The objective of the fund is to afford assistance to deserving widows and families, including mothers and sisters of freemasons who have been a member of a lodge in the Province of Down outside a six mile radius of Belfast. The inclusion of mothers and sisters  is there to cover the case of a  bachelor Brother who lives with his widowed mother or unmarried sister.

The fund covers the District Charity Committees of Banbridge, Bangor, Downpatrick, Newry and Newtownards. Within these districts there are 80 lodges with a total membership of over 2500 brethren. We currently have 120 widows on the fund. Bereavement Grants are also available

Assistance is by means annual means tested grants as the Committee may find best suited to the necessities of the applicant.

Applications should be completed by the Lodge in the first instance and these will then be forwarded to the District Charity Committee where they will be ratified and then sent to the Fund secretary for consideration by the Trustees.

A leaflet with full details is available by clicking here

If you wish to support the work of our charity and make a personal donation please forward cheques, made payable to  “Down Masonic Widows’ Fund”  to the Secretary.  Thank you.

You can download a Gift Aid declaration by clicking here. This will allow us to claim Gift Aid.

The December cheques for our annuitants have now been prepared and we know that all of the widows appreciate these at this time of the year.

We hope that the Lodge Almoners will visit each widow and be able to report back if any difficulties are found.

At the same time the renewal forms need to be completed. With the recent budget changes it is more important than ever that the forms are completed accurately.

Pension credit is an important factor as this allows the widow to claim a host of other benefits including the Christmas fuel allowance.