Hospiscare’s High View Gardens given £1,000  by the Devonshire Freemasons

High View Gardens, the Hospiscare Centre in Exmouth, has been chosen to receive a grant of £1,000 from the Devonshire Freemasons.

The grant comes through the Masonic Charitable Foundation (MCF), and will be used for the care of the terminally ill.

This is just one of 203 grants to hospices around the country from Freemasons. In total £750,000 will be donated to hospices all over England and Wales this year. This includes £300,000 which will be distributed to each hospice that receives less than 60 per cent funding from the NHS. A further £450,000 will be provided to individual hospices across England and Wales via Hospice UK, the national charity for hospice care.  MCF is partnering with Hospice UK to widen access and address barriers to local hospice services to ensure they are accessible to everyone.

Contributions from Freemasons to hospices have exceeded £14 million in England and Wales since 1984. The Freemasons have been long term supporters of Hospiscare who also receive individual donations made by many of the 131 Lodges that meet throughout the county.

Carey Mackenzie, Hospiscare’s Grants and Appeals Officer said “We want to thank the Freemasons for their wonderful donation.  This will go a long way in supporting our specialist end of life care for patients and their families.  We are reliant on 82% of our funding coming from the community and organisations such as the Masonic Charitable Foundation, and could not deliver our care without this support.”

Colin Gale from the Devonshire Freemasons said: “I’m very pleased we’ve been able to assist Hospiscare. They do an outstanding job helping people with terminal or life limiting conditions, as well as supporting their families through very difficult times.

 “For the Freemasons of both Devonshire and the Masonic Charitable Foundation to be able to help in this way is very satisfying but when we come and meet the nurses and staff who dedicate their lives to helping people who find themselves in need of their help, it is also very humbling.”