Melton charities handed thousands in donations

Thousands of pounds have been handed over to two charities in the Melton borough by the Leicestershire and Rutland Freemasons,
Stewart Sparling testing out the life-changing specialised wheelchair he got in 2013 PHOTO: Tim Williams EMN-170215-165038001Stewart Sparling testing out the life-changing specialised wheelchair he got in 2013 PHOTO: Tim Williams EMN-170215-165038001
Stewart Sparling testing out the life-changing specialised wheelchair he got in 2013 PHOTO: Tim Williams EMN-170215-165038001

An award of £2,000, half of which was contributed by the Melton-based Rutland Lodge, was made to the Belvoir Cricket and Countryside Trust, which encourages participation in cricket in rural communities and access to cricket and the countryside for disadvantaged young people.

Trust chief executive Darren Bicknell, a former England cricketer, said: “Thank you to the Freemasons for this donation. Our charity is growing and last year we had over 2,700 children through our projects.”

The Melton based Treble One Trust charity also received an award of £2,000. It was launched by Stewart Sparling to help fellow sufferers of Motor Neurone Disease buy life-changing equipment.

His widow, Angela Sparling, a trustee of the charity, said: “My husband Stewart, a police sergeant in Leicester, was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease at the age of 40 and died when he was 44.

“He set up the Treble One Trust to help people in the latter stages of their disease where funding is limited which has now helped lots of people so far.”

The organisation made donations totalling £44,355 to a range of causes at a special event hosted by the Provincial Grand Master, David Hagger, at Freemasons’ Hall in Leicester.

The event was also attended by the Lord-Lieutenant of Leicestershire, Lady Gretton, who received £1,000 for the Lord-Lieutenant’s Award for Young People which celebrates the achievements of young people in Leicester and Leicestershire.

Thanking the Freemasons, she said: “There are some wonderful young people doing amazing things so we decided to start the awards 11 years ago in order to acknowledge these young people and what they do.”

Mr Hagger, said: “I’m proud and delighted that we have been able to make a contribution to our local communities by supporting these worthwhile charities.”

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