The presentation that took place on Thursday 5th May 2008, by Robin Wilson, Provincial Grand Master for Nottinghamshire, to the Nottingham Synchronised Skaters Academy was a reminder of a very happy and successful event held at the National Ice Centre in June 2007. On that occasion, in front of the largest number of Freemasons ever assembled in the County, Robin Wilson gave a cheque for almost £4 million to the President of one of the Masonic Charities to help finance medical treatment for needy Freemasons and their families. Part of the entertainment on that day was a demonstration by the young members of the NSSA, whose skill provided a fitting start to the day’s celebrations.

Said Robin Wilson “Now that all the final financial calculations have been completed, we have found that there is a small surplus left over; having heard that the members of the NSSA are travelling to Russia later this month, I decided that we could do no better than to donate that surplus to the Academy, to help defray some of the expenses of that trip. The dancers gave us so much enjoyment last June that I thought we should repay the complement by doing something to help them enjoy their trip.

“At the same time, we know that Geoff Huckstep is the Chief Executive of the Nottingham Rugby Club as well as of the NIC. It was suggested to me that we could recognise that link by making a further donation to Spire Rugby Trust, the national charity which helps players who suffer spinal injuries playing rugby. Tom Woolrich is the grandson of the late Ronald Langford, an eminent Nottinghamshire Freemason of some years ago: he sadly suffered such an injury while playing for Nottingham, and is now a paraplegic. I hope that our donation will help in some small way to make life easier for him and those like him whose lives are changed so dramatically during a game of rugby.

“The event last June proved so popular with our members that nowhere other than the largest venue in the county was able to accommodate us. The amount raised represented over £1,000 from every Freemason in the county, a record never achieved before anywhere in the country. In addition, during the 8 year period of the Appeal, Nottinghamshire Freemasons also gave additional sums totalling much more than £1 million to other charities and beneficiaries, of which more than 90% was to non-Masonic charities. All this has been donated by Freemasons themselves, without any call on the public for outside donations.

This level of donations has continued into this year, when we are supporting two local charities, MacMillan Care and the Rainbows Hospice. I hope to be able to make presentations to them later this year of over £10,000 each. The generosity of Nottinghamshire Freemasons is truly remarkable.”