2021 Festival

Brethren, as I pick the reins from my predecessor, we are just over halfway through our five-year Festival in aid of the Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys, which will end early in 2021.  We have just announced that we have passed the £2 million mark, and your generosity and enthusiasm show no sign of abating.

It is a monument to the incredible membership we have in the Province. The Freemasons of Durham, both in the Craft and the Royal Arch, have clearly got the Masonic ethos of helping worthy causes embedded in their DNA.

Everyone who is contributing to the Festival, in whatever way, should be rightfully proud of what they have achieved so far.  I agree with my predecessor that it is a privilege to be invited to support any of our former Central Masonic Charities, and as this is the final Festival Appeal in aid of RMTGB, I hope you will agree with me that it is our duty to raise as much as we can in the time we have left.  By the time we get to our next Festival, they will all be in aid of The Masonic Charitable Foundation (MCF).

Your generosity, the hard work of our Charity Stewards, and the numerous volunteers, who are organising the many and varied fund raising events, continues to excite and enthuse the membership to get involved.

I express my sincere appreciation to all of these volunteers, our hard working Charity Stewards, our Hall Ambassadors, and especially the 2021 Festival Committee under the leadership of John Thompson, for their continuing support in the work that they do.  They continue to encourage Members to part with their money, their time, and to take part in some very unlikely and challenging events.

John Arthur
Provincial Grand Master
October 2018

To find out everything there is to know about our Festival, including up to date facts and figures visit our Festival website