Freemasonry in the United Kingdom is the second largest charity donor, after the National Lottery. Nationally, Freemasonry contributed £51.1m to deserving causes in 2020 alone. In addition, more than 18.5 million hours of volunteer work are undertaken by Freemasons every year. We in Alfred Robbins Lodge are extremely proud of the sums raised by Freemasons globally, nationally, across London and as an individual Lodge, ourselves. At the local level, London Freemasonry has:
- Donated the funds (£2.5m) to purchase and deploy a new CyberKnife – used to accurately remove tumours, in 2012.
- Donated almost half the funds required (£2m of £4.4m) for the second London Air Ambulance, in 2015.
- Following the Grenfell Tower disaster, London Freemasonry engaged with the London Fire Brigade regarding longer-reaching turntable ladders. Designs already available could not negotiate London’s narrow streets, so Masonry engaged with the German manufacturer of turntable ladders already used across the UK today. In 2022, London Fire Brigade purchased three new turntable ladders, with a reach of 64m (210 ft) making them the tallest in the UK and double the size of the next tallest – two purchased from the Masonic donation (£2.5m) and one from the Fire Brigades own funds. These three appliances are now sited at Wimbledon, Old Kent Road and Dagenham.
- For 2024, we aiming to raise £3m for the London Air Ambulance Charity, to replace the two aging helicopters currently in service that have now fulfilled their useful lifespan.
At a Lodge level, Alfred Robbins has this year made donations to the Air Ambulance appeal, The Brain Tumour Charity and Dementia UK.
One of Teddies for Loving Care (TLC) that Freemasons donate to A&E departments for medical staff to give to young children to ease the hospital experience and then they take it home. Since inception of the initiative in 2001, 3.5 million teddies have been distributed to hospitals throughout England and Wales.
