On a very sunny Saturday evening in April, 66 members, partners and their guests came together at the London Beach Hotel in Tenterden for a very enjoyable Ladies Night.
As the guests assembled on the balcony overlooking the golf course on an unseasonably warm April evening everyone looked fantastic in their finery.
The Master of Ceremonies called the guests into the dining room which was splendidly decorated with candelabra and table decorations.
Following a very enjoyable meal, great conversation and the odd glass of wine, then came the usual speeches and obligatory raffle. Charity being a core value of freemasonry the raffle raised the magnificent sum of £462 which the Master, W Bro Gary Williamson requested to be sent to the Rising Sun Charity which supports victims of domestic abuse.
The London Beach Hotel then very generously donated the cost of the meals amounting to £2790 to the Pilgrims Hospices in the name of Ashford Lodge. This is a fantastic gesture for which we are all incredibly grateful for.
Pictured: Left to right Griff Bromfield-Jenkins, Master 2026-27, Paul Goodwin, Charity Steward, Gary Williamson, Master 2025-26 (Who’s Ladies Night this was)
The members of the Lodge are extremely grateful to Bro Derek McDonough for organisation this very enjoyable and succesful event.
Derek Warner, South Kent Lodge; Chic Cameron, Castle Lodge; Clive Hallett, St George Bahrain Lodge; Martin Kemp, Hospice Services Manager; Eric Dodd, Stour Lodge; Paul Goodwin, Ashford Lodge; Peter West, CEKFC Secretary; and Vickie, Healthcare Assistant
The donation was made to Pilgrims Hospice Ashford to help fund a new nurses’ call system for patients receiving hospice care.
The donation was made possible through a joint effort by five Ashford-based lodges, each of which pledged £500 towards the appeal:
Ashford Lodge No. 8954
South Kent Lodge No. 4303
St George Bahrain Lodge No. 7389
Stour Lodge No. 2305
Lodge of Loyalty No. 9494
Their combined contribution was then matched by the Cornwallis East Kent Freemasons Charity (CEKFC), bringing the total donation to £5,000.
The grant has helped Pilgrims Hospices fund the purchase and installation of a new Medi Care automated patient alert system, part of a wider investment of more than £13,000. The system enables patients to call for assistance from various points within the building, supporting comfort, reassurance and patient safety, while helping clinical teams respond quickly when needed.
The fundraising initiative was coordinated by Paul Goodwin of Ashford Lodge, who brought the lodges together and submitted the successful matched funding application to CEKFC.
“We are incredibly grateful to the Ashford Freemasons lodges and the Cornwallis East Kent Freemasons Charity for this generous donation.
“The nurses’ call system is a vital part of the care we provide every day, and this support will help us continue to create a safe, responsive and compassionate environment for our patients and their families.”
Freemasons from the participating lodges raised their individual donations through a range of social and fundraising activities, including a Burns night, raffles, BBQs, quizzes, lunches and ladies’ nights, reflecting a shared commitment to supporting hospice care in their local community.
During a wonderful sunny summer’s Friday afternoon, a group of from Ashford Lodge 8945, were at the Pluckley recreation area, to look around the work taking place to upgrade the play equipment, for the children of the village of Pluckley, and to hand over £500 towards the project, havingrecently received match funding from theCornwallis East Kent Freemasons Charity.
As is the case with a lot of small villages, upgrading play equipment has become difficult. Firstly, the existing equipment is aging and being removed due to safety concerns, and replacements are expensive, and funding is difficult to come by. Typically, new play areas are funded as part of wider housing developments as part of the planning conditions, but in the areas where these developments aren’t taking place, it is up to the residents to raise funds in order to upgrade the play areas themselves.
The life of 16-year-old Rubie Tucker was forever changed last year when she suffered a devastating cardiac arrest in a park in Ashford, just four days after her birthday. A friend, who was with her at the time, immediately began performing CPR, an action that saved Rubie’s life.
Emergency services arrived quickly and transported Rubie to a London hospital. She was later moved to The Kent and Canterbury Hospital, where she remained for some time. Unfortunately, because her breathing had stopped, her brain was starved of oxygen for approximately 30 minutes. This resulted in severe brain injuries that left her unable to walk, talk, sit up, or eat and drink independently.
To support Rubie’s new needs, hospital occupational therapists determined that a home extension was necessary. This addition would include awet roomandspecialist equipmentlike hoists to help with her care.
After learning about theCornwallis East Kent Freemasons’ Charity, Rubie’s mother, Kim, reached out for help. Her application prompted a coordinated effort by several Freemason lodges, including Stour, South Kent, St George Bahrain, Ashford, Essetesforde, East Kent Combined Services, and Loyalty Lodges. Together, they launched a match-funding initiative to support Rubie and her family.
This collective effort led to the charity providing a cheque for £3,500. On Sunday, July 13, 2025, Bob Hadlow, the Group 6 Charity Stewards Co-ordinator, visited Rubie’s home to present the cheque to her parents, Kim and Simon.
