A special 'thank you reception' was held at Oaklands Hall in Hyde as local charities shared their gratitude to the generous legacy of Freemason Harry Mason.
Harry - or Will to his friends - was a member of the Lodge of Godley 361 within the Province of the Cheshire Freemasons who meet at Oaklands, for 47 years.
Throughout those years Harry had already made notable charitable donations. But he left a considerable sum of money on his death to the lodge for charitable purposes.
His legacy was held in an account and compiled interest, growing to more than £20,000.
The Lodge was 200 years old in February 2020, and it was then that members decided it would be a great time to distribute the legacy and a list of recipient charities was drawn up.
Of course, the Covid pandemic then struck, delaying those distribution plans, and it was September 2021 before the lodge could meet again properly.
Funds however were then shared out, with donations made to a number of local charities.
All of the charities received approximately £1,250 each, with a total of £24,500 given out.
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Charities benefiting included Willow Wood Hospice, the Royal College of Nursing, The Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, Prostate Cancer, The Christie, North West Ambulance, Parkinsons, Alzheimer’s, RNLI, Reuben’s Retreat, CoeliacUK, Macmillan Cancer Support, and Beechwood Cancer Care.
Representatives from all of the charities came together at the thank you reception at Oaklands to thank the Freemasons and hear a little about Harry - fondly remembered as a ‘Mason by name, and mason by nature.’
Each of the charities was able to provide a little information about themselves too and how the generous donations would help them and be spent.
Freemasonry can be dated back centuries. In fact, the oldest Masonic Lodge can be traced back to 1599. Freemasons are not a charity, although charity forms an important part of what the Freemasons do.
In 2018, Freemasonry as a whole nationally gave around £48m to charitable causes - almost all of which was collected from Freemasons - as they do not collect from the general public.
To find out more about Lodge 361 at Oaklands, or the Cheshire Freemasonry province, you can visit their respective websites and social media pages.
You can hear more about this story on the Reporter Show on Tameside Radio 103.6FM at 7pm on Thursday (9 February).
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