Elves On Duty At Christmas Sparkle!
Christmas Sparkle is a project run by the community for the community. They work with local schools and organisations to support families in need. Their aim is to give a Christmas gift to every child aged 0-18 living in difficult circumstances in the Taunton and Wellington community. Christmas is well and truly here, so on Monday 1st December some of Santa’s Masonic Elves (Charlie Barker, Richard Wilson, Ian Clift, Russell Biss, Harry Price & Roger Bailey) popped along to support that aim, by making a donation and then getting stuck into wrapping presents, fortified by tea and biccies. They helped wrap the various gifts above into finished presents and load them into Santa’s (faithful black bag) Festive Sacks! Ian & Richard captured below doing a Festive Wrapping double act!
Taunton based Freemasons have donated over £5,000 this Christmas to help Christmas Sparkle achieve their aim. Donations have come from Lodge of Unanimity & Sincerity L261, Emergency Services Lodge L9391, Richard Huish Lodge L8518, Taunton Deane Lodge L5221, St George 3158 and Vivary Lodge L8654.
Additionally, a local golfing society donated though their masonic contacts, and support in kind came from Summerfield Developments, who have again offered free accommodation to the project.
As well as pure cash, Richard Huish Lodge donated 50 rolls of wrapping paper and plenty of Sellotape – all necessary supplies! – and a huge teddy bear (thanks Paul & Bryan)
Christmas Sparkle supported over 2,400 children in Christmas 2024, and it is a sad reflection of the times that they are on course to exceed that figure this Christmas. In an hour and a half or so, the Elves wrapped around 30 gifts, and fortunately Penny (on Quality Control) didn’t return any for wrapping failures! Much more information about this project can be found on their webpage: Christmas Sparkle and their Facebook Page. Here is the Christmas Sparkle in Taunton celebrates 10th anniversary recent Somerset County Gazette article.
Report by: Charlie Barker – Richard Huish Lodge L8518
