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Connaught Court

Connaught Court, Fulford, is a retirement home offering residential care, nursing care and dementia care, with the benefits of individual rooms and shared communal areas.  a number of Freemasons, and a number of Masons' wives, have enjoyed being there. It is a friendly, caring community. Situated in extensive parkland close to York City Centre, the Home was purpose-built in 1971. The grounds are beautifully landscaped and well-maintained, providing pleasant areas to sit and walk with sufficient space for disabled access. The home is supported by the Masonic Provinces of Yorkshire, North and East Riding, West Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

Each June, the home organises an Open Day under the stewardship of one of the three Provinces, which alternate annually. Lodges throughtout the Provinces arrange stalls and other fund-raising activities, all of which is donated to Connaught Court to help in the running of the home and to provide funding for trips etc.

Humber Lodge has for a number of years put on a stall entitled 'Whisky Galore'.  The original concept was that of W. Bros Bob Wallace and Carl Cross who over fifteen years managed to raise over £3000 from bottles of whisky donated by the Humber Brethren. Carl continued from Bob and has been joined by other Brethren subsequently.

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Saturday 8th June 2024:

The Whisky Stall

by Charles Alexander

This just a short report from the Summer Fayre at Conaught Court; Brother Ian Douglas accompanied me today to manage the Whisky Galore Stall.

 We arrived at Fulford Park at around 09:45 to find out that the access to the stalls was restricted and we had to handball all the stuff from the gate to our stall. The forecasted weather was for some light rain showers and we had a couple of those. Fortunately, we took a brolly. With the forecast in mind there wasn't as many people in attendance as we expected but we still had a great day; we made in total £414 for the Friends of Conaught Court Charity which they received with thanks. Our thanks go to all those that supported our efforts; your contributions over the year have been of real service to the care home - and much appreciated. All in all we had a great day and as usual it was a lot of fun and we connected with lots of friends.

The Provincial Grand Master opened the Summer Fayre this year and proved a dab hand at flipping burgers!

W Bro Charles Alexander

 

Saturday 10th June 2023:

It has been some years since we have enjoyed a Masonic presence at the Connaught Court Summer Fayre; the death of her Majesty the Queen last year meant the event could not take place, though the Brethren have nonetheless contributed to such a worthy cause on a regular basis. This year, however, the WM, W Bro Charles Alexander was there at the Whisky Galore Stall, ably assisted by Bro Craig Morrison. Here is Charles' report:

We had a great day.

We arrived at around 9 am and after being shown where our stand was we got set up, we hadn't set up long when some of the other stall holders were buying ticket for the first draws, which was a good sign.

The Fayre was opened officially at around midday; there were two PGM's in attendance, our RWPGM  Bro Dr David Chambers, and the PGM of Lincolnshire, RW Bro Stephen Halberg.

Once the formalities of the opening were completed the Fayre got under way.

There was lots to choose from and the Fayre was very busy from start to finish, we managed to raffle off most of our bottles of whisky and we also sold some whisky shots to our customers which they enjoyed.

At the end of the day we had collected in the grand total of £485.25, which was gratefully received by the Connaught Court Festival Treasurer.

So now Brethren, we need to start collecting bottles for the next Fayre in 2024, and see if we can get past the £500 mark for the care home . . . 

Charles Alexander, WM

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 Saturday 16th June 2011:

On Saturday 16th June 2011, the Provincial Grand Master of West Yorkshire officially opened the event. It was a wet, windy and altogether miserable day, and a worryingly slow start, but suddenly the event took off and much fun was had by all who attended. Great entertainment was provided by the brass band.                                                      

                                                               

The stall was manned by Bro Carl Cross (Junior Warden) W. Bro. David Terry (Immediate Past master), who again stole the Sartorial Elegance prize sporting his Hull Grammarians Cricketing Blazer, and  Bro. Des Ashton (Assistant Director of Ceremonies) The team arrived early to secure  a  good (inside) location. Running to its tried and tested system of offering a  15  to 1 chance of winning a bottle of whisky, the stall again proved  popular.

In recent years, the Humber Mark have also held a stall at the Open Day and there has been friendly rivalry to see which of the two stalls could  raise the most money.  Humber Mark have always managed managed to  attract more custom and beat us.  Despite a valiant effort by the three Humber Craft representatives (pictured left) they were beaten into second place by the  Humber Mark contingent, who managed to raise £500+, to our  £409.  Congratulations to Humber Mark but also well done  to our intrepid threesome.

 W Bro Terry Fisher

 Here is a link (April 2021) showing what Connaught Court has to offer:

https://www.rmbi.org.uk/home/connaught-court-york/

Unfortunately, the covid pandemic has precluded the Conought Court Open Day over recent years, and the intended 2022 event was cancelled on account of the passing of her majesty the Queen. Donations have been made however.