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Charity

Hope House Mini Bus Appeal

The Hope House Hospices in Oswestry (North Shropshire) and Conway (North Wales); provide care for terminally ill children and support for their family members. Hope House requires £3.5 million per year to run its Hospices and this money is largely provided through charitable donations. The work done by the Hospices and the dedication of its staff and helpers, is quite remarkable and we, as a Province, have over many years provided such support as we can to help Hope House in its work. To that end, some 10 years ago, we provided £23,000 for the purchase of a specially adapted mini bus for the Hope House, Oswestry Hospice to enable the critically ill children to be taken on day trips to the seaside and countryside and for attending recreational resorts and for hydrotherapy. We know that the mini bus has been well used and has been a great asset for the staff at Hope House.
After the passage of some 10 years however the mini bus has deteriorated and now requires replacement. When we were recently contacted by Hope House who pointed out their difficulty and requested any further help that we could muster in order to help them in replacing the mini bus, we immediately pledged our full support in order to provide them with a new mini bus. We have undertaken some initial costings and it appears that the cost of the new mini bus with its special adaptations for the patients, will be in the region of £37,000, but we would also hope to provide help with the servicing and repair costs for the first two years and so I anticipate that we may be requiring a total Appeal fund of approximately £39,000.
It is proposed that our purchase of the new mini bus for Hope House will be completed in September 2010 and that its dedication to Hope House will be made at some time in October 2010 to coincide with the Province's celebrations in that month of the 12th  Anniversary of the consecration of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Shropshire. We have a little over 15 months within which to raise these funds and It is hoped that each Craft Lodge can set itself a target of not less than £500, perhaps aspiring to a contribution figure of up to £1,000. With Chapters also contributing sums as they feel that their benevolent funds permit and with 33 Lodges and 13 Chapters in the Province, this should enable us to get very close to achieving the target of our Appeal.
It is hoped that we can succeed in this Appeal and that by providing this mini bus for the Hope House Hospice we can in some material form illustrate the charitable and caring principles upon which our Province has been based for all these years. Donations should be channelled through the SMCA Treasurer W.Bro. Philip Niblock and that if cheque presentations are made they should be payable to "SMCA — Hope House 2010".

To this end, during the summer 2009, at the LOI festival; through the hard work of all the brothering of Cae Glas plus some support from the other lodges in Oswestry, the V.W. Bro Peter Taylor was presented with a cheque for £1500.00.