A Festival is a major fund-raising project, spread over a number of years and run by a Masonic Province, to benefit one of the four central Masonic Charities, namely the Grand Charity, the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution, the Royal Masonic Trust for Girls & Boys and the Masonic Samaritan Fund.

The Masonic Samaritan Fund is one of the four central Masonic charities under the United Grand Lodge of England.

The Masonic Samaritan Fund provides financial assistance towards the cost of medical care and support to Freemasons, their wives, partners and dependants of Freemasons, and the widows, surviving partners and dependants of deceased Freemasons who have an identified medical need, are waiting for treatment on the NHS and cannot afford private medical care.

Applications for grants can be considered on behalf of Freemasons or the wives (or partners), widows (or surviving partners) children or dependants of Freemasons or deceased Freemasons.

For this purpose, a Freemason is anyone who has been initiated into, or joined, a Lodge under the English Constitution.

The Masonic Samaritan Fund normally defines a long wait as more than three months for general surgery and more than two months for cardiac surgery.

Some conditions may require a more rapid response and the Fund can accommodate this. 

You will be replenishing the Fund so that it is available for others and in case you, your family or other dependants, need it.

The knowledge that you are helping Brother Masons, and their dependants, get the medical care and attention they need, when they need it. 

No.  An applicant needs to have seen a consultant and have a diagnosed medical need before submitting an application to the Fund.  Initial enquiries about how to proceed are welcome at any time direct from applicants or Almoners.   

The Fund will only consider retrospective applications in exceptional circumstances.  Treatment should not be booked or undertaken before written agreement to fund has been received from the MSF.  Applicants who undertake treatment in advance of funding being agreed are likely to remain liable for their own costs. 

The Fund does not determine where you should have treatment.  That decision is for you and your consultant. 

Your Lodge Almoner will be able to advise and help you.

Alternatively, you can phone the Grants Department at the Fund directly on 020 7404 1550.

Or you can contact the Fund by email on grants@msfund.org.uk or via their website, www.msfund.org.uk. 

Yes.  The MSF is required to determine that an applicant is unable to meet the cost of their own medical treatment without incurring financial hardship.

In deciding whether you qualify for a grant, the Fund takes into account your income and capital, but not the value of your main residence. 

In most cases the Fund will meet the full cost of treatment.  In some instances the Fund will assess that the applicant is capable of meeting some of the costs from their own resources and will partially fund medical care.

All those who receive a means tested State benefit will meet the Fund’s financial eligibility criteria in full.

It is always worth contacting the Fund direct as soon as possible, to see if you will qualify. 

Yes.  All elements of the application process are confidential but there is a requirement for a visiting Brother to be appointed to help verify the detail on the application form. 

Under normal circumstances this will be your Lodge Almoner.  However, if you prefer a visiting Brother can be appointed from another Lodge or Province. 

Your private details will not be revealed to any member of your Lodge or Province. 

Last year (2007) the Fund allocated grants of over £3.7 million to 626 applicants, the largest demand since the Fund was established in 1990. 

Its stated aim is to ensure that no potential applicant misses out on the Fund’s help through lack of knowledge or lack of available funds. 

It expects applications to continue to increase and is budgeting for a 15% increase within its current financial year. 

It needs to replace the monies spent to support new applications. 

It is the policy of the Board of Management of the Masonic Samaritan Fund to fund its administrative costs from its investment income. 

All donations made to the Fund are available for allocation in direct support of medical treatment. 

In 2007 the Fund spent £265,000 on supporting Festivals, donor records and internal administration.

The Fund is actively reducing its administration costs and recently saved annual office rents of £63,000 by moving into offices at Freemasons’ Hall.

All Masonic Provinces run Festivals in rotation.  Our last Festival in Derbyshire was in 2003 and raised almost £2m for the Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys.

It is now Derbyshire’s turn again. 

The 4 central Charities have been likened to the four main banks – although their head offices may be in London, deposits and withdrawals can be made at branches across the length and breadth of the country.

 London may be the administrative centre of the Fund but the people who benefit are Freemasons, and their dependants, across the English constitution.

Seventy-seven Derbyshire Freemasons have benefited from the Fund with grants totalling £407,000.

The Festival President, our Provincial Grand Master, R.W.Bro. Graham Rudd, has set two objectives for the Festival. 

• Firstly, for us to raise at least £2,000,000 for the Masonic Samaritan Fund between now and 2014. 

• Secondly, to raise the profile of the Masonic Samaritan Fund in Derbyshire so that Freemasons, their widows and dependants know that they can apply to the Fund for a grant to assist them when needed.

The Provincial Grand Master has set up a separate Festival Executive, under the chairmanship of W.Bro. Martin Bates and W.Bro. Richard McDonald, to run the Festival.

The Provincial Charity will continue with its own programme of raising funds for local charities and will support, but not run, the Festival.For the purposes of the Festival, the Province will be organised into seven areas with an Area Director co-ordinating and supporting efforts in each area.

 Each Lodge is asked to appoint a Festival Steward, who could be the Charity Steward or another member who concentrates on promoting the Festival.

 Lodges and areas are being asked to raise funds by requesting Brethren to make regular payments under gift-aid and by initiatives such as events.

Ideas will be shared and successes recognised across the Province.

To promote the Festival, to co-ordinate Lodge / Area events and fund raising activities and to act as the point of communication between the Festival Executive and the Lodge.

The Festival Steward could be your Lodge’s Charity Steward, although some Lodges that raise other funds for charity may wish to keep the roles separate.

It is up to each Lodge how they plan and organise their donations to the Festival, but we ask each Lodge to tell us who will be their Festival Steward.

 Our Provincial goal, of raising at least £2,000,000 between now and 2014, is about the same as the price of a pint of beer per week from every Freemason in Derbyshire.

We are asking every Lodge in the Province to achieve a target that is based on this calculation and which is proportional to the number of members of their Lodge.  Lodge targets were sent to Lodge Secretaries immediately after the launch of the Festival.

We would like all Derbyshire Freemasons to get involved with the Festival’s events and activities, to donate to the Festival and to promote the Masonic Samaritan Fund and its objects.

Ideally we would like you to donate the equivalent of the price of a pint of beer a week between the launch of the Festival and 2014.

Some people might want to do this by making one large donation early in the Festival.  This will attract the maximum amount of interest on the donation and, if done under a gift-aid declaration, on the tax reclaimed as well. 

Others will want to make regular payments, under a bankers order, direct to the Masonic Samaritan Fund.

UK tax payer are encouraged to make all donations under a blanket Gift Aid declaration.

You can also help the Festival by organising or supporting fund raising events and initiatives in your Lodge or Masonic meeting place.  Please speak to your Festival Steward or Area Director if you have any ideas for an event or initiative.

The Provincial Grand Charity of Derbyshire will continue to function for non-Masonic Samaritan Fund purposes.  It will hold events and receive and raise funds to support its continuing charitable commitments.

The simplest and most efficient method will be through either one off donations or through regular giving via a bankers order, both under a Gift Aid declaration (similar to, but more flexible than, the old Deed of Covenant).

Payments made directly to the Masonic Samaritan Fund will be credited to the Festival in the name of the donor and will count towards his Lodge’s, as well as the Province’s, total.

They will also qualify for interest at the same advantageous rate as the Relief Chest Scheme.

In addition, the donations will be available for use immediately by the Masonic Samaritan Fund.

Donation forms are available from your Lodge Festival Steward, at every Masonic Hall and as a download from the Festival website Downloads page These are best returned via your Lodge Festival Steward, so that he can keep track of donations and pledges.

Yes, you can if you wish, although monies will then have to be transferred over to the MSF at intervals.

Such transfers should be made using the blue Relief Chest form and accompanied by a list of donors and their individual contributions, so that donors can be recognised for their contribution.

Relief Chest forms must be received by the Grand Charity before the fifteenth of each month for it to appear in Festival statements for the following month. The form to list the donations made in this way is available on the Festival website.

You can use the Gift Aid Envelope Scheme for giving the proceeds of Lodge Offertories, and in support of fund-raising events and activities.

Envelopes are available directly from the Masonic Samaritan Fund by phoning 020 7404 1550.

The envelopes must be correctly processed by a Lodge official and then sent with an accompanying form to the MSF offices. Guidance notes and a copy of the form are available of the Festival website.

When a UK tax payer makes a donation under a Gift Aid declaration, using either the donation form or a Gift Aid envelope, the MSF will reclaim the tax paid on that donation from the UK government.

The amount reclaimed will be credited to the donor and his Lodge.

For the three years from 2008, the income tax reclaimed will be 28p in every one pound donated.  Thereafter it will reduce to 25p in the pound.

No.

 No.  However, the Masonic Samaritan Fund’s charity registration number is 1001298.  The Fund will apply to recover the tax that donors will have paid on any donations made direct to the Fund.

Individual Freemasons will qualify for the Festival Jewel, and for the Masonic Samaritan Fund’s permanent Jewel, on donating £100, or on taking out a bankers order to donate at least £100.

Both the Festival Jewel and the Fund’s permanent Jewel must be paid for in addition to the donation to the Festival.  The Festival Jewel will cost around £15.00 and the Fund’s permanent Jewel will cost £5.00.

The Festival Executive will decide soon how further recognition will be given to individual Brethren and to Lodges.

Ask your Lodge Festival Steward to list your donations, and the tax and interest received on the donations, when paying the donation over to the Festival.

On receipt of your first donation the Masonic Samaritan Fund will allocate to you a “unique donor reference”.  The Fund will also allocate a “unique gift-aid reference” to each gift-aid declaration that you take out.

These references will allow the Fund to keep a total of all of your personal contributions, so that you will be recognised properly as an individual, and each donation you make via each Lodge, so that Lodges are also recognised.

The Provincial Festival tie went on sale from 12th April 2008. The proceeds from the sale of the tie will go to support the Festival.

The Provincial Grand Master has approved the Festival tie for wear by Derbyshire Freemasons at Craft Lodges in the Province.  In addition, the Grand Superintendent, E.Comp. Tom Briggs, has approved the tie for wear at all meetings of Royal Arch Chapters in the Province.

The following Provinces have also given their permission for the Derbyshire tie to be worn by Derbyshire Freemasons at Craft Lodges in their Province :

•  Lincolnshire

•  Nottinghamshire

•  Northamptonshire

•  Staffordshire

•  Warwickshire

The Province of Yorkshire West Riding has given permission for the tie to be worn by Derbyshire Freemasons, who are also members of Lodges in that Province, when they are attending their Yorkshire West Riding Lodge.

The tie should not be worn at meetings of other Orders.

No. All items of merchandise have costs attached so the sale price can not be credited to the total for the individual purchase, nor their Lodge. The surplus, or margin, will be donated in the name of the Province.

Lodges will, of course, continue to donate money to other charitable causes.  It is just that the Festival President is asking Lodges, and other Masonic groups, to contribute as best they can to the 2014 Festival.

Make your wishes clear to your Festival Steward so that monies you donate via your Lodge go to the cause you wish.

All monies donated via a bankers order to the Masonic Samaritan Fund using the form headed “Derbyshire Festival 2014”, will go to our Festival and no where else.

Any other donations intended for the Festival, whether from Lodges or individuals, should be sent to W.Bro. Mike Knifton, the Festival’s Finance Director, who will keep local records.

Lodges will receive regular statements from the Festival’s Finance Director, W.Bro. Mike Knifton.

The Festival website, www.DerbyshireFestival.org.uk, will display a running total for the whole Province and will be updated weekly

If so, please send them to the Festival’s Director of Communications, W.Bro. Tony Harvey, on communications@DerbyshireFestival.org.uk.