Richard Huish Lodge donate to Priorswood Community Centre

Lodge representatives were delighted to roll up to Priorswood Community Centre on Tuesday 29th July. Worshipful Master Richard, Master Elect Russell and your dutiful scribbler Charlie. We met with our friend Lesley and were very pleased at last to present an actual cheque, which can be presented to an actual bank. We were also very happy to hear that the Somerset Masonic Charity’s £500 was now with them, so a grand total of £2,500 to this very worthy local community charity.

The PCC was chosen by Richard as his charity for the year because the company he works for, Summerfields, are doing pro-bono refurb work there and he became very aware of the need for purely financial support.

We were also there because this was the first week of their summer activities and we could see how our donation would help them. Lesley plus around 30 volunteers provide services all year round and especially during the summer holidays – it’s well-known that the long summer school break can generate additional anxiety and stress throughout the family and so these FREE activity weeks are particularly important. Some 500 people – parents, children and grandparents [who do a lot of the heavy lifting in the long summer holidays] – come through the gate to the play area each week. That week’s theme was crafts, then sports followed by music & games with the final week a fun week with a climbing wall. As well as the Community Centre themselves, we saw : a bouncy castle; gazebos a-plenty from, amongst others, the NHS, the local community police, charities such as “Stand Against Violence” and “Help for Heroes” ; the ladies of the Inner Wheel running a cake stall; and some lovely ladies offering face painting. The Punch & Judy man was delivering all the laughs you remember from your childhood and there was even a mobile caving experience. Yes, you read that right. But my favourite stand? The pedal-powered “On your Bike” smoothie-machine!!

Richard and I had a great time on Lesley’s guided tour around the park. As always seems to be the case, I met up with friends from way back in my youth middle age. Brenda, a County Councillor I worked for, and Tracey, one of my Beaver and Cub leaders from .. well, I’m not saying but all our children are now 30!

Great to see how a small cash donation can help directly – it costs PCC well over £10,000 a year to offer these 4 weeks of activities. Every little helps.