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ROYAL MASONIC TRUST FOR GIRLS AND BOYS
Your Children’s Hospice needs you!
Sister Francis, pictured with the Queen at Douglas House, was a prime instigator in starting the Children’s Hospice movement
Prince Charles formally opened Ty Hafan Children’s Hospice near Cardiff
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The lifelites project of the Royal Masonic
Trust for Girls and Boys (RMTGB) is a visible
face of Freemasonry in the community. The
project started off as the Millennium project
of the RMTGB in 1999 with four children’s
hospices receiving computer equipment.
Today, 32 hospices have received lifelites
equipment and there are another five sites
that will receive equipment once they have
completed their building phase.
The children’s hospice movement is
enthusiastically supported by the Royal
family. Prince Charles formally opened
Ty Hafan Children’s Hospice near
Cardiff. The Queen and Prince Philip
have subsequently opened Douglas House
in Oxford.
The object of the project is to provide
life-limited children with an opportunity
of using computers to assist with their
education and to provide a means of
communication. Continuous Internet
access is provided, but this is carefully
controlled so as to provide as safe an
environment as possible.
In addition to a number of networked
computers, each hospice is provided with a
digital camera and colour laser printer so that
the staff can give parents a memento of their
child’s stay at the hospice.
Very large plasma screen televisions
have recently been added to the scale of
lifelites equipment given to the hospices.
These have proved immensely popular
with the children as they can enjoy watching
programmes together.
Each hospice has a ‘Local Masonic
Support Team’. The role of these teams
is to encourage and train the care staff
to enable the children to use the lifelites
computers and equipment.
If you are IT literate and can spare the
time – usually a couple of hours every few
weeks – and would like to join a team near
you, please write to the RMTGB quoting
reference ‘lifelites support’. All volunteers
at a children’s hospice must undergo a
Criminal Records Bureau check.
It is a little known fact that,when compared
with an adult hospice, a children’s hospice
receives little or no support from State funds.
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NEW MASONIC SAMARITAN FUND
Supporting those in medical need
Stories about the ongoing difficulties of the
NHS, particularly with regard to waiting list
times, continue to appear regularly in the
press. Some people, faced with a long wait
for an operation, look towards funding the
treatment themselves.
Others simply assume that they have no
option but to wait. One Freemason, told
that he needed a triple heart by-pass, wrote:
“I am just an ordinary guy, life has had it’s
ups and downs, I’ve made money and lost money
and like most of the population not given a lot of
thought to ‘what ifs’ when it comes to making
provision for rainy days – particularly ill-health.
Isn’t that what we have the NHS for? So, like a
million and one others, I was resigned to having
to wait my turn.”
Fortunately for him, his Lodge Almoner
knew that for many Freemasons and their
dependants the New Masonic Samaritan
Fund (NMSF) offers a very real alternative.
Continued...
To Brethren on the voters list for the
year 2004
To Lodge Representatives on the voters
list for the year 2004
Notice is hereby given that the
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
and
GENERAL COURT
will be held on
Thursday 28th October 2004
Full details of the Agenda and
Nominees for election will appear on
our website after Wednesday 15th
September 2004.
Those eligible to attend the meeting
are Patrons of the Trust, Vice Patrons
of the former Institutions and
Representatives of Patron Lodges.
If you are in any doubt about your
eligibility please contact the Trust.
Copies of our Annual Review will be
available after the meeting and can be
requested online at www.rmtgb.org or by
telephoning the Trust on 020 7405 2644.
Registered Charity No. 285836
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