A picture paints a thousand words

Jeff Kirkpatrick has been a member of the East Kent Wheel of Friendship lodge in Canterbury since 2011 and has been married to Mandy for 16 years. Jeff, an Electrical Engineer, was originally from Hull, and moved to Kent in 1965. He became Master of his lodge in 2018

Mandy is a singer and has been since the age of 14. She does under the name of Mandy Winters. During her career she has had sell out tours in CZECHOSLOVAKIA., and appearances in the USA highlighted by appearing at the celebrated NEBRASKA COUNTRY MUSIC FESTIVAL from where she took home the accolade of “ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR” and “FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR”.

Mandy is a truly international artist and rapidly gained popularity with not only strict Country Music followers, but also with audiences from all walks of life. She has also appeared on UK television

Mandy also has the unique talent of yodelling, and is undoubtedly the best female yodeller in Europe, a talent she inherited from her father, recording artist Ronnie Winters. Who enjoyed so much success in the late ‘50’s and ‘60’s as Columbia Records’ Rhinestone Cowboy.

Two months ago, Mandy was taken ill and has remained in King’s College Hospital, London.

 Due the Coronavirus Jeff has been unable to visit her, and when he spotted that East Kent Freemasons were giving out Samsung computer tablets to enable patients to communicate with their families, he asked if it would be possible to buy one for his wife. As all the tablets had been given out in East Kent, Tony Eldridge contacted the Provincial Almoner, Duncan Rouse, who, via his opposite number in London, contacted the Managing Director of the company supplying the tablets to ask if he could purchase one more. Duncan was pleasantly surprised to hear that the company would deliver one to Mandy completely free of charge.

 Jeff said, “it’s wonderful to be able to see Mandy and communicate with her. Mandy is over the moon with it. We would like to thank all those involved for the work and generosity in making this possible, and all within just 48 hours. Mandy is confined to bed in a tiny one bedroom, and her only contact with the outside world was a window and her small phone. Now we are able to see each other, via Zoom, on the large screen of the new tablet”.

Read about the tablets and how they came about on our news page here. 

The Masonic Charitable Foundation is continuing to provide support to Freemasons, their Families and the wider community during these difficult times.

The Coronavirus is still causing many problems and the Charity is there to help. Head over to their website here.