Lincolnshire Freemasons aid deprived community

Lincolnshires most senior Freemason, Dave Wheeler, centre, and
Provincial Charity Steward Pete Tong met clients of Grimsbys Harbour Place when they visited to hand over a ?5,000 donation from the Masonic Charitable Foundation. EMN-190402-150228001 — Lincolnshires most senior Freemason, Dave Wheeler, centre, and Provincial Charity Steward Pete Tong met clients of Grimsbys Harbour Place when they visited to hand over a ?5,000 donation from the Masonic Charitable Foundation. EMN-190402-150228001

The East Marsh in Grimsby has the unenviable status of being in the bottom one per cent on a national deprivation league table.

The masonic money has been given to Harbour Place, in the area’s Hope Street, which supports rough sleepers, the homeless and other socially excluded people.

The donation was delivered personally by Lincolnshire’s most senior Freemason, Dave Wheeler, the Provincial Grand Master, and Pete Tong, the Provincial Charity Steward.

Mr Tong said: “The message we brought away from the staff and volunteers at Harbour Place was that for more people than we might have imagined, the prospect of living on the street was too close for comfort.

“For many, the financial cushion which keeps the roof over their head is very thin indeed.

“They told us of one man they were helping who had been a respected professional in the community, but after problems resulting from a marriage break-up he had been reduced to living on the street.”

The donation was given from the Masonic Charitable Foundation (MCF), a national charity to which all Freemasons, including the 3,400 in Lincolnshire, contribute.

Last year, MCF gave almost £5m to more than 400 non-masonic charities across the country.