In Freemasonry, every member is a Brother. To this end we may rightly consider Freemasonry to be a Family, and when a member of our family asks for assistance, we try to help.
In one such case – Porta Sapientiae Lodge in Ramsgate were supporting one of the head teachers at Five Acre Wood School as he attempted to climb the UK’s Four largest peaks in just four days in order to raise much needed funds for this special school.
Five Acre Wood School is arguably the most innovative education facility for young people with special educational needs and disabilities. The school has grown from 130 pupils in 2011, to over 800 currently and as such they have had to re-purpose all of the common areas (cafeteria, library, school hall) into classrooms and educational areas. But there is still a need for these common areas – the school could either buy some mobile classrooms, or get a little more imaginative? Cue the first of many projects – The FAWrient Express. The school was offered an old train carriage (a buffet car) which the benefactor also paid to have transported to the school and craned onto the grounds. Thanks to sponsorship from Costa Coffee, this old buffet car has been gutted and re-fitted and has now been turned into a functioning coffee shop / cafeteria which is staffed by some of the older pupils in preparation for life outside of school.
Not content with a train, the school approached Airbus Europe to see if they had an old plane? The front half of an Airbus 319 (now rechristened the “7-FAW-7”) is now in situ at the school and is being converted into a library.
Freemasons Lodges rely on the charitable generosity of their members in order to donate to these good causes, and sometimes the amount that just one Lodge can donate simply doesn’t feel like enough. Royal Navy were invited by Porta Sapientiae to join with them in supporting this cause and we are delighted to “match-fund” Porta Sapientaie’s donation.
Royal Navy Lodge are proud to support Five Acre Wood School and to partner with our fellow Ramsgate Lodge. A collective £500 has been donated to Five Acre Wood School and we wish them well with all of their future endeavours.
The post Ramsgate Freemasons Support Five Acre Wood appeared first on Royal Navy Lodge No. 429.