Local Freemasons from Dama De Elche Lodge N0163 recently presented a cheque for one thousand nine hundred euros, to the Paul Cunningham Nurses. This money was raised by various charity events held throughout the Master’s Year, including the annual Lodge Ladies Night, hosted by Worshipful Master Nigel Sanders, a visit to the Nan Kin Restaurant, an evening meal held at La Cocheca  and a fish and chips supper held at Quesada.

Recently, Freemason’s from Dama de Elche Lodge made a special trip to visit the children and staff of the Elche Children’s Home. The reason for this visit was to make a very welcome donation of nine hundred and fifty euros, raised by the Lodge through various fundraising activities. The cheque was presented by the Worshipful Master of the Lodge, WBro Nigel Sanders and the Charity Steward, WBro Trevor Bagnall.
This donation will cover the cost of purchasing one thousand litres of fuel oil, which will provide hot water and heating for the children over the winter period. This has now become something of an annual event as the Lodge has now provided fuel oil for the past few years. The cheque presented is part of the part of the Masters various fundraising efforts over his year in office.

Recently, local Freemason’s Lodge, Dama de Elche, held their annual Summer Dining and Disco evening which has now become a regular event. It was held at the Raco d’ Anna Restaurant  in Elche. This restaurant has both an excellent reputation and beautiful gardens which makes it an ideal venue for the meeting as proved by the arrival of more than sixty Masons, wives and guests. The weather was just about perfect, hot and sunny but with a gentle cooling breeze.

The guests were all welcomed personally by WBro Nigel Saunders, the Worshipful Master of the Lodge for this year along with his lovely wife, Lynne. As well as a very good dinner, entertainment was provided by Bro Colin Pearce who provided an excellent disco which soon had the guests dancing.

There was also a raffle which raised a very creditable three hundred Euros with all proceeds being donated to the two charities chosen, for this year, by the Master. They are the Elche children’s home and the Paul Cunningham Nurses, both of whom do a fantastic job. The money will be presented at a later date.

Everyone agreed that this was a fantastic night which was enjoyed by all.

Senior Freemasons of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Valencia were recently invited to the Red Cross Headquarters in Alicante to attend a presentation, both to thank them for their donation of a support vehicle and also to demonstrate what had been done with that support vehicle which had been presented to them almost three years ago. The meeting was arranged by Snr Pedro Dominguez Crego and the Red Cross team who is responsible for alliances and European residents and also for International cooperation. The senior Masons in attendance were RWBro Michael Shilan, the Provincial Grand Master, WBro David Watts, the Provincial Grand Secretary and WBro Trevor Bagnall the Provincial Grand Charity Steward.

The presentation came about because, over a three-year period, the Province of Valencia held a Province wide festival to raise money for the Red Cross and eventually donated a fully fitted ambulance and two fully fitted support vehicles. One of these support vehicles was donated to the Red cross in Alicante and Snr Dominguez and the team felt they would like to thank the Masons for their generosity in providing it and to show what had been achieved by their team since it was presented.

The result was an extremely well-presented meeting at their headquarters in Alicante. Snr Dominguez and his team started by explaining the wide areas in which they were trying to help the less fortunate people of the Vega Baja and other areas. of which, sadly, there are many. They try to help a wide variety of people including the homeless, immigrants, those facing natural disasters such as fires, very relevant when at present there are so many of these, and virtually every other misfortune you could think of. Until this vehicle was presented most of the help offered had to be given at the headquarters. They had often wished they could afford to obtain some form of vehicle but simply did not have the money. They were extremely proud to be the chosen recipients of the support vehicle which has changed their lives, and many others, for the better.

They have since been able to provide help to hundreds of people and are now able to travel to them to offer help. The specially fitted out vehicle is fitted with hot water tanks and showers to allow people to have a shower when needed which before the donation was almost impossible. The vehicle is also able to provide a place where sometimes desperate people are able to meet and be helped. This help takes a large number of forms. It can be help with obtaining food and medical help, obtaining paperwork such as ID cards, help with personal hygiene, even such mundane things as chiropody. It allows them to be proactive rather than reactive. In some cases, it helps just to have someone to talk to and to be offered hope. In some cases, they speak to foreign consulates to help the people return to their home country.

Originally the vehicle was used in 2015 to help people in the Guardamar, Seguro and Orihuela areas. However, by 2017 this area was extended to include Rojales, Santa Pola and Fulgencia. From thirty interventions in 2015 the numbers helped by 2017 had risen to over three thousand! They are hoping to increase these numbers even more in the future. The team are able to converse in several languages which help many homeless people by no means all of which are Spanish. Some are very reclusive having lived on the streets, in some cases for many years, and would probably not have approached the Red Cross directly. Now however, the Red Cross are able to approach them which has enabled much more help to be given than previously.

The team now follow set but different routes every day each week so the people needing help know where to find them. When the people get to know and trust the team real help can be given. Almost all of this work, is done by volunteers and much is paid for by donations from various sources including the Freemasons. We were extremely impressed by the scope and breadth of the help offered and were extremely pleased to be invited by the team to be shown just what can be done with a little help and determination. Our thanks must go to Snr Dominguez and the team and also to the hundreds of Masons around the Province of Valencia who made all this possible.

The Provincial Grand Lodge of Valencia recently held a Grand Golf Tournament to raise money to send under privileged children to the Summer School in Guadalest. This was held at the Serena Golf centre and was attended by fifty-six golf lovers who were keen to play and, at the same time, help needy children to be able to attend a summer school. The Provincial Grand Master, Right Worshipful Brother Michael Shilan and his deputy, Very WBro Rodney Bignell, were both in attendance to support this worthy day’s efforts. Provincial Charity Steward, WBro Trevor Bagnall was also there and took part in the match.

As well as the golf tournament, of which more later, there were several competitions to raise more money. One was to guess how many balls would be lost over the day and one lucky chap, Mick Billings, got the number exactly right by forecasting two hundred and twelve. There was also an auction which raised a further seven hundred and forty-five euros. The prizes, consisting of having green fees paid, were donated by golf courses in Alicante, Elche, Bonalba, La Serena, Las Colinas and Vistabella. Many thanks to all of them for their wonderful support.

A number of prizes were also donated by local businesses in the form of bottles of spirits etc. There were also two autographed items in the auction: a polo shirt signed by Darren Clarke – Ryder Cup Captain
and a golf glove signed by Padraig Harrington – Ryder Cup winner
Sponsorship was also offered by the following companies:
Boats & Barcos, Torrevieja
JR’s Country Club, Ciudad Quesada
Easy Insurance SL, Torrevieja
Caroline’s Embroidery Workshop
Alicante Lettings, Donna Pepa

As a result of all the activities on the day a magnificent total of more than two thousand eight hundred euros were raised.

The day was largely organised by WBro John Harvey and Bro Mike Wyatt who did most of the donkey work. A lot of help and support was also given by Mr John O’Brian, who represented the Spanish Golf Federation, and also managed to obtain some of the free green fees.
All attendees also had a fantastic lunch and the overall view was that it had been a magnificent event for all concerned.

On a final note, preparations are already in progress for a tournament next year, probably at Bonalba Golf, with a date yet to be confirmed.

Winners of the various events

Spanish Federated
John O’Brien and Denis McCormack -first place
Bill Martin and Eric Owens – 2nd place
Brent Hollings and John Dodds – 3rd place

Non-Federated
Rebecca McGeehan and Yvette McGeehan – first place
Paul Burletson and Steve Cardwell – 2nd place – Old Tower No. 49
Martin Gedney & Mike Billins – 3rd place

Nearest the pins
3rd: Mick the Grip
9th: Mike Billins
15th: Andy Trefry
17th: Andy Trefry

Recently, two senior Masons from the Provincial Grand Lodge of Valencia, plus a third from the Grand Lodge of Spain, visited the Masonic summer school in Guadalest. This school has been funded by Freemasons in Spain for the past three years and is designed so that disadvantaged and underprivileged children are able to visit the school for ten days and learn about subjects they would normally not be able to study.

Every place is fully funded by the Masons so the children’s parents or carers do not have to pay a cent towards the cost. This year we have funded a record, forty-two children in total. Twenty-two of these children have come from the El Preventorio children’s home in Gandia, eleven from the Red Cross in Javea and others from around the region.
The funding has been donated entirely by local Masons, the Provincial Grand Lodge of Valencia and the Grand Lodge of Spain who are delighted to be able to send so many children to the school who otherwise would be unable to attend. It should be noted that this is not a holiday, though it must appear so to the children. This is an educational trip where all students are expected to learn about subjects which will be totally new to most of them.
The basic curriculum encourages brotherhood and companionship. It teaches the children to get on with each other, to help and care for each other and for the older children to help and mentor the younger ones. Educational subjects include country walking, swimming, cycling, canoeing, archery, rock-climbing, quad biking, astronomy, music, drama and improvisation among many others.

Local volunteers visit to teach these subjects and the lessons are largely given by volunteers. The mentors who guide the children are little more than children themselves with ages ranging from eighteen to twenty-five. Some are former students who enjoyed the experience so much they have chosen to return and encourage other youngsters to take part. A great way for them to put something back for the chance that they were given!

The three Masons who visited were the Provincial Grand Master of Valencia, RWBro Michael Shilan, the Provincial Charity Steward WBro Trevor Bagnall and, for the first time, a representative from the Grand Lodge of Spain, RWBro Barrie Mansell who is an Assistant Grand Master but was attending as the District Grand Master of Mark Masons. They were all incredibly impressed by the work undertaken by the school which is run by Snr Juan Carlos Ortuño who built the entire centre himself.

It is obvious from the faces of the children how much they enjoy this brief respite from their normal lives and it creates a memory which will stay with them for ever.
The Provincial Grand Master said that he felt the school was an incredibly worthwhile undertaking and has made the centre one of his Provincial charities for this year. He is proud and happy that, through the selfless work of all the Masons both locally and nationally, so many children could participate and he wanted to offer a brief word of thanks to all the Masons throughout Spain who have made this possible.

Recently, almost sixty members of the Javea 40, Freemasons Lodge, along with their wives, partners and guests, boogied, jived and grooved their way through an amazing evening of sixties and seventies music at their annual summer party held at the popular ‘Inn on the Green’ in Javea, supported by the Master of the Lodge Jens Gerl. For some, this was an opportunity to pull out from the wardrobe clothes which had not seen daylight for the best part of fifty years and, incredibly, some of them still fitted!

Numerous guests joined in the fun by donning mainly sixties though also some seventies costumes, in an effort to turn back the clock for at least one evening. In this, they were hugely successful. A very tasty meal was provided and with drinks at reasonable prices everyone enjoyed themselves enormously.
There was a grand charity raffle and the event raised an incredible four hundred euros for charity. Worshipful Brother Malcolm March, the Charity Steward of the Lodge, said that in recent months the Lodge had supported a number of initiatives, many providing help to sick and underprivileged children, as well as paying for disadvantaged children to go on activity holidays organised by the Freemasons.

As a Province we have just sponsored thirty children, mainly from the El Preventorio children’s home in Gandia, to attend a summer school in Guadalest along with eleven more from the Red Cross. They will attend, free of all charges, for ten days of amazing     activities ranging  from climbing, archery, mountain biking, and cycling to canoeing, astronomy, construction of, and instruction in playing, musical instruments, drama and much, much more. These are activities which the children would be very unlikely to be able to undertake without the sponsorship of the Masons.

Many thanks must be given to Malcolm and Margery March who did most of the organising, assisted by other members of the Lodge. This was a very pleasant evening enjoyed by all.