At a recent special “Open Day” at the Ealing Masonic Centre, Assistant Metropolitan Grand Master Andrew Manasseh handed a cheque for £15 thousand to the London Hearts Charity to enable them to place even more defibrillators across London and within easy access for the public.  The money was raised by London Freemasons and distributed via their charity, The London Freemasons Charity.

Said the Charity’s Principal, Nicolas Reed, “We are delighted to receive this very generous donation which comes from the kind generosity of the Metropolitan Grand Lodge and their members”

London Hearts are the leading heart charity in London for placing defibrillators in communities and delivering CPR and defibrillator training. There are more than 30,000 out of hospital cardiac arrests across the UK every year but less than one in ten people survive. The more defibrillators that are accessible and the more people trained in how to use them, the better the chance of survival for someone who collapses of a cardiac arrest.

Their mission is to provide public-access defibrillators in England in close partnership with strategic partners. Ideally, we believe defibrillators should be publicly accessible, so they are ready to be used when they are needed. To raise awareness of heart conditions and to ensure no one is ever further than 100m away from a defibrillator.

Tony Shields, London Freemasons Charity Steward, said “We are delighted to make this donation which comes from the pockets of our own members. London Freemasons Charity distribute each year thousands of pounds to London’s smaller charities to help them to continue to provide a service to the community”

Added Tony, “All this is in addition to our major charity appeals which includes the current appeal to raise £2.5 million to buy two super high-rise aerial rescues lifts plus other rescue equipment for London Fire Brigade. In addition, London Freemasons have raised over £2 million to help purchase London’s second and badly needed emergency helicopter and have funded the doubling of the fleet of London Ambulances Rapid Response cars on the streets of London, some driven by Freemasons. In the past two years London Freemasons have also helped to fight tooth decay amongst the Capital’s young by distributing 80,000 special designed toothbrushes and tubes of toothpaste to hospitals and clinics across London”