Welcome to the RMBI 2015 Festival
Brethren - thanks to the generosity of you and your families, the above is the total so far raised for the 2015 Festival
This figure does not include pledged money not yet received but does include Gift Aid tax reclaim amounts and interest to date.
There are various levels of Patronage and the situation at at 5th March 2010 is as follows:
Patronage
Grand Patrons [£2400 or above] - 7 Lodges
Patrons [£1200 to £2399] - 12 Lodges and 1 Chapter
Vice Patrons [£600 to £1199] - 16 Lodges and 5 Chapters
Stewardships - 341 brethren and 29 ladies.
Congratulations to you all.
Welcome
As the Deputy Provincial Grand Master let me welcome to the Province of East Lancashire's web pages that are designed to introduce you to our Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution (RMBI) 2015 Festival and communicate all that is necessary to help you understand the RMBI, why we as a Province are holding a Festival to support it, and inform you on what you need to do, and on the progress that we are all making, to raise funds for this most worthy cause. The Provincial Grand Master launched the Festival officially at the Annual Meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge on 19 November 2009. Since then events have happened to support the Festival and there are items of news occuring frequently. You can access some of the recent Festival or RMBI news in the table below:
DATE |
News, Information or Event |
The RMBI 2015 Festival held a magnificent launch banquet on 28 November 2009 which was superbly supported by 300 masons and their ladies from across the Province.
The RMBI, of course, has its own website which can be accessed HERE and this provides a wealth of information about the Institution, its homes and the help, support, advice and care provided.
The menu to the left should help you easily navigate around our website pages on the RMBI and the Festival. Messages from the Provincial Grand Master, myself and the Festival Chairman, WBro David Thompson, will be updated regularly so be sure to return to these pages at intervals. Further information includes Lodge, Chapter and individual honorific qualifications, cost of the jewels, brooches, ties and handkerchiefs with illustrations. To help understand how the Festival is being managed the 'Appeal Committee' and 'Area Festival Management' pages explain this with names, contact details and pictures of the Festival Appeal Committee and the Area Festival Managers.
The Appeal Committee are currently working on a method to make donations on-line which we hope will be attractive to those who prefer this method of payment.
Please visit the Download section - here you will find forms to contribute to the Festival, leaflets with frequently asked questions and contact details for the Appeal Committee, the Festival Office and the Area Festival Managers (these will be distributed to every member of the Province via their Lodge or Chapter Festival Representative). The Lodge and Chapter Festival Representatives' Manual and PowerPoint presentations are also accessible.
The Deputy Chairman of the Appeal Committee, WBro Brian Sigsworth, is available to tour the Province with his Roadshows. This will include a PowerPoint presentation which will promote the Festival and the work of the RMBI - this will also be available for download for use by a Lodge or Chapter (in the absence of a ceremony or other work) or by a District or any other group wishing to know more about the Festival.
News with pictures of the Festival launch at Provincial Grand Lodge in November is already available together with news on the Launch Banquet on 28 November 2009. As the Festival progresses each of the District Communications Officers will submit articles and pictures of their social / Lodge /Chapter events, cheque presentations or anything else they feel would be considered newsworthy. Notices and requests for support for forthcoming functions, either locally or at Provincial level, can be included with the availability to purchase tickets online. Brethren and Companions - this is your website so please make use of it, either to find information about the Festival or else, if you have your own Festival news, please submit it via your District Communications Officer for submission to the webmaster.
This is the RMBI 2015 Festival home page. It will include links to all the latest news on the Festival and associated events. It will also allow you to easily identify progress and total money raised so far - we hope this will be of interest to all members of the Province.
Many of the Festival pages will change regularly so please come back frequently to see what's new. In the meantime, please remember that the aim of our fund raising is to support one of the oldest of our masonic charities - the RMBI - which has cared for freemasons and their dependants, such as those depicted on this page, for almost 170 years. Masonic donations nationwide ensure that when a resident can no longer fund their care in an RMBI home, then the RMBI will fund it for them. Nationally this costs the RMBI some £4.5M per annum.
If you have any enquiries about the forthcoming Festival, then please contact the Secretary of the Appeal Committee, WBro David Rothwell, HERE - he will ensure your question reaches the person most likely to give the correct answer.
Thank you for you attention and we look forward to seeing you all during the coming months.
WBro Harold Woodward, PSGD
Deputy Provincial Grand Master
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