NEWSFLASH

The Provincial Grand Lodge of Jersey has donated the sum of £5,000 towards the Bailiff of Jersey's fund for the assistance of the people of Haiti.

Download the Bailiff's response to our donation

1st March 2010 The Provincial Grand Lodge of Jersey has also donated the sum of £2,000 to assist the people of Madeira.

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RNLI lifeboat - 2009
The RNLI decided to obtain a new lifeboat in St.Helier. The Tamar class all weather lifeboat has cost the charity £2.7 million, but three generous legacies have been received which left £1.33 million to be raised. The Provincial Grand Lodge of Jersey donated the sum of £20,000 towards the new vessel.

The Tamar represents the very latest in lifeboat design, and boasts new safety features including an advanced seat design to reduce stress on the backs of the volunteer crew members when they are sea. New onboard computer controls mean remote management of many of the lifeboat´s functions.






Jersey Cheshire Home - 2008/9

The charity for 2008/9 was the Jersey Cheshire Home Hydrotherapy pool where the collections funded a solar heating system for the pool.
See separate web page for details.

John Lobb Memorial Trust - 2007/8

The John Lobb Memorial Trust is an organisation which receives very little by way of public donation and yet has provided assistance to more than 140 Jersey young people since its inception in 1981. The late John Lobb was very well known in Jersey for his musical knowledge and ability and the part he played in introducing many people into the world of music. The objective of the Trust created in his name is to provide financial assistance to children, educated in Jersey, who wish to make music their career. Assistance may be given by way of grants or loans to students who are over the age of 15 years. Freemasons in Jersey donated £24,500 to the trust.

Equipment for the General Hospital - 2002/3

In Jersey we are fortunate to have the benefit of a fine hospital service where medical and nursing professionals work to a high standard in order to meet the ever increasing demands of the Island. With the development of the blood test for prostrate specific antigen (PSA), which is raised in prostatic carcinoma, the number of prostatic biopsies received by the histology laboratory has increased in recent times. Personal awareness, together with the breast and cervical screening programme for women, has also added substantially to the burden.

Waiting for the results of biopsies can be very stressful and the knowledge that processing time will be reduced as a result of our donation will be most welcome to sufferers and their families.

The charitable donations for 2002/3 were donated to the General Hospital towards the purchase of two principal items of equipment - detailed below - at an approximate cost of £ 40,000. Although the Department has older models of both machines the new acquisitions will increase the capacity to process more stains than previously, thus enabling a substantially improved turnaround time for reporting results of biopsies.

On the left is the Dako Auto-stainer which will be used to speed up and improve efficiency in detecting the presence of malignancy in tissue sections taken for biopsy. On the right is the Thermo Shandon Finesse ME Microtome which is a machine used for making tissue slices preparatory to making to making slides for analysis. The fully automated production process allows high quality specimens to be prepared with precision and in minimum time.


Pictured are the Provincial Grand Master with the President of the Health Committee at the official handover ceremony.

Jersey Freemasons fund bereavement counsellor - 2002

The Jersey Community Bereavement Service is available to anyone in the community who has suffered bereavement, regardless of the nature of the loss. The Service is professionally led under the umbrella of the Jersey Hospice Care. The Bereavement Service provides counselling and support groups. There are twelve voluntary support workers.

The service is meeting an increasing need in the island with nearly 300 clients in 2001. To assist in managing this increase and with succession planning in mind, Mrs Joanne Humphrey was appointed as Deputy Manager in May 2001. Joanne had a nursing background and was one of the original Home Care Sisters at the Hospice. She has now embarked on a five year period of training, including counselling and supervisory skills. She will also be undertaking teaching qualifications at the same time. The Provincial Grand Lodge of Jersey agreed to establish a bursary fund, in order to meet the costs of the five year training programme.

The first year's contribution of £7,000 was presented by the Provincial Grand Master, David Rosser, to representatives of Jersey Hospice at a Special Meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge on Thursday 28th March 2002. Margaret McGovern of Jersey Hospice Care said "We at JerseyHospice Care are absolutely delighted to benefit from the Jersey Freemasons' generosity. It will make a tremendous difference to us knowing that all the efforts of the past which have gone into the creation of the JHC Bereavement Support Service are well assured for the immediate future. It is a valuable part of our hospice service to the community and it is comforting to know it will continue"

Garden for Les Amis - 2000

The Province's charity for the year 1999/2000 was the Jersey Masonic Benevolent Fund. The collections exceeded £30,000 and from this about £20,000 was allocated to provide a garden for the residents of Les Amis. Les Amis is a Jersey charity associated with Jersey Mencap, and its main objective is to offer care and support in residential settings to adults with learning difficulties. Below are pictures of the original site in St.Saviour, Jersey, a diagram of the proposed garden and a picture of the completed work. The garden was opened by Sir Philip Bailhache, Bailiff of Jersey on 27th October 2000.


       The original site                                                        Plan of the new garden

       Completed garden                                                    Plaque


Jersey Hospice Care - 1995/6

The charity for 1995/6 was the Jersey Hospice care. From the donation, they purchased this specialised bathing equipment for the use of the patients under their care.














Specially adapted minibuses to carry wheelchairs - 1993

In 1993 the Province purchased two minibuses, adapted to carry wheelchairs. These were presented to the Health Department of the States of Jersey Government, to enable families to take wheelchair bound patients out. These two minibuses are in regular use at most times of the week, and provide valuable assistance to people affected in this way. The minibuses are quite anonymous. Painted in light blue, there is a small sign on the driver's and passenger's doors identifying the benefactor, with a small square and compasses.