Twickenham Lodge – Charity Go Round

Twickenham Lodge No 4278 had a busy summer making a number of charity donations. On 13th August the Lodge Treasurer W. Bro Heath and Secretary W. Bro Ian Defty on behalf of the Lodge handed over a cheque for £1,000 to the Shooting Star Children’s Hospice in Teddington. Beverley Danckert on behalf of Charity was pleased to accept the cheque and expressed her appreciation that Middlesex Freemasons had thought of them and explained how the cheque would greatly help in the continued running of the children’s hospices going forward.

Shooting Star Children’s Hospices cares for babies, children and young people with life-limiting conditions, and their families, across south-west London, north-west London and Surrey. They are there to make every moment count, whether lives are measured in days, weeks, months, or years. They support families from diagnosis to end of life and throughout bereavement with a range of nursing, practical, emotional, and medical care. Their specialist care and support is free of charge and available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They support around 500 babies, children, or young adults who have a life-limiting condition and their families, as well as around 200 bereaved families. It costs £10 million a year to run Shooting Star Children’s Hospices, so they rely on the generosity of their supporters and donations, such as ours, to keep their services going.

Straight From The Horses Mouth

Later in August, W. Bros Robert Heath, Ian Defty and Robert Leadbetter met with the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) in Teddington and presented a cheque for £1,000 to Natalie O’Rourke of the RDA on behalf of Twickenham Lodge. Natalie and her colleagues showed us around the centre in Teddington and whilst there were no horses present as they were awaiting their return from another stable, we were able to visit the facilities for not just the horses stabled there but also we were shown the facilities utilised by the users of the RDA.

Riding for the Disabled Association, work to improve lives through the unique bond between people and horses. Each year, they support over 22,500 disabled children and adults through activities including riding, carriage driving, and non-ridden experiences such as Quiet Corners and Tea with a Pony. they are pioneers in the therapeutic use of horses, leaders in disability sport, and the only major UK charity focused specifically on the health and wellbeing benefits of bringing people and horses together.

Hampton And Kempton Waterworks Railway

In September our erstwhile W. Bros Robert Heath, Robert Leadbetter and our Director of Ceremonies W. Bro Stuart Lochtie were pleased to make a further donation of £1,000 to the Hampton and Kempton Waterworks Railway to assist them in upgrading their disabled facilities. The Twickenham Brethren, as well as being shown around the Railway and its facilities, were pleased to meet up with Linda Roberts and Colin Clode of the Railway Charity and the unassuming Honorary President of the Railway Middlesex’s the Pro Provincial Grand Master RW Bro David Allan who was able to attend for the presentation to the charity.

Restoration is at the heart of the society, and construction is well underway to achieving the society’s vision of re-creating this important industrial heritage railway for future generations to enjoy and the donation made by Twickenham Lodge will go some way to assist the Railway in catering for its disabled visitors.

So, all in all a busy Summer for Twickenham Lodge but most pleasing was to see the grateful recipients of the donations.

Back to top of page