Shanghai Tuscan Lodge
1027
Shanghai Tuscan Lodge No. 1027 Donation to Bromley Mencap
Shanghai Tuscan Lodge 1027 donated the funding to enable Bromley Mencap to purchase and install an irrigation system at their Lodge, located in Norman Park on Bromley Common. Donated during the Covid19 pandemic, it ensured all their plants continued to be watered.
For full details, read more..
The Worshipful Master of Shanghai Tuscan Lodge No.1027 presenting a cheque for £250.00 to Bro. Robbie McConnachie-Devlin, the Cub Scout Leader of 1st Beckenham Christ Church Scout Group to help in purchasing camping equipment for the Scout group.
Bro. Robbie began as a parent volunteer at Easter 2017, becoming a ‘uniformed officer’ at Beavers in the Autumn of 2017 having completed the training modules to become a Scout leader. At that time, he had agreed to become the Cub Scout leader when they started in Easter 2018.
The 1st Beckenham Christ Church Scout Group was started in 2017. It started as a group of parents who were trying to find places for their children in ‘Beavers’, the entry group into Scouting for 5-7 year olds in the Beckenham Area during 2016. There are some other Scout groups in the greater Beckenham area, but none in central Beckenham. Also, the other Scout groups were full with lengthy waiting lists. The parents were directed to Christ Church in Beckenham, who had hosted a Scout group that had ceased some 20 years previously.
With the agreement of the Church and with the Bromley District Scout commissioner, they started at Easter with Beavers in April 2017 as the 1st Beckenham Christ Church Scout Group. (This was the name of the previous Scout group that had ceased all those years ago.)
The group now have 24 Beavers and 20 Cubs with 70 (yes 70 on the waiting list). They have proved to be a very popular and successful Scout group and are trying to support other Beckenham Scout groups by sharing their waiting list. They are growing much faster than they had predicted, yet fortunately are still able to attract leaders and to train leaders to support and work with the young people in the local community.
The biggest challenge for the Scout group is to resource the group at the same pace that they are growing. As a group, they have started from scratch with little to no resources. The donation from Shanghai Tuscan Lodge will go towards purchasing camping equipment. The group have prioritised camping and cooking equipment so that they can take the Beavers and our Cubs camping.
The Beckenham and Penge Sea Cadets are currently raising funds for a new mini-bus to transport their cadets to various activities at weekends. Their previous mini-bus was so old that it became un roadworthy. Without sufficient funds to purchase a replacement, they have been relying on the support of parents to transport the cadets to their activities until sufficient funds are raised to purchase a replacement mini-bus. The Shanghai Tuscan Lodge heard that the Cadets also needed to replace the aging Deck (floor) of their meeting Hall, and the concern that the cost of replacing the Deck would be such that they would have to break into funds set aside for the mini bus.
To help validate the costs quoted for a replacement floor, the Shanghai Tuscan Lodge arranged for a survey to be conducted, which highlighted a possible issue with asbestos in the old tiles. This had not been picked up by the quotes previously obtained by the Sea Cadets. The Lodge arranged for samples to be sent away for analysis at no cost to the Sea Cadets. The analysis confirmed the presence of asbestos in the tiles, which resulted in the Hall having to be closed down immediately. To ensure the Hall could be re-opened as soon as possible, the Lodge arranged for a local company to remove the asbestos under government guidelines and install new flooring at cost only. This greatly reduced the cost to the Sea Cadets and enabled the Hall to re-open as quickly as possible.
In addition to the above, a donation of £200 from the Lodge was presented to the Sea Cadets for their Mini bus appeal.
In recognition for the support provided by the Lodge, W. Bro. Ray Blackmore in his capacity as Chairman of the Beckenham and Penge Sea Cadets presented to the Lodge a wooden plaque with the embossed emblem of HMS Sikh, the serving ship to which the Beckenham and Penge Sea Cadets are affiliated.
The Beckenham and Penge Sea Cadets have approximately 25 cadets with an age range of 10 – 18yrs, with an equal split between male and female cadets. They organise a number of activities for the cadets during weekday meetings, many held in classrooms where they can learn how to read charts, tie knots, clean boots, iron uniforms, etc. The older cadets also get the opportunity to receive instruction on the firing range and, as you can imagine, drill also takes up much of a cadet’s time. In the summer months the cadets are taken sailing and to other waterborne facilities in London’s Docklands. They organise camps where the cadets learn field craft, etc. and they attend Royal Navy facilities, particularly in Portsmouth where the cadets are able to stay on board Naval vessels.
The Beckenham and Penge Sea Cadets have approximately 25 cadets with an age range of 10 – 18yrs, with an equal split between male and female cadets. They organise a number of activities for the cadets during weekday meetings, many held in classrooms where they can learn how to read charts, tie knots, clean boots, iron uniforms, etc. The older cadets also get the opportunity to receive instruction on the firing range and, as you can imagine, drill also takes up much of a cadet’s time. In the summer months the cadets are taken sailing and to other waterborne facilities in London’s Docklands. They organise camps where the cadets learn field craft, etc. and they attend Royal Navy facilities, particularly in Portsmouth where the cadets are able to stay on board Naval vessels.
For several years now David Pearson has been a volunteer reader for the magazine section, called Hearabouts, of the Harrow Talking Newspaper (HTN), which provides an invaluable service for the visually handicapped. Registered listeners are provided with a regular memory stick containing news extracted from local and national press and Hearabouts contains entertaining and informative items, which range from extracts from Samuel Pepys diaries to Dylan Thomas stories and pieces by P G Wodehouse, as well as feature columns from newspapers. David readily admits to getting tremendous pleasure from the quality of material he gets to read, but emphasises that it is vitally important to be able to convey that enjoyment to the listeners. In that respect, his 60 plus years of experience as an amateur stage actor and director prove their value.
Over the past 10 years David has also helped to raise nearly £3,000.00 for HTN through his Middlesex Lodge, Harrow Temple in Unity No 1310, and his amateur theatre company, Proscenium.
Ray Blackmore is the Vice Chair of Lewisham Talking Newspapers, an organisation dedicated to providing local news and information to blind and visually impaired people living in Lewisham, the method of communicating this information is by the use of memory stick which can be played on audio equipment supplied by us.
His main roll is administration. Once the recordings have been made they are placed in individual wallets which are then placed in post bags for Ray to deliver to the local sorting office in Bellingham.
Regular meeting to discuss matters arising and to arrange fund raising etc.
Socialeyes is a local council group set up to help any person with vision impairment. Ray Blackmore helps as a carer once a month to pick up those unable to travel by public transport and take them to a local council centre. There they are given up to date information on relevant council benefits etc. by a guest speaker from the local authority which is followed by lunch. After lunch, Ray leads a singalong of all the old songs which proves to be very popular.
Voluntary Services Lewisham is a local charity set up to assist those in need within the community. Ray Blackmore is occasionally involved helping out when they are in need of a driver