Shirley accepts Sussex Masons' £22,000 cheque

NINTH Bexhill Group Scout Leader Shirley Gilbertson has accepted a cheque for Â£22,500 from Sussex Masons at an award ceremony at East Grinstead.

By The Newsroom

Published 15th Dec 2008, 15:25 BST

Updated 7th Jun 2018, 20:15 BST

The gift means the group can move into its new headquarters at Wainwright Road in the New Year virtually free of debt.

The cheque was the largest of several totalling more than 70,000 presented at the ceremony by Ken Thomas, the Grand Master for Sussex, in the presence of Bexhill Masons Ian Standley and Tony Bough.

In his opening remarks Ken Thomas noted the Masonic Grand Charity in England and Wales donates more than 21m each year to non-Masonic charities, mostly in the health and education field, and is second only to the National Lottery in its giving.

The new Scout headquarters replace the building destroyed in the arson attack on the adjoining temporary wheelie bin storage area on the Wainwright Road car park.