Bruce Trust awarded £25,000 grant by the Berkshire Freemasons

At 11 am on Saturday 21st October, David Bruce, Founding Trustee of The Bruce Trust, will be welcoming Martin Peters, Leader of the Berkshire Freemasons, together with his fellow Freemasons, on to The Diana, one of this Trust’s four boats at Great Bedwyn Wharf (SN8 3PB).

Berkshire Freemasons, as part of their 300th Anniversary celebrations, are donating £25,000 to The Bruce Trust. This is the largest award from Berkshire Freemasons and was voted for by over 3,500 people in Berkshire. The Bruce Trust, founded by David and Louise Bruce in 1988, owns a fleet of four specially-designed, purpose-built, wide-beam canal boats, for hire for self-catering, self-steer holidays by disabled, disadvantaged or elderly people along with their family, friends or carers. The boats are based at Great Bedwyn Wharf on the Kennet and Avon Canal which flows through Berkshire and Wiltshire. To date over 20,000 disabled, disadvantaged or elderly people have enjoyed canal-cruising holidays.

The Community Awards are a major part of Freemasonry’s 300th anniversary celebrations. The Masonic Charitable Foundation is distributing £3m. to 300 charities across the country, with the public vote deciding on the range of Awards from £4,000 to £25,000. The £3 million fund is being administered by the Masonic Charitable Foundation, which obtains all its funding from Freemasons, their families and friends.

David Bruce – Founding Trustee of The Bruce Trust said: “We are thrilled with this generous award from Berkshire Freemasons and it will help us to pay for the major refurbishment projects we have planned in order to further enhance our fleet of four boats”.

Martin Peters, The Leader of Berkshire Freemasons said: “We are delighted to be able to celebrate three hundred years of Freemasonry by helping excellent local charities like The Bruce Trust. We’ve been active in charity work for all that time but this is the first occasion we’ve asked the public to help us decide how to spend our money. We are very pleased that so many people from Berkshire took part in the vote.”