New initiative pays dividends
Members of the Cheerful Sparrows a local Group 8 charity joined the members of Union Lodge No.127 on Saturday 22nd October for a fund-raising quiz evening. Run of the mill you may think, but this was an evening with a difference.
‘Bums on Seats’ What’s it all about?
The initiative is to invite a charity of your choice to support, to use your centre’s facility.
Your Lodge/Chapter supplies the venue.
The charity supplies the ‘Bums on Seats’, the raffle prizes and the food (usually an American supper but could be Fish and Chips or the like).
The Charity gets the profits of the evening.
The centre gets the profit from sales over the bar.
Union Lodge did just that, with members of the charity. The Charity managed to get 30 of their supporters and Union members numbered 24 in support of them. The Lodge members ran a quiz and manned the bar.
Charity members sold raffle tickets and organised raffle prizes although a few were donated by Union members.
The end result: The charity is now £545 better off.
Relationships between Freemasons and the public are enhanced.
We all had a good time.
The centre was used, and the centre’s bar took some money.
AND
Union Lodge now has a Joining Member. (A lapsed Mason for a few years has decided to return. Purely because he enjoyed the evening and interaction). The Lodge may get new members from it as from the comments made by the visitors, a lot of the visitors, and they were of varying ages, did not really appreciate what our fraternity did and were asking all of the right questions.
The charity’s organisers were amazed at how much money could be raised at an event. Their functions usually realise £100-150, and everyone was seen to be having a good time.
Jim Mason
Group 8 Chairman
Cheerful Sparrows is the chosen charity of the Lodge’s Worshipful Master Daren Templeman and his wife Melanie for their year. Commonly known as a ‘Bums on Seats’ evening, the Lodge hosts the evening in its centre.
