The 250th Anniversary To The Present

The 250th Anniversary of Grand Lodge was celebrated on 24th June 1967. In the presence of over seven thousand brethren, including delegations from many other Grand Lodges, HRH the Duke of Kent was installed as Grand Master at the Royal Albert Hall. He is seen here receiving a congratulatory address from the Grand Lodge of Scotland.

The Girls' and Boys' Institutions were combined to form the Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys, now the Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys. The Boys' School closed in 1977 but the Girls' has become the Royal Masonic School for Girls at Rickmansworth, with plans to go co-educational. The greater part of the Trust's work is concerned with providing grants for out-education and welfare covering schooling, further education and vocational training. The Trust is also able, funds permitting, to assist children or children's charities having no Masonic connections.

In the 1960s the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution began to expand its residential facilities. In the last twenty years, with generous help from various Provinces, eleven homes have been provided, in England and Wales, made up of a mixture of sheltered accommodation and residential homes in which the residents can be cared for and nursed, if necessary, until the end of their lives.

Over the last five years the Grand Charity has made major donations to research into heart disease, cancer, gerontology and to support Hospices. Each year some 75,000 UKP is given in amounts from 500 UKP to 5,000 UKP to a wide range of national medical and welfare Charities. Support of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution continued with the presentation of the tenth lifeboat, named after HRH the Duchess of Kent, in 1982.

Note that the above was written in 1992