Newsletter

Marking Well During Lockdown

W.Bro. Keith Ackroyd,
Provincial Assistant Grand Chaplain

In March 2020 when lockdown was announced, as part of my role as Almoner of my Craft lodge I compiled a list of brethren and widows, mostly older and those with medical conditions, with whom to keep in regular contact during the pandemic. I was also able to continue my role of Volunteer Visitor with the Masonic Charitable Foundation, for which I visited a brother to do a financial and medical assessment. The brother later received a one-off medical treatment payment as well as a regular allowance. Another example of the wonderful work performed by the MCF, MBF, and other masonic charities.

In September I volunteered to participate in a phase 3 clinical trial of a Covid-19 vaccine, Novavax. After a full physical and blood tests I was accepted onto the trial. It was a double-blind trial which meant that neither I nor the person who gave me the 'vaccine' knew if it was the actual vaccine or a placebo. Over the next few months, I had to attend for regular check-ups.

In January of this year, I was offered the Oxford vaccine. I had to contact Novavax to be unblinded to see if I could accept it and it turned out that I was given the placebo so was able to have the Oxford vaccine. During this current lockdown I have spent the last few weeks negotiating with a children's charity and received notification that a grant has been approved by the Berkshire Masonic Charity following my recommendation.

Please contact us to let us know what you've been doing during lockdown, we would love to feature as many stories about our Brethren's experiences as possible. Send us your story at marketing(at)oxonMBF2025.org.uk

New Single and Regular Giving Forms

Welcome to our new user-friendly Single and Regular Giving Forms for the Mark Benevolent Fund. These may be filled in entirely on screen, a typed signature is acceptable instead of using a hand-written one for the purposes of claiming the Gift Aid.

Once completed press the large red 'Print' button at the top of the form. This will open a print window in which you should select 'Microsoft to PDF' (or other PDF option if available) to save the completed form to your computer. The completed PDF document must then be emailed to Mark Masons Hall via the contact details included at the bottom of the form.

The donations made will start to accumulate to the benefit of the MBF Honorifics for the donor and will be counted towards our Festival total.

Requests for Assistance

These should initially be made via the individual Lodge Almoner, or in their absence the Mark Provincial Almoner. When a Lodge Almoner is made aware of a Brother or his family is in distress, he should immediately arrange a visit by himself or a visiting Brother to assess the circumstances and then complete a grant application form with as much information as possible. The Mark Provincial Almoner will, if necessary, liaise with the Craft Provincial Almoner. The Provincial Almoner will forward any applications for assistance to the MBF. The case is then reviewed and, if deemed necessary, further information will be requested and then submitted to the next Petitions Committee.

OMMBA is here to provide immediate support to a Mark Mason or their dependant, so that a cheque could arrive after the application has been approved by the Provincial Grand Secretary, in other words this acts as First Aid until a major grant can be obtained from larger Masonic Charities.

One such case very recently occurred where the Provincial Almoner received a call from a Lodge Almoner; a Mark Brother was very unwell and needed urgent assistance. A committee meeting of the OMMBA officers was called and a sum of money was paid straight away to the person concerned, this is just one example of what OMMBA was designed for and is able to do.

Every year a different Province hosts the MBF Festival. A Province will organise its own fundraising towards a target that it sets, and this concludes with a Festival Banquet when the final results are announced.

The MBF has disbursed many millions to individual petitioners and an even greater sum in grants to charities within the wider community. A major grant of £1.6m has been made to the RNLI help fund a new lifeboat, Addenbrooke's Hospital Trust received over £2m for machines to help in the diagnosis of prostate cancer and a pledge of £2.6 million has been made to Hope for Tomorrow Cancer Charity for the purchase of mobile chemotherapy units throughout the UK. These projects can only be funded with your help and dedication to the fund.

The fund today has dealt with applications from Oxfordshire Mark Masons, the figures for grants to our members are not available as all requests for assistance are kept in the strictest confidence, so much so that the Provincial Almoner is not aware of the amounts of the grants.

The Role of Almoner

An almoner is key to providing care to our members, their families, widows, dependants, and Freemasons who may be experiencing difficulties in their life.

In trying to define the almoner's role and the necessary qualities that are essential. Some of the skills and qualities which are paramount in being able to fulfil the office of almoner are:

    To be of a caring nature (empathetic not sympathetic)

    Understanding and maintaining of confidentiality and safeguarding

    Maintain contact with all Lodge members

    To be aware of and in contact with ailing or distressed members of the Lodge

    To maintain contact with the family of a deceased member

    To be aware of and keep in regular contact with the widows in particular

    Be aware of the Masonic charities and how to contact them

    Be a good 'listener', this is a skill. (The skill can be developed; it is about being an 'active listener', rather than a passive one)

Freemasonry encompasses the basic principle of caring for others. For centuries, Freemasons have supported orphans, the sick, the elderly and many others during times of distress. One of the core values instilled in each member is the importance of looking after the welfare of fellow Freemasons and their loved ones.

One of the roles of the Provincial Grand Almoner is to provide support, guidance and advice to all Lodge Almoners within the Province and to be the person through which applications for financial, medical and family support on behalf of its Brethren and their dependants are made.

Several years ago, there was almost open war between the tourist bus operators in London. The police and Department of Transport Inspectors were always on their backs.

I represented one operator called before the Traffic Commissioner about reported vehicle defects. One report came from a police officer and it stated that there were two serious defects:

   1.   The upper deck rear bench seat was broken.

   2.   The emergency escape window at rear upper deck was screwed closed.

I had the company engineer in the witness box and our conversation went something like this:

   Q.   Was the emergency window upstairs screwed closed?

   A.   Yes, he admitted.

   Q.   Was the rear bench seat upstairs broken?

   A.   Yes, he admitted.

   Q.   So what happened?

   A.   The policeman stood on the seat, struggled to open the window, and broke the seat.

   Q.   So the upper deck emergency window was inoperative.

   A.   Yes.

   Q.   Was there anything special about this bus?

   A.   Yes ... IT WAS AN OPEN TOP BUS!

As an Open-Top Bus there was obviously no need to try and escape through an 'emergency' window, so it was screwed shut for safety. Needless to say, the case was thrown out!

If you have any funny stories for us, or articles that you would like to share with your Brethren, please send them to us at marketing(at)oxonMBF2025.org.uk

Following a very generous bequest the Oxfordshire Mark Masonic Benevolent Association's funds are exceedingly healthy. The bylaws of OMMBA allow it to make donations to the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons Fund of Benevolence, now the Mark Benevolent Fund, and over the years OMMBA has made donations to other Province’s Festivals.

Although the committee of OMMBA will always keep in mind that the needs of members of the Province and those of local charities must have priority in dispensing assistance, it is the case that OMMBA is in a position to assist our own Festival. To that end, the committee of OMMBA have agreed that OMMBA will match pound-for-pound any monies raised by a Lodge or group of Lodges working together to organise an event for the benefit of the Festival, up to a maximum of £1,000, in addition OMMBA will donate £100 to any fund raising effort by an individual Brother, provided that the Secretary of OMMBA is notified in advance of the intended event. The hope is that such events will involve as many members of the Lodge(s) as possible including families and friends. It is intended that the combined sum will count towards the Provincial awards system.

Those shopping through Amazon can have Amazon.com Incorporated donate 0.5% of the net purchase price to OMMBA at no extra cost to the shopper. Simply go to https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/chpf/dashboard and set your nominated charity to the Oxfordshire Mark Masonic Benevolent Association (Reg. Charity No. 1122908), then make sure that you change your website bookmark/ favourite to https://smile.amazon.co.uk to start donating.

Only purchases made through AmazonSmile will count towards Amazon's donations total for OMMBA.

All donations received through AmazonSmile will go towards the Mark Benevolent Fund 2025 Festival, Oxfordshire total.