East Lancashire Masonic Charity

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The Springhill Hospice

YOUR COMMUNITY FUND IN ACTION !

At a meeting of the Community Fund Committee on Thursday 7th December 2006, an application from Rochdale District for a donation of £7,500, to enable a new sensory garden to be completed at the Springhill Hospice, was discussed. Further details were requested and received within a few days, at which time a donation for the full amount was approved, and a cheque dispatched without delay.

A heart-warming story? Your Community Fund in action? Well, yes, to both those questions, but on a closer examination it turns out there’s more to this story……..much, much more.

It all began in 2004, when the Rochdale District team plucked an item from a Springhill Hospice wish list, and decided to make it come true. The wish?………the provision of a sensory garden to benefit patients, carers, family and staff at the hospice. The site was an area of approximately 10,000 square feet, stony and overgrown with weeds up to 3 feet tall.

The then District Chairman, P.R.B. Messum and his team took on the task of designing the project, and when he retired in May 2005, the new Chairman, Eric J. Kirkbride, vowed to see the project through to completion. Failure was not considered to be an option.

During the ensuing 18 months, by dint of determination and sheer physical labour, unstintingly given by Rochdale masons, their wives and families - even their grandchildren - the project gradually took shape. Much of the funding came from freemasons, £2,000 from the Mark masons of East Lancashire, for example, to fund the cost of the main water feature, but local businesses and the general community played a big part.

At this stage the garden is nearing completion, but, with about £28,000 already spent, funds have run out, with about a further £7,500 needed to reach the commissioning stage, targeted for March 2007.

This is a project tailor made for our Community Fund, which has, with commendable speed, stepped into the breach. A perfect example of money you have donated being put to good use in the community.

Some of the team cutting back the weeds at the start of the project

Some of the team

From the left are two grandchildren of the District Chairman, Alan Barlow District Secretary, Peter Hewitt Deputy District Chairman, Peter Messum Rochdale/Oldham AGPP, Alex McClaren DORA, Eric Kirkbride District Chairman

The following nine photos show the early work.

Early work in January 2006