Shooting in West London Creates Opportunity for Change with Support from London Freemasons

Parachute
Regiment
Lodge
9315

WHAT IS FREEMASONRY?

One of the oldest secular social and charitable organisations in the world, modern Freemasonry’s roots lie in the traditions of the medieval stonemasons who built our castles and cathedrals…

The lodge has held several social events such as witnessing the Tower of London Keys ceremony a lady’s festival at a hotel usually outside of London that provides opportunity for our families to enjoy the company that these types of events provide. Importantly we maintain links with the regiment and serving soldiers.

EVENTS

Delve into the rich traditions of Freemasonry as we gather to celebrate our shared values and principles

WHERE WE MEET

Our meetings are held on the 1st Saturday of March, June, September and December, at 60 Great Queen Street, London WC2B 5AZ. they usually start at 11am thus providing members ample time to travel to London to join the meetings. The June meeting is the installation meeting.

ABOUT

The Parachute Regiment Lodge was consecrated on 5th June 1989. Though named for our Regiment the decision was taken not to restrict membership to serving or former members, though the majority do fit that criteria. Our membership is drawn from a wide range of military, security and civilian backgrounds who all adopt our ethos, to be the best in all that we do…

ARENA

Engage in enlightening discussions, partake in meaningful rituals, and forge lasting connections with fellow brethren

The £5,000 grant supports youth charity W4 Youth to create more opportunities through sport and the arts in West London.

W4 Youth was born from a heart breaking experience when the founder’s son, then in Year 8, was shot in the face by someone he didn’t even know. He was on his way to collect his friend’s football kit from his house after school one Friday evening in January 2009. He survived and chose to take that painful moment and mould it into a beacon of hope. With his encouragement, his mother started W4 Youth to provide a safe and positive space for young people in the area.

The grant allows the charity to add more coaches and activities to support young people in the community, develop a new cohort of trainers through their bespoke Train the Trainer programme and further support a girls football training session for their Friday Night Fives community league.

W4 Youth’s mission is to offer a welcoming and safe place where young people can find support, engage in meaningful activities and build connections to learn, to grow and to thrive to reach their full potential. Everything they offer is completely free because the charity believes every young person deserves this opportunity.

Football is at the heart of W4 Youth and the W4 Youth Rangers teams have always been in local competitive leagues since 2009. There are also basketball and other traditional youth club activities as well as a new boxing fitness training club all run from the Hub.

In addition to sports, W4 Youth run a successful arts programme from the Church Hall. Street Dance and Musical Theatre are a very popular outlet for expression and creativity.

W4 Youth provides its members, aged between 10 and 19, with open access activities all year round. Its members are from all social and ethnic backgrounds and W4 Youth works to improve their health, well-being, social cohesion and employability prospects by engaging them in sports they love, cool and contemporary singing and dance activities, social time with their peers and support and the opportunity to be our coaches of the future through our Train the Trainer programme. The result is a positive impact on both our members and the wider community.

W4 Youth runs its activities from their two Hubs in the local park and the local church hall. The plan is to build a new home in the park in the future.

Previous grants from London Freemasons have allowed the charity to expand the number of coaches and new equipment needed to support more young people in our activities which has led to improved physical and mental health, self-esteem and general wellbeing from more young people. The ongoing support that the charity receives allows the work that is being done within the community to support more members.

W4 Youth’s founder Sally Chacatte said: “We are very grateful to London Freemasons for their grant”.

Paul King from London Freemasons said: “We are very pleased to be able to continue supporting the work that W4 Youth are doing within the community to give opportunities to young people, through sports and the arts”.