On Thursday, 25th January, the Provincial Grand Treasurer of the Grand Lodge of Valencia, WBro Fred Miller, visited El Preventorio children’s home in Gandia to present another cheque for two thousand Euros. Having now supported the home for several years this was the latest in a long line of cheques and gifts for the children in an attempt to make their lives just a little better.
The money was largely raised by a grand charity raffle held late last year at the Provincial Grand Lodge of Valencia’s Ladies Night where over two hundred Masons, and their wives, made every effort to raise the magnificent sum of one thousand, six hundred euros. When local Masons of Oliva La Safor Lodge heard of this, they were moved to add another four hundred euros to round the total up to a very respectable two thousand euros.

The cheque was presented by Fred to Sra Maria José Castelló Morant, the Director of the home, who was immensely grateful for the donation. She said that this cash would be added to other monies raised to support a paid, part time worker to help clean, wash and dry bedding etc which was a constant chore for the volunteers and becoming almost impossible to sustain. As most of you will know, looking after the hygiene requirements of two or three children is difficult, with upwards of fifty it becomes a major chore. If sufficient money can be raised it is hoped that this post could become a permanent one in the future.
The first photo shows WBro Fred presenting the cheque to Sra Castelló and the second a group shot of Fred with some of the workers and volunteers.
The home is always in need of children’s (and young teenagers) clothes, shoes, bedding, toiletries and hygiene items. If you have anything to spare, no matter how small, please contact El Preventorio as they can always use items you no longer need.

In early January, most Spanish children look forward to the arrival of the Three Kings (or Tres Reyes) who are far more important than Father Christmas, as these are the gift bringers that the children most want to see. None look forward more eagerly than the children of the Per Ells day care centre in Turis.

Fortunately for them, this event has been sponsored by the local Freemason’s White River Lodge for the past eight years. Each year three Masons dress up as Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar and make the journey to the day care centre to give the children a treat.
The centre currently caters for around twenty severely disabled children who are able to attend, usually on a daily basis, this allows them to meet with other children and also gives their parents a short respite from their constant care needs.

As is often the case, the centre receives almost no money from the local authorities and relies heavily on volunteers and charitable donations. Over the past eight years the Freemasons have done a great deal to make their lives a little easier both by donations and giving up their time to help whenever possible. The centre also has a nearby garden centre which has been adapted so that up to ten children can visit and stay overnight or even, in some cases, for a weekend which gives them a much needed break from their daily routine. Originally this building was unable to be used as there was no electricity to provide power, light and heating. However, a generator was sourced and the local Masons supplied, and had installed, all of the electrical cabling necessary to turn this previously unused building into a useful extra facility.

On Saturday, 6th January, over fifty parents and guests arrived to join in the fun and the children were very excited. They became even more excited as the Three Kings arrived and filed into the assembly hall ready to greet them. The three Kings took their places at the front and one by one the children came up to meet them to be given a gift, some sweets and often a big hug as well. It was both humbling and motivating to see how these children reacted and it is obvious that they are very well looked after and loved by the carers at the centre, many of whom are the parents of the disabled children.
The centre was originally built and donated by a former owner of the Valencian Football Club and is now a much used feature in the town of Turis. The Masons of the White River Lodge have done a fantastic job in continuing that tradition and the children’s lives are a little better for it. We were joined on our visit by Ms Jackie Moore who kindly acted as both liaison and translator and we are very grateful to her for giving up her time to help us.
If you wish to help Per Ells they are always grateful for any donation and you may feel free to approach them directly.

Worshipful Brother Gordon Ramsey, of Dama de Elche Lodge, recently visited two local charities to present cheques to the representatives of those charities to assist them in continuing to support the children in need.

The first visit was to DEBRA (The Butterfly Children) These are children born with a genetic disorder which causes their skin to be as fragile as a butterfly’s wing. This creates enormous problems and needs very careful treatment. This is both difficult and very expensive. The one thousand euros donated will be a great help in continuing the treatment of the children.

The second visit was to the Elche Children’s Home where a further cheque was presented to buy one thousand litres of fuel oil to help keep the children warm through the winter.

MASONIC SUPPORT FOR DEBRA “The Butterfly Children”
Mary Chambers, the representative of DEBRA receives a cheque for €1000 from Worshipful Brother Gordon Ramshead and his partner Sheila Fairbairn at their La Marina store. This sum was raised by the Brethren of the Dama de Elche Lodge No 163 during his year of Mastership, as their chosen charity!

MASONS PROVIDE WARMTH FOR THE CHILDREN

The members of Dama de Elche Lodge No 163 have donated one thousand litres of heating fuel at a cost of seven hundred and sixty euros, to the Elche Children’s Home! This much needed fuel will keep the children warm at Christmas and on into 2018! This is a regular donation by the Dama de Elche Lodge with the home being one of it’s charity recipients.

The picture shows Annette English of the Children’s Home receiving a cheque for €760 from Worshipful Brother Gordon Ramshead and his partner Sheila Fairbairn.

On the evening of December 23rd the Provincial Grand Stewards’ Lodge No.154 under the direction of the Worshipful Master, W.Bro. Rodney Bignell hosted an evening of  Christmas Carols at the Masonic Centre in Ciudad Quesada.  The event was also ably supported by the Assistant Grand Master of Spain, R.W.Bro. Barrie Roy Mansell and the Provincial Grand Master, R.W.Bro. Michael Anthony Shilan and the Provincial Assistant Grand Master, W.Bro. Roy Mitchell.

The singing was led by V.W.Bro. Jeffrey Hyde and everyone was accompanied by the fine playing of W.Bro. Mal Cordall of Caledonia Lodge No.68 who was thanked warmly by the Provincial Grand Master and all present for supporting the event despite his wife having recently left hospital.

A wonderful selection of food was donated and prepared by some of the wives and partners including various appetisers, hot beef, chicken and vegetarian mains and mice-pies and cheese to end.  The monies raised at the €6 per head function will be used towards essential maintenance and repairs to the building.

Highlight of the evening was rousing rendition of the ‘12 Days of Christmas’ with accompanying gestures, though perhaps the singing did not hit the right note with everyone….

The evening certainly got everyone present into the Christmas spirit.

A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

Last week the Brethren of Caledonia lodge continued to play a vital part in the local community by donating in the region of 1000 euros worth of food and other essential items to Rojales town hall Social Services department for distribution to local family’s in food poverty.

The Rojales town hall Social Services director asked W.Bro Ian Gibson and Bro Ian Bullock, shown here presenting the donation, to inform the Worshipful Master and  all the Brethren of Caledonia Lodge Number 68, that they were very grateful for this much needed food and other essential items, as the demand for their services was increasing all the time. It is always much busier in the winter and especially near to Christmas when the lack of food is even more noticeable.
The Food bank donation to Rojales town hall social services department is part of a continued commitment to the local community by Caledonia Lodge who have been regularly making donations of food and other items to charities in the local area. Early that day a similar donation of food was made to the Red Cross in Torrevieja.
If you could help these charities they are always in need of food and clothing and many other things. Please free to contact social services directly who will be extremely grateful for any items you may care to donate.

Throughout last year, Freemasons of Caledonia Lodge No 68 have raised money for charity from a variety of sources including raffles, other charity events and, especially, the Lodge Ladies Night. All were carried out under the guidance of the Worshipful Master, Sid Thornby, who selected this charity as the Lodge charity for the past year. This money raised, over five hundred euros, has been used to buy food for the Red Cross in Torrevieja and was donated on Thursday, 13th December, by Worshipful Brothers, Ian Bullock, Ian Gibson and Freddie Samrai who went along to the local office.

Earlier, WBro Freddy Samrai and his lovely wife Carol went to the Red Cross in Torrevieja and asked them what types of food they would like. Then with the help of the two Ian’s they all went to the local Cash and Carry, where they were helped by the very nice staff to select and purchase suitable items of food.
They raised sufficient money to buy a full pallet of food which was gratefully accepted by the Red Cross. This food will help to feed just a few of the local people, some of whom have fallen on very hard times. The pallet of food was taken to the Red Cross in Torrevieja, where the smiles on the faces of the staff was all the thanks they could have hoped for.

The  food  will be given out to those in need at the end of each week. Any other donations from any other source’s would always be very gratefully received by the Red Cross, Torrevieja. Freddie added “My wife and I would like to thank the two Ian’s, and all the others concerned who helped to raise this much needed money at such a special time of   year. There is always a problem but perhaps it is even  worse with Christmas approaching. It is good that the generosity of the local Masons will go a little way towards helping people to have a better Christmas than they might otherwise have expected.”

El National Restaurant in Punta Prima was the venue for the presentation of a 2500 euro cheque to ‘Reachout’ Torrevieja on Tuesday 21st November by the Las Salinas Lodge No 79.
‘Reachout’ was the chosen charity of Past Master, Brian McArdle, during his year in the Chair, an organisation that he praised for the outstanding work that they do for the homeless and underprivileged, of all nations, in the local area.
The presentation was made following November’s monthly ‘Saltpot’ lunch to ‘Reach Out’s’ newly elected President Brian Procter, who said that the bulk of the donation would be used to purchase tables and chairs for the centre’s comedor (dining room) which now serves approximately 50 homeless people with breakfast and lunch from Monday to Friday every week.
Brian explained the kind of support that the charity provides from their centre in C/Dona Sinforosa, including the provision of hot meals, showers and laundry facilities for those most in need, “a lot of people who are just normal people like you and I, but who are unfortunately down on their luck,” he said.
‘Reach Out’ also provides basic foodstuffs to families in need, as well as clothing, blankets, linen and household items and furniture. With Christmas less than 4 weeks away they are currently providing support to 39 families and their 66 children.
Brian McArdle said how pleased he was that the donation was being put to such a worthy cause as he urged members who were able to provide help, to do whatever they could.
More information of the services provided by ‘Reach Out’ charity can be found on their website at: www.reachouttorrevieja.eu

This article was written, photographed and published by Kevin Rearden of ‘The Leader’ newspaper to whom we offer our thanks for allowing us to publish it.

On Thursday, 30th November, Trevor Bagnall, Charity Steward of Dama de Elche Lodge, accompanied by his wife, Pat, made a pre Christmas visit to the twenty one children of the EMAUS children’s home in Elche to deliver many gifts for the children. These gifts were mainly toiletries either collected by the Masons themselves or generously donated by their wives. These were presented to Annette English who received them with pleasure. She later sent the following email.

Last week Trevor Bagnell and his wife Pat Arrived in La Marina with a car load of toiletries for the children . I told them we must have the cleanest kids in Elche at the moment. All of these toiletries are very welcome at the home and are always needed . Our thanks to all the members of Dame De Elche Masonic  Lodge Number 163 for this wonderful donation.

The gifts were given to this splendid charity, which was chosen by Worshipful Master Gordon Ramshead as his chosen charity for the year. This will be the last donation by Gordon who is soon to step down as Master but no doubt his successor will try to carry on his good work.
The Lodge has also provided 1000 litres of much needed fuel oil for their heating over the winter and they will also be making a further donation to Debra (the Butterfly children) which will happen within the next two weeks when further details and photos will be given.

The Provincial Grand Master R.W.Bro. Michael Shilan and his Lady, Muriel joined the Members and guests as the recent meeting of Armonia de Ifach Lodge No.46 held in Benissa.

After the Lodge meeting was concluded and the Lodge was Closed the Brethren invited the Ladies and non-Masonic guests to join them in the Temple and entertained them with a presentation on the structure of a Lodge, the Officers and their principle roles as well as the extensive charitable works undertaken by Freemasons around the World.

Everyone present then enjoyed a meal together.

Should you wish to learn more about Freemasonry and our charitable activities then please contact the Provincial Grand Secretary.

The men’s hospice in Gandia currently looks after about fifty homeless men with mental health problems. It is run by two Franciscan monks who work tirelessly, seven days a week, to help these men as much as is humanly possible. This is extremely difficult as they receive no help from the state and exist entirely from money donated and volunteers. Recently they have had a crisis where they had reduced their food stocks, basically to zero.
They were forced to send out appeals for urgent help just to be able to continue to help feed their residents. Hearing of this, local Freemason’s Lodge, Oliva La Safor, immediately sprang into action with an urgent appeal to all their members to bring food – as much as possible. Last night, Tuesday 21 November, this food was collected and will be distributed immediately.

The photograph below shows WM Ian Skipper, overwhelmed by the amount of food collected.

The amount of food gathered in one evening was amazing and will be welcomed by the hungry residents. The foodstuffs consisted of mainly long life goods such as rice, pasta, flour, sugar and tinned food at least some of which can hopefully be stored for future use. There was also useful donations of clothes and medicines which will also be very useful.

Just one extra tin of beans added to your weekly shop could make an enormous difference if we can only persuade enough people to do this. Old clothes which most of us would simply throw away can keep a homeless man warm through the winter. Old, out of date medicines are generally all they can get so before throwing medicine away or returning it to the chemist please think about donating it. With your help we really can make a difference.