King Arthur’s Great Hall was once again the venue for 39 charities to share in a £120,000’s of donations from Cornish Freemasons. 

Cornish Freemasons travelled from across the county, along with representatives of their chosen charities, to the magnificent hall in Tintagel to celebrate the good work Freemasons do in the community at the annual Charity Giving Day event, which was started in 2014.

The charities and guests in the packed hall were welcomed by David Maskell, who is in charge of Freemasonry in Cornwall. David was accompanied by his deputy, David Leaity and two of his assistants, Graham Bennett, and John Sleep.

Each recipient was introduced by the Freemasons charity steward, Alan Powell, who gave a brief description of the positive contribution each organisation makes in the community before they received their cheques from either Mr Maskell, on behalf of the Cornwall Masonic Charitable Foundation (CMCF), or members from individual Lodges. 

Ellie Nicholas, the deputy chief executive officer of the charity Wild, based in Redruth said: “We would like to thank the Freemasons of Cornwall once again for their generosity. 

“Receiving the Masonic Charitable Foundation funding for a second year has been vitally important for us in filling the gaps that we have found since the cost-of-living crisis started, which has meant that our usual funding streams have not been as successful. 

“This further funding is in addition to the three years staged grant we received last year and has come as a real surprise. This will enable us to continue working with young children and their young parents, who are often teenagers, who will directly benefit from the money.”

Another recipient was Dr Louise Brown, lead clinical psychologist at the Cove Macmillan Support Centre in Treliske. 

She said: “It’s a real honour to receive the cheque and it’s very uplifting to be here to hear about how much has been raised already this year. The cheque we received for the Cove, Macmillan support centre, helps us continue our work and to grow in terms of providing support for people affected by cancer in Cornwall in a holistic way with the challenges they might face.”

Cornwall Air Ambulance also received a donation. Their chief executive officer Tim Bunting said: It’s hugely important to us that Freemasons are a real community, a real collective of well meaning, well driven individuals that come together to do extraordinary things, so we are so grateful and so delighted for the support from the freemasons, it makes a massive difference and saves lives.”

After the event Mr Maskell said: As Freemasons in Cornwall, we are not only proud to be Freemasons, but we are also proud to be members of our local communities. 

“A day like today celebrates the union of these two parts where we can bring together charities from across the county so that they can receive vital support to help them to continue to deliver the services each has in their individual fields. 

“This year it is even more relevant as many have struggled to generate funding due to people’s incomes are being continually squeezed.”