Somerset 2031 Festival

It is both a privilege and a pleasure to announce the formal launch of the Somerset 2031 Festival in support of the Masonic Charitable Foundation (MCF).

Most of us are familiar with the MCF – The Freemasons Charity. It is funded entirely by freemasons including contributions from brethren, both collectively as  Lodges and provinces, and individually.

Provinces in England and Wales organise fundraising appeals known as festivals, which normally extends over a period of five years. There are forty-four Provinces in England and Wales included in the Festival system with four Provinces each year completing a Festival Appeal. This creates a cycle of Festivals that repeats every eleven years. Our Festival starts now and will culminate in 2031 with a Festival celebration when the total amount donated is revealed.

Our last Festival which culminated in 2020 raised £2,776,510 for the MCF. Since the conclusion of our festival the MCF has been supporting brethren and their families in our Province in addition to making many grants to worthy causes across Somerset. This support is currently averaging over £330,000 per year. Simple arithmetic reveals we will receive more from the MCF than we have contributed over the eleven-year Festival cycle.

Over the next five years we have an opportunity to demonstrate our support for the charity and to show that we really do care about its future.

Our target is to raise £2.5 million by 2031. The best way we can do that as individuals is by regular giving. If every one of our 3000 members were to donate £10 per month, the price of two pints of beer, the total donated over the five-year period would £1.8 million, with the potential of £450,000 being added in gift aid!

Beyond individual donations the Festival offers us the chance to come together with ingenuity, good humour, and entrepreneurial spirit to organise events and fundraising activities at lodge, centre, and provincial level. Fundraising can and should be enjoyable as well as rewarding.

Our Province has a long and proud history of supporting the Masonic Charities; I am confident that by working together we will achieve and perhaps even exceed our goal by 2031.

Yours sincerely and fraternally

Right worshipful Brother Ray Guthrie
Provincial Grand Master
Most Excellent Grand Superintendent

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