.gif)
Derbyshire Festival 2014
In aid Of The Masonic Samaritan Fund
--
Because ... Derbyshire
Cares --
News (18/6/8), Questions (21/6/8), Events (2/8/8)
|
Derbyshire Festival 2014 In aid Of The Masonic Samaritan Fund
--
Because ... Derbyshire
Cares -- News (18/6/8), Questions (21/6/8), Events (2/8/8)
|
|
|
Derbyshire Festival 2014 The Festival SystemWhat is a festival? The following description and function are taken from Wikipedia (the on-line encyclopaedia):
Surely this
rendering alone, will sound an accord with most Freemasons,
Types of festivals
So, what is the Masonic Festival system? What is the need for it?
Once again, referring the description; A festival is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centres on some unique aspect of that community. Each year one of the Masonic Provinces holds a Festival in support of a chosen central Masonic Charity. The money raised makes a significant contribution to the income of the Charity and allows us to help even more people in need. Members of the Province are encouraged to support the appeal and the Festival culminates in an event at which the final total raised is announced. Most Festivals have a figure head who presides over the whole event, and the President of the Derbyshire Festival 2014 is the Provincial Grand Master. The PGM has delegated much of the organization and running of the festival to an executive of 8 key personnel with specific responsibilities for different areas of the undertaking. For Masons, the Festival is the culmination of six or seven years of fund raising by a Province which culminates in the hosting of a Festival Banquet, attended by those who qualify as Stewards during the Festival together with their ladies. The Province will have been raising money and donating to the Festival throughout all this period. The Freemasons' Charities are extremely grateful for the generous contributions made in recent years in terms of time and money. This is sometimes misunderstood by 'younger' Brethren. The question is often asked: "why are we discouraged from giving money to the other Masonic charities, or to local charities?" Well we are not; the Festival is in addition to our normal charitable support. It is not always known that every year there are four Masonic Festivals through out the English and Welsh Craft Provinces, each being in favour of one of the four Masonic charities. The Festival system spreads the load evenly over the 47 Masonic Provinces in England and Wales. This ensures an annual income for each of the Masonic charities but also allows those Provinces not currently in a Festival period to alternatively donate to other causes of their own choice. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the United Grand Lodge of England created what are now four charities to specifically support as the core of our Masonic fund raising, the four Grand Charities:
Obviously, these charities require substantial income to cover their large expenditure and, in addition to other sources, such as investment income, a very high proportion of their annual income comes each year from one of the 47 Provinces; that is, from the results of an extended period of charitable giving by the Province’s brethren, called a Festival, over anything from 5 to 7 years. To a non-Mason, it may come as a surprise that Freemasons dedicate so much of their time and effort providing for charity; often believing instead that Masons are involved in clandestine activities .... nothing could be further from the truth.
The following table lists the Provinces that are hosting Festivals during this year and the next few years and last year. So it is quite evident that all of the four Charities are fully supported.
Please visit the web sites of other Provinces (where some of this data was originally sourced) for more information about recent, current and future Provincial Festivals:
And Of Course, in 2014 the Derbyshire Festival will culminate !
References:
The pages of this document have been authored by the Derbyshire Festival
communications team. |
|
This page was updated on: Monday, 21 July 2008 22:26 |
There
are numerous types of festivals in the world. Though many have religious
origins, others involve seasonal change or have some cultural significance. Also,
certain institutions celebrate their own festival (often called "fests") to mark
some significant occasions in their history. These occasions could be the day
the institutions were founded or any other event which they decide to
commemorate periodically, usually annually.
