Brethren, I would just like to thank the Members of the Masonic Orphan s Welfare Committee for this opportunity to join with them at their annual general meeting and then spend a few moments with them, as we consider the background to our Masonic Charities, and how they and indeed we have changed over the past 292 years of our existence. Some Background on Our Masonic Charities. Charity has always played an important role in Irish Freemasonry from our earliest times. At those early meetings in the Eighteenth century, it was the norm for all the Brethren present, to pay a portion of their dues at every meeting, rather than making one large payment at the start of each year. The Secretary / Treasurer would then have paid out all the costs of the meeting, and used any balance left over to meet any charitable demands made on the Lodge from widows, orphans, visitors or sickly members. As the Grand Lodge became established and Warrants were issued, it is interesting to learn that the first committee set up by Grand Lodge was the Charity Committee, which looked in to charity applications from the various Lodges and deciding what funds would be allocated where. Lodges then had to make payments of their dues to Dublin. However, if money had been authorised by The Grand Lodge Charity Committee in Charity payments to a particular Lodge, that Lodge would only have to send the balance between the Dues and the Charity payment to Grand Lodge, and using the money retained, could then issue the Charity payment locally. The recipients would sign their receipt, which would go back to Dublin in the next mail package. We are, of course, talking of the days when all mail was delivered by horse drawn coach, from all over the island of Ireland to our capital city in Dublin, which at that time was the second city in the British Empire, second only to London itself. Despite the existence of the Grand Lodge Charity Committees, some Lodges still raised their own funds and supported their own in house charity appeals. One such Lodge was Lodge 190, known as The Royal
Arch Lodge, meeting in Dublin, and it was responsible for establishing the Masonic Female Orphan School in Dublin in the 1790s. We find reference to this new school in the Grand Lodge Minutes in an entry dated 3rd April 1800. G.L. Minutes 3 April, 1800 "... Lodge No. 190 - with whom your Orphan School originated, has great credit for the idea; and the manner in which they conducted it, until they gave it up to the G.L. in the year 1800, reflects the highest honour upon the individuals of that venerable and highly respectable body.* (When Bro. Brush, who was the acting person for his Lodge, gave in his accounts to the Grand Lodge, he returned Twelve Female Children in the School, and a Fund of 124.) The Bro Brush referred to in this minute was none other than the famous Dublin
silversmith - James Brush, who set up a production line and manufactured Craft, Royal Arch and High Knight Templar sides for his standard Masonic jewel of the period. The greatest and most useful institutions have sprung from the exertions of a few well-disposed individuals. This is now placed under the protection of the Brotherhood in General; and, by following as nearly as possible the plan of the Cumberland School, there is no doubt, by your unremitting exertions, but it will rise to a degree of flourishing prosperity, so as to be an everlasting monument to your brotherly affection, benevolence, and charity..." The foregoing is taken from a pamphlet contained in Furnell's "Acta Latomorum", p. 24. preserved within the Library collections of The Grand Lodge of Ireland, in Molesworth Street, Dublin. Further extract from the Minutes of Grand Lodge on the 3 April, 1800 Read a report of the Committee of the Orphan School which was confirmed & ordered that the same be entered in this transaction Report of the Committee of the Masonic Orphan School 29 th March, 1800 That the School, and the books belonging to it have been handed over to your Committee by Lodge No. 190. That the Balance of 112. 11. 6., appearing on the books of the Charity as kept by Lodge No. 190 has been accounted for & secured by Br. Brush to the Grand Treasurer, & to the satisfaction of the Committee. That the sum of 200 has been transferred from the funds of the G.L. to the account of the Masonic Orphan School by Br. Boardman, Gd. Treasurer, according to the Resolutions of the G. Lodge. That it is the opinion of your Committee that a Circular letter be printed and sent to the different Lodges in Ireland, calling on them for their support & accompanied by a copy of the amended resolutions.
Your Committee therefore requests that this G. Lodge will order its Secretary to furnish the Committee with the several addresses of the different Lodges in Ireland. And so begins the story of our first Masonic Charity. In due course, a second Boys School was also set up, followed by The Belfast Masonic Charity Fund (1862), The Victoria Jubilee Masonic Benevolent Fund ( 1887 ), The Down Masonic Widow's Fund ( 1893 ), and so on and so forth. At last count including Teddies for Loving Care, we now have some nineteen charitable bodies working in various areas of Freemasonry, including yourselves in The Masonic Orphans Welfare Committee, which was founded during The Great War in 1917. And as you all, already know, your particular fund was set up so that your Committee can provide advice, encourages, assists and promotes the welfare of necessitous orphans and children of Freemasons, provided they are not more than 25 years of age. Grants are for a wide range needs, including travel and educational expenses for those in third level education. If anyone should require the support of your fund, they should contact the Secretary of the Fund, 15 Rosemary Street, Belfast, for further details. Now Brethren, I know that you are all familiar with the excellent Grand Lodge of Ireland Charities leaflet, the annual Antrim Charity Reports and the other official publications from the various Charities. I however would like to take you back in history and look at some of the initiatives used over the years by Lodges, to raise funds to support their charitable giving. Our early records in Ireland make mention of a Lottery, based in Dublin, but which sold tickets throughout the Constitution in the period 1820-1830.. This lottery had received all the various legal requirements and approvals of the time, but seems to have run into various financial disputes between the authorised ticket sellers and the various independent ticket purchasers. There were a number of legal disputes arising from this lottery, and eventually the Lottery was cancelled and the various ticket holders were reimbursed.
Lodges in Victorian times were keen to hold dances, and these were quite formal occasions. Ladies were issued with a dance card, here they could fill in the names of their various partners, the type of dance carried out etc etc. One way that Lodges, could use these occasions to raise funds for the Charities, was to sell the Ladies an opportunity to dance with the Wor Master, whilst he wore the official Lodge cloak, Hat and Jewel etc. Another way to raise a penny or two was to allow people to sit in the Master's Chair for a small fee. Minutes of the time appear to show that many Lodges throughout the Constitution carried out such activities. Another popular form of fund raising at the end of the 19th century was the holding of various Masonic Bazaar's to raise money for New Buildings, for Charities and for Refurbishment Works. The main such event, was the Bazaar held in The RDS in Dublin in 1892 to raise money for the Girls Masonic School fund on the occasion of its Centenary Celebrations. They struck a small white metal medal for the occasion,
and these were sold throughout the Constitution. A specially commissioned oil painting - the first prize in the Masonic Female Orphans School centenary bazaar draw was presented to the Management Committee of the Bazaar by the artist - Sir Thomas A. Jones P.R.H.A. The portrait showing a number of girls in full size Masonic aprons, playing in a wooded dell, was eventually won, and the Birr Lodge ticket was the winning number. This valuable portrait has been quietly hanging in the Birr Hall ever since. One remarkable aspect of the Girls School Bazaar was the amount of work done by the various Lodges in constructing the backdrop for the Bazaar, which produced the effect of a town street. Each Lodge had its own house / shop where they sold a range of produce and special goods to raise money for the Girls Fund. Each day the event was opened by the wife of a leading Freemason and teams of ladies from the various Lodges manned their individual Lodge stalls.
There was an entrance charge to get in and each day large crowds of supporters arrived from Dublin and beyond to support the occasion. Special trains were laid on from Belfast, Cork, Wexford and the Midlands to bring in visitors, wanting to see the enjoy the entire spectacle. It was a very successful event and a book / catalogue was published in great numbers with details of all the events, participants and the various stalls and their contents. Similar Bazaars were held in The Ulster Hall in Belfast, the new Crumlin Road Masonic Hall in Belfast, Buncrana, Donaghadee and in Templepatrick to raise money for various Masonic Charities and for Hall Building and Renovation Funds. Sadly, this is one form of fund raising that I do not see happening in the present day. Our fund raising has evolved over the 20 th century from individual Lodge efforts to Constitution Wide initiatives such as The Grand Master s Appeals. Under these umbrellas, our fund raising has certainly become
more diverse. Efforts like long distance runs, cycle rides and indeed even tractor drives are now routinely used for fund raising. Lodges hold fund raising evenings, coffee mornings, bring and buy sales, licensed lotteries, Nights at the Races, Beard Growing competitions etc, etc, etc. By these means Freemasonry in Ireland is now a significant giver, supporting general appeals such as The Freemasons of Ireland Medical Research Fund, and our latest effort Teddies for Loving Care. In many ways Charity giving is a very personal matter for each donor. In the 1990 s, we in the Masonic Province of Antrim opened our Masonic headquarters building in Rosemary Street to non-masonic visitors as part of the European Heritage Open Days scheme, when guests could visit all kinds of Building that were not generally open to the public. From our Masonic point of view it was a very successful series of events bring in several hundred guests over a period of 8 years. It was also a great learning experience for those involved, including myself as we heard
some fascinating family stories about their involvement with the Freemasons. We heard from several aged men and women about their experiences and time spent in the Boys and Girls Schools in Dublin. Several of them had very warm memories of RT Wor Bro Sir Robert Baird, owner of the Belfast Telegraph amongst others, and Grand Treasurer of The Grand Lodge of Ireland at the time. On his monthly visits to Dublin to attend to his duties of Grand Treasurer, he would finish his day with a visit to either the Boys School or the Girls School. He always had a pocket full of half crowns, and each boy or girl got a half crown on these frequent visits, so they could purchase an apple some sweets or some other treat. I must say that I found these reminiscences fascinating and the people concerned clearly had warm memories of both Sir Robert and of their time in the Schools. Histories of both schools have been produced and of course, we still have Richview Lodge No 711, which now meets in the Whiteabbey Masonic Centre and is comprises of past students from The Boys School. However I wonder how many of you are aware of the Boys School visit to The Arctic Circle, as part of the Masonic Schools Artic Expedition which took place in the 1975. Six Boys took part from the Boys School in Dublin and a further five participated from The UGLE Royal Masonic School at Bushey in England. The students would make their way, across Arctic Tundra to Spitzbergen in northern Norway, a mere 600 miles from the North Pole. As Extra curricula activities go, this was quite a trip, giving all of the boys who went along, the experience of a lifetime. Sometimes it is interesting to learn about how our charity monies are spent. And I m sure that those who took part in this visit still have vivid memories of the entire experience. Today, as all of you already know, our Charity giving is now much more diverse than ever. We have all our in-house Charities and individual
Lodges support a plethora of local, national and international charities. In some ways the Ulster Fry has become a way of life with Charity Breakfast s regularly appearing on our programme. Indeed the next such Breakfast, sponsored by Redhall Masonic Lodge No 260 will take place in Ballycarry Hall on Easter Monday to raise money for the R.N.L.I. This is an event held on Easter Monday for several years, and usually gets great support from the Masonic Province of Antrim and further afield. So Brethren, thank you all for allowing me to address this august body today, and looking forward to seeing you all, over in Redhall on Easter Monday.