred and fifty craft lodges, royal arch
chapters and fellowship groups. Whilst we
Ernie Greenhalgh
expect the invitations to start diminishing by
Provincial Grand Almoner
the time the project finishes well in excess of
200 presentations will have been made, if your lodge has not yet issued an
invitation to the care team now is the time to make that commitment.
I offer a warm welcome to the three new members of our team, Jerry Lawes, Derek
Midgley and Tom Bradfield-Kay covering Eccles, Ormskirk and the Southport groups.
Earlier this year we were approached by the Friends of Ecclesholme, to see if we
could provide an almoner to look after the interests of any West Lancashire
Freemason or widow who resided within the Home. I was delighted with the
response we received and certainly with the early work shown by Andrew Makin in
this new role. We are now seeing him making regular visits to the Home so in this
way we can make sure we extend ‘care’ to those senior people in the twilight of
their life.
While we continue to seek improvements within our system of ‘care’, our new
Provincial Grand Master agrees the Lodge almoners main thrust should be in the
four elements of Pastoral Care. This is a term applied where brethren offer help and
caring by listening, supporting, and encouraging others within their lodge or wider
community. Too often we think of pastoral care as just visiting the home bound or
the ill and infirmed, we sometimes fail to realize that everyone is in need of pastoral
care at one time or another. By encouraging all of us to assist the almoner with
regular visits, to widows, hospital and sick visiting, brethren who suddenly stop
attending the lodge, and representing the lodge at funerals. Because most elderly
people are lonely when they lose their partner, the almoner should be visiting on a
regular basis and perhaps spending some time discussing items of general interest.
It is only in this way that the confidence builds, and then perhaps an enquiry about
our Charities may be broached.
The Provincial Almoners Dinner will be held again in Leyland on the 6 November, in
the presence of our RW Brother James Anthony Harrison, Provincial Grand Master.
Our guest speaker is the British journalist and television presenter Esther Rantzen
CBE the founder of both Child Line and Silver Line Charities. Whilst Esther has been
involved in many charitable causes, her latest charity Silver Line is aimed at
combating loneliness. This evening is not just for almoners, but any mason could
find this an interesting topic. Tickets are only available from either the regional or
local care officers and are based on a first come first served basis, so don’t delay as I
am sure due to the high profile of our speaker this event will be over-subscribed.
Ernie Greenhalgh, Provincial Grand Almoner
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West Lancashire Freemasons’ Charity
Summary financial information for the year ended 31 March 2014
Commentary by the Chief Executive Officer
In order for all the brethren of the Province of West Lancashire to be fully aware of
the financial performance of their charity, a short summary of the key figures for
the year ended 31st March 2014 is attached.
Whilst nothing is yet set in tablets of stone, we are undoubtedly moving towards
the start of a new Festival. It is a simple fact that Masonic giving during Festival
periods is directed primarily for the benefit of the particular Festival in progress.
Your Charity continues to make grants in excess of £500,000 each and every year.
The greater proportion of these grants are for the benefit of Freemasons in financial
difficulty, their widows and dependants. Irrespective of the donations we receive,
we have an obligation to support our needy and it is essential therefore, that we
build our reserves in periods of no Festival, to see us through the lean times. 2014
has been such a year of building reserves whilst continuing to meet our grant
obligations.
The attached statement of financial activities reveals an increase in the Charity’s
funds amounting to £592,071. However, £444,768 of this increase relates to
unrealised gains on the investment portfolio. Excluding this item, , the realised
surplus arising during the year is £84,808. An analysis of the accounts for the
previous five years shows that, excluding investment gains and legacies, the
charity’s expenditure exceeded its income by £455,000. The surplus of £84,000 is
therefore another positive step in redressing the balance of funds.
Why should legacies and investment gains be excluded? The simple answer is that
legacies are, by nature, sporadic and unpredictable and cannot be relied upon as an
income source. They are utilised for capital building. As regards investment gains,
we are all familiar with the expression ‘investments can go down as well as up’. It
would be irresponsible therefore to utilise investment gains to meet recurring costs.
We need our investments to provide income to meet our obligations as is clearly
demonstrated in the statement of financial activities.
In conclusion, 2014 has been a another satisfactory year and your charity is grateful
for the tremendous support given by the membership of the Province. We need to
continue to build our reserves as I have previously made reference to and I have no
doubt that we can rely upon your generosity to help us achieve that aim. So many
of our brethren, their widows and dependants are so thankful for your help,
through your charity.
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West Lancashire Freemasons’ Charity
Summary financial information for the year ended 31 March 2014
2014
2013
£
£
Incoming resources
Voluntary income
373,129
522,525
Investment income
344,906
301,745
2,843
2,650
_________
_________
720,878
826,920
_________
_________
Investment management costs
39,347
32,385
Overheads
73,375
67,775
423,192
352,546
100,156
143,539
_________
_________
636,070
596,245
_________
_________
84,808
230,675
62,495
6,563
444,768
884,186
_________
_________
592,071
1,121,424
11,072,126
9,950,702
_________
_________
11,664,197
11,072,126
_________
_________
Other incoming resources
Total incoming resources
Resources expended
Grants - masonic
- non masonic
Total resources expended
Net incoming resources
Net gains/(losses) on disposal of
Investments
Unrealised gains on investments
Net movement in funds
Trust funds brought forward
Trust funds carried forward
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West Lancashire Freemasons’ Charity
Summary financial information for the year ended 31 March 2014
Fixed assets
Tangible fixed assets
Property
Computers and equipment
Investments
Total fixed assets
2014
£
2013
£
462,778
14,763
_________
477,541
10,839,566
_________
11,317,107
466,595
24,461
_________
491,056
10,020,722
_________
10,511,778
_________
Current assets
Debtors
Short term deposits
Cash at bank
Creditors due within one year
Net current assets
Net assets
Funds
Total unrestricted funds
45,305
175,809
174,125
_________
395,239
(48,149)
_________
347,090
_________
11,664,197
_________
37,695
450,888
107,931
_________
596,514
(36,166)
_________
560,348
_________
11,072,126
_________
11,664,197
_________
11,072,126
_________
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West Lancashire Freemasons’ Charity
Summary financial information for the year ended 31 March 2014
INCOME
Legacies,
£1,000
Gift aid,
£21,558
Support
costs,
£67,475
EXPENDITURE
Governance
costs,
£5,900
Other,
£2,843
Investment
income,
£344,906
Provincial
collections,
£7,576
Donations,
£342,995
Other
Masonic
support,
£36,821
Investment
managers,
£39,347
Grants,
£523,348
GRANTS £523,348
Widows
support,
£205,465
The West Lancashire Freemasons’
Charity provided financial support
towards living costs to 106 Freemasons,
and 121 widows in addition to helping
26 others with urgently needed help for
necessary repairs to homes and to ease
desperate financial situations.
63 organisations received grants from
the charity, some to help specific
individuals and others to provide
facilities which would be enjoyed by
hundreds of people for many years.
Community
& Education,
£100,156
Freemasons
support,
£180,906
Literature indicating the help available
from the charity is usually on display in
most Masonic halls and can be
downloaded from the charity’s website
www.westlancscharity.org.uk.
Applications for financial assistance can
be made through Lodge Almoners, Local
Care Officers or directly to the charity.
Charitable organisations and voluntary
self-help groups can apply direct to the
charity by completing application forms
which can be obtained by accessing the
charity’s website where they will also
find guidance notes.
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Ben Callander
With a grant from WLFC, Ben purchased a racing wheelchair and here is a summary
of his success this season
His achievements are incredible, starting back in April at the beginning of the
season when he travelled down to the Weir Archer Academy! Naturally Mr David
Weir was there! Apart from parking next to him & having a chat he also signed his
autobiography for Ben!
Ben races the 100, 200 & 400m. His starting times in April were:100m..........29secs, 200m.............59secs, 400m...........2mins 1sec
He was "highly commended" for Disabled Sports Achiever 2013 by Warrington
Borough Council.
Also Ben was nominated for & won Warrington
Partnership......"Disability Sports Personality Of The Year 2014"
School
Sports
LiveWire have just awarded him the athlete training program which means he will
be allocated a personal trainer and he will attend four workshops within the year.
This summer Ben also travelled to Stoke Mandeville Stadium, Bedford International
Stadium, Warwick University Coventry, Doncaster Stadium, and more locally,
Manchester Sportscity Stadium. (Numerous times)
In May he attended a qualifying race meet at Sportscity for the DSE Junior Nationals
to be held in Coventry. The qualifying times needed were competitive but
absolutely no problem for Ben, he was to represent the North of England.
He had a fantastic 2 day event at Warwick University with teams from Ireland,
Scotland, North East England, South of England. Ben did very well over the 2 days
and came home with 4 gold medals!! .....but what he did love & excel at (never
tried it before) was the wheelchair relay! Steve Hoskins & Pete Wyman were the
coaches for the weekend, Steve coached the kids exactly how to race at speed, (no
baton) touch on the lower back of the next personin the relay and control their
chairs without crashing!! The North of England won & no crashes!!
Ben finished his season on an incredible high. The weekend of his birthday 30/31
August he travelled down to Bedford for the U15 & U17's international
competition . Ben's finishing times at the end of the season are fantastic.
Ben achieved the personal goals he set himself. A very happy 14 year old!!!!
Our grateful thanks to The Warrington Group who have sponsored this page.
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Cliff Hughes
Since the Charity came into being in 2008, Cliff
has been the Assistant Treasurer dealing with,
amongst other things, the very important task
of ensuring that monies are transferred for our
beneficiaries, on a timely basis. More recently,
he became the Trustees Minutes Secretary and
Secretary of the Community Grant Executive. He
is also a Regional Care Officer for the Liverpool
Group.
Unfortunately, in June this year, Cliff had a very
serious stroke and was hospitalised for over a
month.
Cliff Hughes
Assistant Treasurer
His colleagues at WLFC and many Masonic friends have been a great support to him
during this very difficult time,
visiting regularly and helping
his wife, Kristina, whenever
possible.
Cliff’s absence has left a huge
hole at WLFC. His commitment,
wise counsel
and cheery
manner are greatly missed by
his colleagues. We are
delighted however, to report
that Cliff is making wonderful
progress and is looking forward
to returning to the Charity
Office in the near future.
We are all looking forward to
seeing him back in action and
wish him the very best of
health in the future.
A truly inspirational man and
dedicated Freemason.
Our grateful thanks to The Widnes Group who have sponsored this page.
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Introducing Ian Douglass
Deputy Chief Executive Officer
Ian Douglass was born in Sunderland in 1953 and moved to
Preston in 1975. Married to Susan for almost 40 years, he
has two children and two grandchildren.
Ian is a retired Chartered Accountant having been a partner
in general practice for almost 30 years. He is a Member of
the Board of Trustees of Myerscough College and Vice
Chairman of the Finance Committee. He was a Trustee and
subsequently Chairman of the Emmaus Charity. This charity
caters for people who might otherwise be homeless and
provides accommodation and work to increase their sense
of self esteem.
A keen sportsman, Ian is Vice President of Preston Grasshoppers RFC and a
member of Lancaster Golf Club. On a less strenuous note, he is secretary of Preston
Bridge Club.
He was initiated in Stanley of Preston Lodge in 1991 and was WM in 2000. He is a
joining member of the Lodge of Peace & Unity No. 314 and was WM in 2009 and
2010. He currently holds the Provincial Rank of P.Pr.J.G.D. He was exalted in Holy
Royal Architect Chapter and was first principal in 2010 and 2011.
Ian brings a wealth of experience to WLFC and the Trustees are delighted with his
appointment.
Our grateful thanks to The Garston Group who have sponsored this page.
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Message from the Chief Executive Officer continued……
I am very pleased that Ian Douglass, a retired Chartered Accountant, has joined the
executive team as Deputy CEO and his particular expertise in charity governance is
already bringing the Charity up to speed with Charity Commission guidelines and
current best practice.
We are continuing in our financial support of the needy of the Province and year on
year, are paying out an increased sum in grants. We are only able to do this by virtue of your generosity and once again, I thank you for your support.
I wish you all a happy and fruitful Masonic Season.
Best regards
John
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